Create a Video Sitemap.xml File

A Video sitemap.xml file is a file which allows you to tell search engines about Video specific URLs on your website that is available for crawling.

Google can crawl the following video file types: .mpg, .mpeg, .mp4, .mov, .wmv, .asf, .avi, .ra, .ram, .rm, .flv. All files must be accessible via HTTP.

Tags in the Sitemap.xml File

The Title Tag

The title of the video. Limited to 100 characters.

The Content Loc Tag

The URL of the actual video content.

The Player LOC Tag

A URL pointing to a player for the video. The most common case for this is with Flash video. The URL of the SWF file that plays your video should be specified in <video:player_loc> and the URL of the FLV (actual video file) would be specified in <video:content_loc>.

The Thumbnail LOC Tag

A URL pointing to the URL for the video thumbnail image file. If you don't provide a thumbnail image, Google will automatically generate a set of representative thumbnail images from your actual video content. Using this allows you to suggest the thumbnail you want displayed in search results.

The Family Friendly Tag

Whether the video is suitable for viewing by children. Allowed values are "Yes" or "No".

This is an example of a Video Sitemap:

<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9"
xmlns:video="http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap-video/1.0">
<url>
<loc>http://www.site.com/videos/some_video_landing_page.html</loc>
<video:video>
<video:content_loc>
http://www.site.com/video123.flv
</video:content_loc>
<video:player_loc allow_embed="yes">
http://www.site.com/videoplayer.swf?video=123
</video:player_loc>
<video:title>My funny video</video:title>
<video:thumbnail_loc>
http://www.site.com/thumbs/123.jpg
</video:thumbnail_loc>
</video:video>
</url>

<url>
<loc>http://www.site.com/videos/some_other_video_landing_page.html</loc> <video:video>
<video:content_loc>
http://www.site.com/videos/video1.mpg
</video:content_loc>
<video:description>A really awesome video</video:description>
</video:video>
</url>
</urlset>

These are the basic set-up tips for creating a sitemap.xml index file or a
regular sitemap.xml file. For a complete listing of all of the sitemap.xml
variables and options, Google Video Sitemaps is a good source of information
on the actual creation and working samples of sitemap.xml files.

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