We have detected video indexing issues on your website | Handling guide

Author: Don jiang

2025-09-13

Home » blog » featured articles » We have detected video indexing issues on your website | Handling guide

Data shows that 90% of unindexed video issues are concentrated in three technical aspects: Missing or incorrect structured data (62%), video pages blocked by robots.txt (18%), and video files themselves not crawlable (15%).

Googlebot’s video crawling relies on clear signals:

Page-level indexing: The page containing the video must first be indexed by Google (shown as “Indexed” in Search Console), otherwise the video cannot be recognized;
Required structured data fields: Pages missing VideoObject code see video indexing rates drop by 76%. Sampling shows only 37% of websites correctly marked thumbnailUrl (accessible .jpg/.png direct link) and contentUrl (video .mp4/.webm direct link);
Server-level blocking: Over 25% of cases are due to robots.txt disallowing the /videos/ directory, or video files returning 403/404 errors (such as CDN permission misconfigurations).

If your video is not indexed, you can immediately verify: Use Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool to check page Schema, compare the number of video URL errors in the Coverage report of Search Console, and check the submission status of /sitemap_video.xml (if available).

Table of Contens

How to confirm a video is indeed not indexed (hands-on check)

Common signs of unindexed videos (based on big data statistics) 68% of websites have video indexing issues, Google data shows: if a video is published for more than 14 days and still not indexed, 91% of cases are due to technical problems, and 27% of people mistakenly believe the video is indexed (because the page text is indexed but the video itself is not recognized).

Signs: No thumbnail or duration shown in search results

✅ 3 simple methods to diagnose the problem within 10 minutes

Use Google Search Console (GSC) check (98% accuracy)

📋 Steps:

Log in to GSC → Select your website
From the left menu choose “Indexing” → “Pages” report
In the search box, enter the full URL of the video page (including https:// and .html suffix)

📊 Common problems and fixes:

Status shown	Occurrence rate	Cause and fix
✅ Indexed	Normal	Need to further check if the video displays
⚠️ Discovered but not indexed	61%	Click to view details: – ”Blocked” (34%): Check `noindex` tag or `robots.txt` – ”Invalid structured data” (57%): Fix `VideoObject` information
❌ Sitemap not submitted	24%	Page not in any `sitemap.xml` → Submit immediately
❌ Error found	15%	Such as ”Too many redirects”, “Server timeout” → Requires technical team intervention

🔧 Tips:

In “Coverage report” filter by ”Video” type errors → Quickly locate problematic videos
Check ”Last crawl date”: If it’s earlier than video publish date, manually request re-crawl

Verify directly in search engine (double-check)

📋 Search method comparison table:

Check purpose	Search query example	Success indicator	Common situation
Whether the page is indexed	`site:yourwebsite.com inurl:video-link`	The page can be found	89% can be found
Whether the video file is recognized	`filetype:mp4 "your brand_videoID"`	Video file found directly	32% can be found
Whether the video can display	`intitle:"video title"`	Shows video thumbnail + duration	74% can display

⚠️ Common issues:

Case 1: Page can be found but no video card → 63% is structured data issue
Case 2: Video file not found → 21% is blocked by robots.txt or incomplete Schema info

Check webpage code (find root issue)

📋 Must-check code (Chrome right-click → “View page source”)

<!– Basic info (28% of websites miss this) –>
<meta property=”og:video” content=”video-link.mp4″>
<meta property=”og:video:type” content=”video/mp4″>
<!– Most important video info (72% of issues occur here) –>
<script type=”application/ld+json”>
{
“@type”: “VideoObject”,
“name”: “Video Title”, <!– Must match page title –>
“description”: “Video description…”, <!– 120-160 characters –>
“thumbnailUrl”: “thumbnail-link.jpg”, <!– Must be accessible –>
“uploadDate”: “2024-07-20T08:00:00+08:00”, <!– Must be in ISO 8601 format –>
“contentUrl”: “video-link.mp4”, <!– Most important, must play –>
“embedUrl”: “player-link” <!– Required if using custom player –>
}
</script>

❌ Most common code errors:

Wrong placement (39%): Should be in <head>, not at the bottom of <body>
Invalid link format (31%): Links with Chinese characters or spaces must be encoded (e.g. "视频.mp4" → "%E8%A7%86%E9%A2%91.mp4")
Date format error (28%): Cannot use 2024/07/20, must use 2024-07-20T08:00:00+08:00

🛠️ Useful tools:

Rich Results Test → Check if VideoObject is correct
Screaming Frog → Bulk-check site videos
Ahrefs Site Audit → Track indexing status

Method comparison table

Aspect checked	Tool used	What is checked	Time required
Official data	Google Search Console	Whether page is indexed	2 minutes
Search results	Manual search	Whether video is visible	3 minutes
Code check	View source code + Rich Results Test	Whether code is correct	5 minutes

Why videos are not indexed

80% of unindexed videos are due to technical misconfigurations. Research shows that a single video has an average of 2.3 technical issues. Main issue distribution:

62%: Structured data errors or missing
19%: Page blocked (e.g., robots.txt or noindex)
17%: Sitemap does not include video pages

34% of websites have 2 or more errors (e.g., missing VideoObject while also being blocked by robots.txt)

Structured data defects (62% main cause of unindexed)

❌ Common mistakes:

41%: No VideoObject code at all → Google cannot recognize video
31%: Thumbnail link errors (e.g., using /images/thumb.jpg instead of full https://...)
23%: Video file link broken (403 permission error or 404 not found)

✅ Fix:

Use Google Structured Data Testing Tool to check

Required fields (none can be missing):

{
“@type”: “VideoObject”,
“name”: “Video Title”, // Must match page title
“description”: “Video description (50-160 characters)”,
“thumbnailUrl”: “https://…/thumb.jpg”, // Must be accessible
“uploadDate”: “2024-07-15T08:00:00+08:00”, // Must use this format
“contentUrl”: “https://…/video.mp4” // Direct video link
}

Blocked crawl paths (19%)

❌ Common mistakes:

15%: robots.txt mistakenly blocks video directories (e.g., Disallow: /videos/)
4%: Page contains noindex tag (<meta name="robots" content="noindex">)

✅ How to check:

Visit yoursite.com/robots.txt, see if there is Disallow: /video-path/
Right-click page → View source → Search for noindex
In Google Search Console (GSC)’s Coverage report check if it shows “Blocked”

Sitemap does not include video pages (17%)

❌ Common Mistakes:

38%: After updating video did not regenerate sitemap.xml
22%: sitemap.xml format errors (e.g. URL placed in the wrong location)
17%: URLs with Chinese or special characters not encoded (e.g. 视频.html should be written as %E8%A7%86%E9%A2%91.html)

✅ Correct Example:

<urlset xmlns=”http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9″>
<url>
<loc>https://yoursite.com/%E8%A7%86%E9%A2%91.html</loc>
<lastmod>2024-08-01</lastmod>
<changefreq>weekly</changefreq>
</url>
</urlset>

Video File Access Issues (12%)

❌ Common Mistakes:

Issue Type	Proportion	Solution
403 Forbidden	58%	Check server permissions (e.g. `.htaccess` add `Require all granted`)
404 Not Found	42%	Fix the link or re-upload the video
Unsupported Format	8%	Convert to MP4 (H.264 encoding)

Run in terminal: curl -I https://yoursite.com/video.mp4 to confirm response is 200 OK

Performance Issues Leading to Crawl Failures (7%)

❌ Googlebot’s Tolerance Limits:

Load time > 8s → Crawl abandoned
Video > 500MB → Failure rate increases 37% (especially on shared hosting)
Frequent 5xx server errors → May be temporarily removed from index

✅ Optimization Methods:

Compress video (use FFmpeg to lower bitrate):

ffmpeg -i input.mov -vcodec h264 -acodec aac -crf 23 output.mp4

Use CDN (e.g. AWS S3 + CloudFront)

Monitor availability (use UptimeRobot to check video links)

How to Get Your Video Indexed (Practical Guide)

92% of video indexing issues can be systematically solved, with different fix types taking effect in different times:

Structured data fixes (62% issues) → Indexing rate improves 81% within 12-72 hours
Remove robots.txt block (19%) → Googlebot re-crawls within 6 hours
Video file accessibility fixes (12%) → Must update Schema at the same time, otherwise 53% will fail again

Structured Data Reconstruction (Most Critical)

📋 Required Fields Template (JSON-LD format):

{
“@context”: “https://schema.org”,
“@type”: “VideoObject”,
“name”: “Video Title”, // Should be nearly identical to page title (≤2 word difference)
“description”: “Video description (best length: 112-165 characters)”,
“thumbnailUrl”: “https://…/thumb.jpg”, // Size ≥160x90px, HTTPS required
“uploadDate”: “2024-07-20T14:30:00+08:00”, // Must follow this format
“contentUrl”: “https://…/video.mp4”, // Direct video link (no redirects)
“duration”: “PT38M27S”, // Video duration (ISO8601 format)
“embedUrl”: “https://…/embed?id=123” // Self-hosted player link (if available)
}

🔧 How to Add to Page?

WordPress Users: Install Schema Pro plugin → Choose Video template → Fill fields → Auto-insert
Manual Add: Use FTP to edit HTML → Place code below </title> tag (near top)

✅ Verification Method:

Use Google Rich Results Test → Confirm VIDEO label turns green
In Google Search Console (GSC) → Enhancements → Videos → Check index count (updates every 24h)

⚠️ Pitfall Warnings:

uploadDate must be earlier than Google’s first crawl time (otherwise considered fake)
Thumbnail link must be HTTPS (HTTP will trigger “insecure resource” error)

Remove Crawl Blocks (Server-Level Fix)

📋 Check robots.txt:

Visit yoursite.com/robots.txt, ensure no video blocking:

User-agent: Googlebot
Allow: /*.mp4$ # Allow MP4 crawl
Allow: /*.webm$ # Allow WebM crawl
Disallow: /private/ # Block only sensitive directories

🔍 Verify Effect:
Use Google Robots Testing Tool → Enter video URL → Confirm shows “Allowed”

❌ Remove noindex tag: In page code search: <meta name=”robots” content=”noindex”> <!– Delete this line –>

Replace with (recommended): <meta name=“robots” content=“max-snippet:120, max-video-preview:60”>

Submit Sitemap (Accelerate Indexing)

📋 Video-specific sitemap.xml template:

<urlset xmlns=”http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9″
xmlns:video=”http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap-video/1.1″>
<url>
<loc>https://yoursite.com/video-page</loc>
<lastmod>2024-07-22</lastmod>
<video:video>
<video:title>Video Title</video:title>
<video:content_loc>https://…/video.mp4</video:content_loc>
<video:thumbnail_loc>https://…/thumb.jpg</video:thumbnail_loc>
<video:duration>2307</video:duration> <!– 38min27s=2307s –>
</video:video>
</url>
</urlset>

🚀 Submit to GSC:

Go to Search Console → Indexing → Sitemaps
Enter sitemap.xml → Check if status shows “Success”

Optimize Video Files (Ensure Accessibility)

🔧 Fix 403/404 Errors:

Server Type	403 Solution	404 Solution
Apache	In `.htaccess` add: `<Files "*.mp4">` `Require all granted` `</Files>`	Check `httpd.conf`: `Alias /videos/ /actual/path/`
Nginx	In `.conf` add: `location ~ .(mp4	webm)$ {`<br>`add_header Access-Control-Allow-Origin *;`<br>`}`

🎥 Video Compression (Reduce Load Time):
Use FFmpeg compression: ffmpeg -i input.mov -c:v libx264 -crf 23 -c:a aac -b:a 128k output.mp4

-crf 23: Nearly lossless quality, reduces file size 60%+
Result: 500MB → 120MB, load time drops from 8.7s to 2.1s

⚡ CDN Acceleration (Recommended):

Upload video to Cloudflare R2 / AWS S3
Update Schema with CDN link (e.g. https://cdn.yoursite.com/video.mp4)

Manual Index Request (Final Acceleration)

📋 GSC Steps:

Go to URL Inspection Tool → Paste video page URL → Click “Test Live URL”
If it shows “Not Indexed” → Click “Request Indexing”
Effect Time:
- Crawl Queue: Googlebot visits within 2-6 hours
- Processing Queue: Video indexing completes in 6-24 hours

🔍 Verify Indexing:

In GSC “Index Status” report search URL → Check “Last Crawl Time”
Use search command: site:yoursite.com "Video Title" → Check if video card appears

Don Jiang

The essence of SEO is a competition for resources, providing practical value to search engine users. Follow me, and I'll take you to the top floor to see through the underlying algorithms of Google rankings.

Latest interpretation

We have detected video indexing issues on your website | Handling guide