Google significantly limits video rich snippetsHow will that impact your website?

Video rich snippets are an enhanced results in Google’s SERPs (Search Engine Results Page) that features a thumbnail of a video next to the search result. They help users recognize when the site is relevant to search, and may result in more clicks.

We have recently witnessed a sudden drop of video rich snippets in Google’s search results. This unexpected change resulted in heated discussion within SEO community as to both Google’s motivations and the effect this move will have on the click through rates (CTR).

In this presentation we will look at what the digital marketing community is saying about the recent update – and what it means for your video marketing.

Timeline of the change

• 16th of July - SEER Interactive noticed that the visibility of Google video snippets in the search results were significantly reduced. The author of the article, Chad Gingrich posted several graphics, including this one comparing Vevo’s video pages (which are still getting snippets) to Moz’s Whiteboard Friday posts (which have lost snippets).

Timeline of the change

Credit to SEER Interactive http://www.seerinteractive.com/blog/did-google-end-video-snippets

Timeline of the change

• 18th of July – Jennifer Slegg, of The SEM Post, reported a 4% increase in the number of video thumbnails showing in the search results over the previous day. Despite this slight change, the overall decline from 16th of July was still quite dramatic and there was no way of telling if the rise on will continue.

Timeline of the change

• 21st of July – Jennifer Slegg shared data provided by Mozcast showing further decline of visibility of video rich snippets. She indicates that this recent trend might be a permanent change in Google’s search results.

Credit to The SEM Post http://www.thesempost.com/google-video-snippets-visibility-continues-drop-search-results/

As an answer to many questions asked by bloggers and SEOs, Google’s spokesman said that:

“We’ll continue to show video snippets where it’s most relevant.”

Google’s Webmaster Trend Analyst John Mueller argues that the recent changes were designed to

“clean up the visual design of our search results, in particular creating a better mobile experience and a more consistent design across devices.”

He added:

“We’re still showing video snippets, seeing changes from time to time is normal.”

Reason Behind These Changes

• Many suggest that the recent changes made by Google were motivated by their bank book. While video snippets from many other sites appeared to be removed, the video thumbnails for YouTube, which is owned by Google, were unaffected. This has led to speculation that Google is favoring its own site, at the expense of others.

• Another suggestion is that by taking relevant videos and other rich snippets away from the organic search will bring more attention to Google’s primary profit machine – Google Adwords.

Profit?

Reason Behind These Changes

Jennifer Slegg saw the connection between the change in visibility of the video rich snippets and the Google’s announcement in late June that authorship photos were being permanently removed from the Google SERP. However, Google’s spokesman had denied those suspicions assuring that these events were not related.

Algorithm change?

Regardless of the negative implications the recent change might have on CTR, videos and other rich visual content should still be included in website design as they significantly enhance overall user experience. Despite the reduction of the video snippets in the SERP’s, Google’s algorithm is still relying on video tags and other rich content when indexing a webpage.

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