Back in 2007, when Google launches Universal Search, it started indexing videos.
The motive behind launching Universal search is to give searchers diverse set of results beyond text-based web pages.
While Universal search includes a variety of content like text, images, news, etc, videos became one popular among all.
In the early phase, the search giant starting videos content from popular platforms like YouTube, Vimeo, and others. However, now it is indexing videos from any website (providing the video is fulfilling the searchers intent).
Since then, Google search became a great place for students, teachers or anyone looking for educational videos.
Now, to improve the user experience of searchers looking for educational videos, Google search has brought a new structured data called Learning Video.
This new structured data gives more context to the searchers about the video.
It shows them some information chips about the video in search only that explains what this video is about and who is this for.
See the below screenshot to understand how Learning Video structured data improves searchers user experience by showing them some information chips.
Now, in the above screenshot you can see that, the video explains what this video is about and who is this for with the information chips present below it.
The new learning video structured data is now available in Google search across all regions.
However, It appears only when searchers looking for academic learning content.
Requirements for Adding Learning Video Structured Data
Below are the technical requirements that are needed to implement learning video structured data in a webpage.
- There must be a video present on the webpage and it has these properties.
- The video must be publically available, not password protected.
- The total duration of the video must not be less than 30 seconds.
Learning Video Structured Data Sample Code
Here is the sample code of how learning video structured data looks:
<html>
<head>
<title>Title of the Video</title>
<script type="application/ld+json">
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": ["VideoObject", "LearningResource"],
"name": "An introduction to Algebra",
"description": "Explaining the Basics of Algebra for Beginners.",
"learningResourceType": "Concept Overview",
"educationalLevel": "High school (US)",
"contentUrl": "https://www.example.com/video/123/file.mp4",
"thumbnailUrl": [
"https://example.com/photos/1x1/photo.jpg",
"https://example.com/photos/4x3/photo.jpg",
"https://example.com/photos/16x9/photo.jpg"
],
"uploadDate": "2016-03-31T08:00:00+08:00"
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
</body>
</html>Learning Video Structured Data Properties
Here are the properties you can add in the learning video structured data for unlocking more rich results chips for your educational videos.
educationalAlignment
You can use the educationalAlignment property, if your video is talking about a standard class or exam.
Here is the sample code of how the educationalAlignment property looks.
"educationalAlignment":
{
"@type": "AlignmentObject",
"educationalFramework": "NCERT",
"targetUrl": "https://ncert.nic.in/"
}educationalLevel
This property defines to which educational level the video is targeting.
Now, the names of educational levels vary from one country to another.
For example, below are the supported values for India.
- Middle Stage (IN)
- Class 8 (IN)
- Secondary School (IN)
- Class 9 (IN)
- Class 10 (IN)
- Senior Secondary School (IN)
- Class 11 (IN)
- Class 12 (IN)
- Undergraduate college (IN)
- Post-graduate college (IN)
Refer this article to know the supported values (of educationLevel property) for different countries.
Now, instead of using the above supported values, you can add some generic values as listed below.
- Beginner
- Intermediate
- Advanced
learningResourceType
This property helps users and crawlers to understand the content present in the video.
For example, the video might give an overview of a concept or solving an academic problem.
Here are the supported values you can add in this property.
- Concept Overview: If explaining a concept or topic.
- Problem walkthrough: If solving an academic problem.
- Real life example: If applying or using a concept in real life.
- Activity: If performing an activity like debate or review.
- Experiment: If showing an experiment.
- Lecture: If showing a lecture, class, or webinar
- How-to: If showing a series of steps to do something.
- Tips: If showing some tips or tricks.
Now, it may happen that your video contains a mix of these supported values.
For example, suppose you have a video that first gives the concept overview then explaining how to solve problems related to the concept and then also have a debate about the concept.
Well, in that case, you can add the relevant supported values at clip level.
Below, I have shown you the code of a video that is giving a concept overview as well as solving a problem associated with the same concept. See how I added the relevant supported values at clip level.
{
"@type": ["Clip","LearningResource"],
"learningResourceType": "Concept Overview",
"name": "An Overview to Integers",
"startOffset": 501,
"url": "https://www.example.com/example?t=501"
}{
"@type": ["Clip","LearningResource"],
"learningResourceType": "Problem Walkthrough",
"name": "Example 1",
"text": "Write a program that takes two integers as input and calculates their sum. Display the result to the user.",
"startOffset": 201,
"url": "https://www.example.com/example?t=201"
}Benefits of Adding Learning Video Structured Data
By adding the Learning Video structured data, you will enhance the user experience of your website in Google search.
It helps searchers to get more context about your video before opening it (or visiting a webpage that contains the video).
That reduces pogo sticking which in turn improves the overall SEO health of your website from many aspects.
So, how many of you are going to use this new structured data to improve your website’s CTR, let me know in the comments down below.
