Google has announced it will enhance the search experience for educational videos by supporting a new type of structured data markup.
Publishers can now include schema.org metadata that specifies the educational level, concepts, and skills covered in instructional videos.
This new structured data for learning videos enables Google Search to understand the content better and serve users with more relevant results.
Videos marked up with these properties may also display rich snippets in search results, including the target education level and video type like “overview” or “solution.”
The learning video rich results are currently available in English on Google Search globally for desktop and mobile. They appear for searches related to academic learning and educational content.
Structured Data Implementation
Structured data is a standard way of marking up a web page to classify its contents.
For websites with content management systems (CMSs), publishers can integrate structured data plugins to add markup more easily. Those using JavaScript-based websites can generate the schema.org metadata through code.
Best Practices For Publishers
Google recommends publishers follow best practices for implementation:
- Add the required schema.org properties based on the video format
- Use Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool to validate the markup
- Deploy a few pages with the new structured data
- Submit a sitemap to inform Google of the changes
Technical Requirements
The technical requirements include:
- Minimum 30-second video duration
- Publicly accessible without login or subscription
- Structured data must be on the page where users can view the video
Videos must be accessible without any barriers like subscriptions or logins. They must be publicly viewable for Google to understand and index the content. Specifically, the structured data must be added to the page where users can directly watch the full video. If users are just pointed elsewhere to view it, that would provide a poor experience.
Benefits For Search & Users
The schema.org learning video markup enables search engines to understand important educational details like covered concepts and target grade levels.
This allows search engines to return results that closely match the educational intent behind search queries.
For users, seeing education levels, concepts covered, video styles, and other metadata in the search results helps them decide which videos match their needs without watching each one.
Publishers marking up instructional videos may see traffic improvements from the enhanced snippets.
Google’s initiative to leverage structured data for learning videos is the latest move in improving the search for educational materials.
Other recent updates focused on education include new Google Search tools to help with math and science and AI-generated responses in SGE to boost learning.
Featured Image: ZoFot/Shutterstock
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