How to Embed Video on Your Website with VideoObject Schema

Embedding YouTube videos on your website with VideoObject schema creates an AI-visible connection between your video content and your website authority.

?Why it matters

Embedding a YouTube video on your website with VideoObject JSON-LD schema does three things at once: it creates a video-rich page that Google can surface in video search, it tells AI systems that your website is the canonical home of this video content, and it reinforces the authority loop between your YouTube channel and your website. Without the schema, embedding a video is just decoration — the schema is what makes it an authority signal.

✓What you'll need

  • •A YouTube video URL
  • •Access to your website HTML or CMS
  • •The video's title, description, upload date, and thumbnail URL

Step-by-step walkthrough

1

Get the YouTube embed code

On YouTube, click Share → Embed. Copy the iframe code.

2

Embed the video in your page

Paste the iframe code into your page at the location where you want the video to appear. Add a title above the video and a brief description below it.

3

Get the video thumbnail URL

Your video thumbnail URL follows this pattern: https://img.youtube.com/vi/[VIDEO_ID]/maxresdefault.jpg — replace [VIDEO_ID] with your actual YouTube video ID (the letters/numbers after "watch?v=" in the YouTube URL).

4

Add VideoObject JSON-LD schema

Add this to your page's <head> or as a <script> block: { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "VideoObject", "name": "Your video title", "description": "Your video description", "thumbnailUrl": "https://img.youtube.com/vi/YOUR_VIDEO_ID/maxresdefault.jpg", "uploadDate": "2026-03-01", "embedUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/embed/YOUR_VIDEO_ID", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Your Business Name", "url": "https://yourwebsite.com" } }

5

Test with Google's Rich Results Test

Paste your page URL into search.google.com/test/rich-results and confirm "Video" appears as a detected rich result with no errors.

★Pro tips

  • TIP:Add the video transcript as text below the video embed — this gives the page rich textual content that AI systems can read and index.
  • TIP:Link from the video description on YouTube back to this page — bidirectional linking creates a stronger authority signal than one-way embedding.
  • TIP:Create a dedicated page for each video (not just embed videos as secondary content on service pages) — dedicated pages rank independently and accumulate authority over time.

!Common mistakes

  • ✕Embedding the video without schema — the embed alone has minimal SEO and GEO value. The schema is what signals video content to AI systems.
  • ✕Using incorrect upload dates in the schema — the uploadDate must match the actual YouTube publish date.

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