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Google Removing Media from the SERPs

by yukon Banned
24 replies
  • SEO
    • |
I didn't think it would happen but Google started removing media from the SERPs, specifically video thumbnail images. This started 2-3 days ago.

It's not just my videos either, I've been checking other sites & the same thing has happened.

What Google did was remove the video thumbnails from the text search & left them alone in the Video tab at the top of the SERPs so the videos are basically buried. I doubt very much traffic click that Video tab.

I have an idea what might be happening & what Google is looking for, right now I'm holding out for maybe a week or so to see If it's a temporary issue.

Here's an example of video thumbnails being removed from text search, yoast had multiple videos showing in text search a week ago:
#google #media #removing #serps
  • Profile picture of the author chris_87
    Originally Posted by yukon View Post

    I didn't think it would happen but Google started removing media from the SERPs, specifically video thumbnail images. This started 2-3 days ago.
    Yes I noticed this as well

    Originally Posted by yukon View Post

    I have an idea what might be happening & what Google is looking for, right now I'm holding out for maybe a week or so to see If it's a temporary issue.
    What direction do you think they are heading with this?
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    • Profile picture of the author yukon
      Banned
      Originally Posted by chris_87 View Post

      Yes I noticed this as well


      What direction do you think they are heading with this?
      I think the external video player might be the problem. If it's the video player it's an easy fix but I'm holding out for a few days to see what happens.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    I'm surprised this news hasn't hit the main SEO sites/blogs. Something defiantly changed.

    I know yoast has sold a lot of video plugins so right now I'm sure all his buyers video thumbnails are down on text search. I had a similar setup as yoast only mine was all manual instead of a plugin.
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    • Profile picture of the author chris_87
      Originally Posted by yukon View Post

      I'm surprised this news hasn't hit the main SEO sites/blogs. Something defiantly changed.
      Well they might cover it now, all they do is browse the forums and report what they read.
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  • Profile picture of the author mkgg
    I guess they want to give even more exposure to youtube. This is really strange though, seems like they have something big planned...first authorship images now these...hmmm
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    • Profile picture of the author yukon
      Banned
      Originally Posted by mkgg View Post

      I guess they want to give even more exposure to youtube.
      I hate to be the one to say it but that's exactly what this looks like. I still see Youtube videos in text search.

      I've been tracking different sites on/off over the last couple of years in regards to video, as another example I know without any doubt this keyword (below) has returned multiple video thumbnail images like clockwork, it's never failed until now.

      That same search phrase does return a video If you click the Video tab (link below):

      If Google is planning on removing all videos from text search & only showing video thumbnails under the Video tab in the SERPs that's fine, whatever... so far I'm still seeing Youtube in text SERPs and not much of anything else, including other authority sites.
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  • Profile picture of the author chris_87
    Perhaps using youtube as the host for the video would work to generate the video thumbnail on a given page. Most pages that I encountered hosted the video through the domain itself or Vimeo. I will dig around and see what comes up.
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    • Profile picture of the author yukon
      Banned
      Originally Posted by chris_87 View Post

      Perhaps using youtube as the host for the video would work to generate the video thumbnail on a given page. Most pages that I encountered hosted the video through the domain itself or Vimeo. I will dig around and see what comes up.
      Personally I wouldn't use the Youtube player for self hosted videos, YT is constantly changing things on their end.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dr los3
    In on yukon thread

    yukon 2014 seo video media serps removed google 1998
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    • Profile picture of the author sujatasharma
      Can you clear me how is this next work on SERP google.
      Signature

      My name is sujata sharma and i am search engine optimization service provider, Right now i am working on odesk with my clients.

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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    Something else to consider, this might be Google pushing sites to use schema tags. I don't use schema tags on my video pages, Youtube video pages HTML source code on the other hand are heavy on schema tags.

    This is a random Vimeo video that also has schema tags in their video HTML source code, lets see If this video thumbnail sticks in the text SERPs. The Vimeo video page cache date is Jul 20, 2014 19:39:23 GMT.






    [edit]
    The Vimeo example was re-cached (Jul 28, 2014 11:25:56 GMT) & the video thumbnail is still showing in text search.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    Something I wanted to point out, my video pages are still holding the same rank in text search, that hasn't changed. The videos still rank #1 in the Google Video tab at the top of the SERPs (that also hasn't changed).

    Basically Google just turned off video thumbnails in text search.
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  • Profile picture of the author Laubster
    Could be similar to how they reduced the % of Google+ thumbnails appearing. Might be trying to reduce people's reliance on them to boost CTR's, especially with how many people are trying to rank videos these days.
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    • Profile picture of the author raiko
      Is it remotely possible that it has something to do with their recent claim that they are trying to speed up the internet by changing the way they process images etc.?
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      • Profile picture of the author sujatasharma
        Thanks for this information to provide for all SEO guys, You have mention here everything but really I don't satisfied with your information, can you give me here some another details.
        Signature

        My name is sujata sharma and i am search engine optimization service provider, Right now i am working on odesk with my clients.

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      • Profile picture of the author yukon
        Banned
        Originally Posted by raiko View Post

        Is it remotely possible that it has something to do with their recent claim that they are trying to speed up the internet by changing the way they process images etc.?
        Any links to the recent image claim? I guess you mean something Google posted?
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        • Profile picture of the author raiko
          Originally Posted by yukon View Post

          Any links to the recent image claim? I guess you mean something Google posted?
          Yes, I can't remember where I saw it but it was something about Google switching images and such to the newer WebP format. Unfortunately some browsers can't handle the format properly yet. Probably not what's causing the problem but thought I'd throw it out there anyway.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kevin Maguire
    Damn,

    Just as Yukon gets me into something, it gets targeted. I'm hoping it's just an adjustment as I had big plans for a new site built around video content.

    BoooHooooHooo
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    • Profile picture of the author yukon
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Kevin Maguire View Post

      Damn,

      Just as Yukon gets me into something, it gets targeted. I'm hoping it's just an adjustment as I had big plans for a new site built around video content.

      BoooHooooHooo
      I haven't messed with any of my video pages yet (holding out) but my spidey sense says this might be either schema based or more likely the video player needs to be hosted on the same domain as the ranked video page.
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  • Profile picture of the author shockwave
    Originally Posted by yukon View Post

    I didn't think it would happen but Google started removing media from the SERPs, specifically video thumbnail images. This started 2-3 days ago.

    It's not just my videos either, I've been checking other sites & the same thing has happened.

    What Google did was remove the video thumbnails from the text search & left them alone in the Video tab at the top of the SERPs so the videos are basically buried. I doubt very much traffic click that Video tab.

    I have an idea what might be happening & what Google is looking for, right now I'm holding out for maybe a week or so to see If it's a temporary issue.

    Here's an example of video thumbnails being removed from text search, yoast had multiple videos showing in text search a week ago:
    Ahhhh, there you are Yukon! I pointed this out a few days ago in another thread and even used Yoasts video plugin example http://www.warriorforum.com/search-e...video-seo.html and was waiting for your response

    Long story short, I think what we are seeing is Goobers attempt to make it more difficult for us to leverage any sort of thumbnails unless that thumbnail is specific to one of their properties - because the thumbnail attracts eyeballs and clicks.....clicks away from adwords.
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    • Profile picture of the author yukon
      Banned
      Originally Posted by shockwave View Post

      Ahhhh, there you are Yukon! I pointed this out a few days ago in another thread and even used Yoasts video plugin example http://www.warriorforum.com/search-e...video-seo.html and was waiting for your response

      Long story short, I think what we are seeing is Goobers attempt to make it more difficult for us to leverage any sort of thumbnails unless that thumbnail is specific to one of their properties - because the thumbnail attracts eyeballs and clicks.....clicks away from adwords.
      Lol, I forgot about that thread, Red will eat this up, ha, ha...

      I still say ranking YT videos in Google SERPs & trying to eventually funnel that organic traffic back to a self hosted money page is silly. Just rank the self hosted page & be done with it. Anyways, that part is a bit off-topic.

      Right now I'm leaning towards Google is thinning the herd trying to get webmasters to stop hotlinking external video players & ranking those same video pages with the video images. If that's the case it kinda boils down to how serious is a webmaster about his/her website. I mean most large video sites host their own video players instead of piggybacking off external sites bandwidth. Adding a video player on the same domain won't be a big deal, just have to be careful with the host.

      I have two different ways to test a self hosted video player, just takes some time to get everything setup.
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      • Profile picture of the author shockwave
        Originally Posted by yukon View Post

        Lol, I forgot about that thread, Red will eat this up, ha, ha...

        I still say ranking YT videos in Google SERPs & trying to eventually funnel that organic traffic back to a self hosted money page is silly. Just rank the self hosted page & be done with it. Anyways, that part is a bit off-topic.

        Right now I'm leaning towards Google is thinning the herd trying to get webmasters to stop hotlinking external video players & ranking those same video pages with the video images. If that's the case it kinda boils down to how serious is a webmaster about his/her website. I mean most large video sites host their own video players instead of piggybacking off external sites bandwidth. Adding a video player on the same domain won't be a big deal, just have to be careful with the host.

        I have two different ways to test a self hosted video player, just takes some time to get everything setup.
        Yes.....he will be here soon enough I'm sure! lol.

        Well, if you have a super duper method to make this self-hosted method work quickly and efficiently, I'd sure as hell would like to see a couple of examples of it because I completely SUCK at it. Without an aged domain for that video to set on, it's just as tough as ranking a regular website.

        Although I will confess, getting YT videos to rank in the SERPs now is no easy task either - and of course it's always a gamble.
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  • Profile picture of the author SEO Power
    This isn't surprising, and to me, it's the best way to stop video spam where someone publishes a video, blasts it with thousands of backlinks, and sends it to the top of the SERPs. Of course I'm not in support of it, but that's the kind of thing that should be expected when a method goes mainstream, same as the author images.
    Signature
    ONE HOUR INDEXING - STOP WASTING MONEY ON LINKS GOOGLE NEVER FINDS
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    • Profile picture of the author yukon
      Banned
      Originally Posted by SEO Power View Post

      This isn't surprising, and to me, it's the best way to stop video spam where someone publishes a video, blasts it with thousands of backlinks, and sends it to the top of the SERPs. Of course I'm not in support of it, but that's the kind of thing that should be expected when a method goes mainstream, same as the author images.
      This isn't the same thing as blasting YT videos with spam links, but you have a very good point & that could be where this heading. Still, I would be surprised If Google forces YT to bite the bullet on all those thousands of spammy video link profiles.
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