A recent case study explored how implementing structured data can significantly enhance a website’s discoverability and attract more search traffic. While the study focused on video content, the insights are valuable for various content formats.

The case study examined the experience of Vidio, an Indonesian publisher. By utilizing video-specific structured data, Vidio witnessed a notable increase in impressions and clicks for their video pages in search results. Notably, even with a significant rise in published videos, this positive impact demonstrates the power of structured data.

This case study highlights the importance of structured data beyond just video content. By implementing relevant structured data markup for your specific content types, you can help search engines understand your website better, leading to improved discoverability and potentially attracting more organic traffic.

How CDNs Can Cause Indexing Problems for Videos

Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) offer numerous benefits for website performance, but a recent case study highlights a potential pitfall: expiring URLs for video and image files.

Here’s the issue:

• Expiring CDN URLs: Some CDNs generate short-lived URLs for video and thumbnail files. These URLs can expire quickly, preventing Google from successfully indexing your videos or fetching the files consistently.
• Impact on Indexing & User Signals: This hinders video indexing and makes it difficult for Google to gauge user interest in your videos over time. User engagement signals are crucial for search ranking, which can negatively impact your video’s visibility.

The Solution: Stable URLs for Videos

The solution is simple: use a single, unique, and stable URL for each video. Google recommends this approach in its documentation, emphasizing its benefits:

• Consistent Discovery & Processing: Stable URLs allow Google to consistently discover and process your videos, ensuring they appear in search results.
• Availability Confirmation: Google can confirm that the video files are available at the provided URL.
• Accurate User Interest Signals: Stable URLs enable Google to collect accurate user engagement signals for your videos, which can influence search ranking.

By implementing stable URLs for your videos, you can avoid indexing issues and ensure Google has the information to understand and rank your video content properly.

Enting the “VideoObject” markup, Vidio witnessed a remarkable increase in impressions and clicks on their video pages within a year. Here’s a breakdown of the positive impact:

• Increased Visibility: Vidio’s video impressions on Google Search surged 3x.
• Enhanced Click-Through Rate: Video clicks nearly doubled on Google Search.
• Content Growth Without Visibility Loss: Interestingly, Vidio published 30% more videos during this period, yet their video discoverability continued to climb.

This success can be given to using the correct structured data (“VideoObject”) and making their videos eligible for richer display features on Google Search. Additionally, Vidio leveraged Search Console’s video indexing and performance reports to identify and fix any lingering issues across their platform.

The Synergy of Indexing and Structured Data

You create a robust SEO foundation by properly indexing and implementing relevant structured data. This allows search engines to discover your content, understand its context, and potentially display it in more prominent search results. Remember, a well-crawled and well-structured website is primed for success in the search engine landscape.