Video Sitemap, Video Location

[TommySwanson52]

I'm a link builder, so some of this stuff on-page stuff is out of my comfort zone.

I've got a client who I'm doing a video sitemap for, as well as Schema integration.

One of the requirements on the video sitemap is video location. They're hosting all of their videos privately at Vimeo, and embedding them on their website. Is there a URL that Vimeo has for engines, because the primary URL on Vimeo is blocked because of their permissions (private).

Any suggestions on a work-around on this?

Again, I'm a link builder and out of my comfort zone, so I apologize for the dumb question

[Copstead]

There are going to be a couple of different fields for you to fill out.  You use the actual link to the video on Vimeo, but also in the sitemap tell which page the video resides on.

<loc>http://site.com/example_landing_page.html</loc>

video:content_lochttp://site.com/example_video1.wmv</video:content_loc>

<video:description>The Example Video</video:description>

[TommySwanson52]

I think I used the wrong terminology in the post. There are a few items needed for a video sitemap, from my understanding.

• Title
• Description
• Play page URL
• Thumbnail URL
• Raw video file location and/or the player URL (SWF) <-- this is what I'm having trouble finding

Does that make sense? Sorry for my idiocy.

[Copstead]

The Raw video file location will be the Vimeo location.

[Copstead]

Here is a great example:

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/video-sitemap-guide-for-vimeo-and-youtube

[TommySwanson52]

Hi Brent.

The problem is that the client has the video listed as private (not to be viewed on Vimeo), so the video returns a "you don't have permission to view this page".

Any thoughts?

Tommy

[Copstead]

OK, I see.  So basically they are only using Vimeo to host the video.  Not sure if I know what to do in that case.

But we you still have a couple of different options.

1. Host and embed the video directly on the site. (There are tons of flash video scripts out there)

2. Host the video with another provider like http://wistia.com or http://www.brightcove.com/en/  (They allow many more options for embedding and sitemaps.)

[PhilNottingham]

Hey Tommy,

So for Vimeo videos, you actually don't need to include the a  video:content_locelement in the sitemap</video:content_loc>, but rather reference a player location for the content with the video:player_locmark-up.</video:player_loc>

Google don't  actually need you to include both elements, as explained here: http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=80472

Vimeo's Flash or HTML5 iFrame player won't simply playback the uploaded content, but delivers a compressed version at a variable bitrate - so the original file is actually not the one you want the sitemap to reference. Moreover, Google cannot get through the Vimeo's cloud storage system and browse the original files anyway.

The player location can be picked out of the embed code you have used for the video - and should look something like:

http://player.vimeo.com/video/01013541

You will also probably want Google to be able to embed the video and auto-play it, so the player_loc markup should look like:

<video:player_loc allow_embed="yes" autoplay="ap=1">http://player.vimeo.com/video/01013541</video:player_loc>

You can test you have the right URL, because you should be able to open the player URL when not logged into vimeo and still view the content (it will take up a whole browser window)

Also, for best chances of getting a blended result with your Vimeo vids - ensure (as you have done) that the video is marked as private and not available to view within the vimeo community pages. If you have a vimeo pro account (which you should do if it's commercial content) you will want to disable the community pass. You should also make sure that you have allowed the video to be embedded anywhere (or at least your domain and google.com), but removed the "embed" button from the player in the player settings- as the code created here will only help to build links to your Vimeo account, rather than your actual domain.

For general reference - The video file url will be somewhere on vimeos CDN, and will look something like http://s3.amazonaws.com/videos.vimeo.com/846/293/84629656.mov You can find it by logging into Vimeo, going to the video page and pulling the first part of the URL from the "download this video" link.

I hope that's useful! let me know if you have any other problems/questions.

Cheers,

Phil