Google’s John Mueller advises site owners to provide additional content when publishing a web page featuring a video.
In other words, don’t just embed a video on a page, add a title, and leave it at that.
A video should not serve as the primary piece of content. Instead, it should be used to support the main written content.
This advice was shared during the Google Webmaster Central hangout on March 5th, in response to a question about using Google’s videos on a website.
Mueller briefly addressed the main question before offering tips on how to effectively use video from a web search perspective.
### Video Should Support Main Content, Not Replace It
From a web search standpoint, it’s challenging for Google to determine what to do with a web page that only includes a video.
It’s difficult to assess the video’s usefulness and why the page it’s on should appear in search results.
Mueller suggests creating content around the video, such as a transcription and adding comments about it.
This approach is similar to what’s being done here, where there’s a video followed by a transcription, along with commentary on that transcription.
Therefore, the video is not the main feature but a valuable addition to the main content.
Posting video content in this manner is more valuable from Google’s perspective and more beneficial for visitors as well.
Hear the full discussion and response starting at the 45:46 mark:
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“I think, in general, I would be cautious about using just a video as the primary piece of content on a web page. You should aim to use the video to support your primary content, rather than replacing it.
For instance, I wouldn’t take any of these videos and simply place them in a blog post, add a title, and expect them to rank highly in search.
However, if you create specific content around the video, include a transcription, and add comments to that transcription, using the video as a point of reference, this approach is perfectly acceptable.
Simply using a video on a page, from a web search perspective, makes it difficult to determine what is useful about the page and why it should appear in search results.”
