Video in Google Search: how to get videos indexed in 2026

Video gets into Google Search today through a few specific doors: video results and carousels on the main results page, the Videos tab (which Google calls video mode), key moments that jump into a clip, and short-form video carousels. Since 2023 there is one rule that decides most of it. Google only shows a video thumbnail for your page if the video is the main content of that page. Get that right, add VideoObject structured data, and check the video indexing report in Search Console. Most video SEO problems I see come down to one of those three.

I first wrote this post in June 2018 under the title "Google Algorithm Update June 2018". It said Google had started favouring video. That was half right. What actually happened was a change to how video was displayed, not a ranking update, and a lot has changed since. Here is the current picture.

What changed in June 2018?

In June 2018 Google replaced the small three-video box on desktop results with a scrollable video carousel, much like the one already on mobile. The shift was first noticed around 6 June and became widespread by mid-June. At the same time, the old video thumbnails next to ordinary results became rare.

So video did get more room on the page, which is what I noticed at the time. But it was a layout change, and most of the extra exposure went to YouTube. My advice then was to add structured data so Google could read your video. That advice still stands. The tool I linked to, the old Structured Data Testing Tool, has since been retired. Use the Rich Results Test instead.

Where does video appear in Google Search now?

There are several places, and they behave differently:

Video results on the main page. A single result with a video thumbnail, or a carousel of videos for queries where Google thinks people want to watch something. "How to" queries trigger these most often.
Video mode. The Videos tab. It shows only video results, and since December 2023 it only shows pages where the video is the main content.
Key moments. Links to specific points in a video, shown as labelled timestamps under the result. A searcher can jump straight to the part that answers their question.
Short videos. Google started showing a short videos carousel on mobile in late 2020, pulling in YouTube Shorts, TikTok, Instagram Reels and similar vertical clips, and has tested a Short videos filter in some markets.
Discover and Google Images. Video can also surface in Discover feeds and image results, though these are harder to target directly.
AI Overviews and AI Mode. On client queries I track, YouTube videos are cited fairly often as sources in AI answers, especially for practical, step-by-step topics. Google does not publish data on how often, so treat this as an observation rather than a rule.

The 2023 rule: video must be the main content of the page

This is the single biggest change since my original post. In April 2023 Google simplified how video appears in results: video thumbnails would only show for pages where the video is the main content. On 4 December 2023 it extended the same rule to video mode, so clicking a result in the Videos tab only ever takes the user to a page where the video is the main thing to watch.

Google's own examples of pages that do not qualify:

A blog post with a video that complements the article.
A product page with a demo video alongside the product details.
A category page listing several videos with equal prominence.

That hit a lot of sites. The common pattern of writing an article and embedding a supporting YouTube video near the top no longer earns a thumbnail. In Search Console, those pages now show as "No video indexed" with the reason "Video is not the main content of the page".

This does not mean embedded videos are useless. They still help the reader, and the page can still rank as a normal text result. It means that if you want a video result, you need a page built around the video: a watch page.

Should you host video on YouTube or on your own site?

For most businesses, both, for different jobs.

YouTube is where the reach is. YouTube videos are indexed quickly and appear in carousels and short-form results without extra work. YouTube is also a search engine in its own right. The downside is that the click goes to YouTube, not to you, and YouTube's recommendations then send the viewer to other people's videos.

On-site video keeps the visitor and the conversion. It only earns a video result if you build a proper watch page and give Google what it needs to index it. That is more work, and for most small businesses it is worth doing only for videos that are central to sales: product demos, service explainers, case walkthroughs, courses.

The approach I use with clients at SEOGidi is simple. Publish on YouTube for discovery. For the handful of videos that really matter commercially, also create a dedicated watch page on your own site, with the video at the top, a transcript, a short summary and a clear next step. Use embedded videos elsewhere to support articles, without expecting them to earn video results. If social video is part of your plan, my post on building an engaged online community covers the audience side.

How to get your videos indexed in Google

These are the steps for a self-hosted or embedded video on your own site.

Build a watch page. One main video per page, placed prominently near the top, with a title and description that match the video. Make sure the video loads without needing a click on some other element first.
Make the video file and thumbnail crawlable. Do not block the video file, player or thumbnail in robots.txt. Use a stable thumbnail URL that Google can fetch.
Add VideoObject structured data. Google requires name, thumbnailUrl and uploadDate. Add description, duration and either contentUrl (preferred) or embedUrl. Full details are in Google's video structured data documentation.
Add a video sitemap if you have many videos or they are hard to discover through normal crawling.
Add a transcript. It helps accessibility and gives Google, and AI systems, text to understand what the video covers.
Test the page in the Rich Results Test and with the URL Inspection tool in Search Console.
Check the video indexing report in Search Console a few weeks later, and fix whatever reasons it gives.

How to get key moments in your video results

Key moments arrived in 2019 and are one of the more useful video features, because they send people to the exact part of a video they need. There are three ways to get them:

Let Google detect them automatically. Google can identify segments on its own. You can opt out with the nosnippet meta tag if you need to.
Use Clip markup. Nest Clip items inside your VideoObject with a name, start offset and URL for each segment. You choose the labels and timestamps.
Use SeekToAction markup. Tell Google how your URLs link to a point in the video, and let Google pick the moments. This is supported in fewer languages than Clip.

For YouTube videos, add timestamps with labels to the video description. Google uses those. For either method, the video needs to be at least 30 seconds long and your player must support linking to a specific time.

Reading the video indexing report

Google launched the video indexing report in Search Console in July 2022. It shows how many pages with a video Google found, how many had a video indexed, and why the rest did not. The reasons I see most often on audits are:

Video is not the main content of the page. The 2023 rule. Either accept it for that page or build a proper watch page.
Video outside the viewport or too small. Move it up and make it larger.
Cannot determine the prominent video on the page, usually because several videos compete.
Invalid thumbnail URL or a thumbnail Google cannot fetch.

Expect the indexed count to be lower than the total. That is normal for a site that uses video to support written content. What you want is for your real watch pages to be indexed.

What I would do with video in 2026

Video gives you a second route into search results at a time when plain blue-link clicks are harder to win, which I covered in my post on AI Overviews and zero-click search. A clear, well-labelled video that answers a practical question can appear in carousels, key moments, short-form results and AI answers, all from one piece of work.

Start small. Pick three questions your customers ask before they buy. Answer each in a short video, publish it on YouTube with timestamps, and build a watch page on your site for the one that matters most to sales. Mark it up, test it, and check the video indexing report in a month. That is a better use of a week than chasing the next rumoured "video update".

Quick answers

Does Google rank YouTube videos above videos on my own site?
There is no rule that favours YouTube, but YouTube videos meet Google's indexing requirements by default and have engagement signals behind them. Self-hosted video can compete if it sits on a proper watch page with good markup.

Why does my video not show a thumbnail in Google?
Usually because the video is not the main content of the page. Check the video indexing report in Search Console for the exact reason.

Do I need VideoObject structured data for YouTube embeds?
Google can often find embedded YouTube videos without it, but adding VideoObject on your watch page makes the details explicit and is required for features like Clip-based key moments on your own page.