Google Blog

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Posted by Michael Cohen, Product Manager

As we’ve mentioned before, the Google Video team wants to make it possible for you to search every video on the web. This is a tall order, and we’re constantly working to make sure we have the latest and greatest videos. Ever wondered how we actually discover all the videos that make it into video search?

While we receive a small percentage of our videos from user uploads, we get the vast majority of them by crawling the web. We’ve gotten pretty good at this over the past several years, but of course it’s helpful when webmasters tell us exactly where to look to find their videos. This is where a protocol called Video Sitemaps (an extension of the Sitemap Protocol) comes in. Video Sitemaps allow webmasters to give us links directly to their videos and provide valuable descriptive information such as a video’s title, description, and length. We can then target our crawlers at these videos and pull them into the Google Video index, allowing them to show up in Google Video searches as well as searches on Google.com.

Some key information provided by a sitemap includes:

• A link to the video’s “landing page” (i.e., the link you’d visit in your browser)
• A title of the video for us to display in our search results
• A description of the video to accompany each result
• The duration of the video
• An image thumbnail that we can show in our search results
• A link to an embeddable video player — so you can watch the video in TV view

If you administer a website with video and would like to see your site appear in our search results, a Video Sitemap is definitely your best bet. To get started, create a Video Sitemap, sign into Google Webmaster Tools, and add the Video Sitemap to your account.

Posted by Steve Gerding, Software Engineer

Today, by popular demand, we are making TV view the default search result view for Google Video. If you haven’t seen it yet, TV view is a new interface that lets you browse search results, watch videos, and check out related videos — all on the same page. Here’s what it looks like:

Videos that we are able to embed will play directly in the TV view player when you click on them. These include almost all Google- and YouTube-hosted videos, as well as videos from many other sites such as metacafe.com, crackle.com, and hundreds of others. Videos that cannot be embedded will display a thumbnail or filmstrip that links to the page where the video can be played. If you’re a webmaster and would like your videos to be embeddable in TV view, check out our Video Sitemaps Help Center.

In addition to playing the video, clicking on a search result will reload the list of related videos on the right hand side of the page. Next time you’re watching a video, try flipping through the related videos; you might find something even better that what you originally searched for! Just like search results, most related videos can be played directly in the TV view player.

We hope you enjoy this new search experience. Of course, if you prefer either list or grid view to TV view, you can switch your view preference at any time by clicking on one of the view icons at the top of the page:

Posted by Greg Billock, Software Engineer

As part of our mission, we on the Google Video team want you to be able to search, browse and discover videos from across the web. More than a year ago, we described our renewed focus on organizing all the web’s video. Today, in addition to expanding Google Video’s search capabilities, we have a number of new browse- and search-related features we’re excited to share.

Now you can choose any of three ways to view your video search-results: a traditional list view, a grid view and, for those of you who like to maximize your video-watching efficiency, a TV view, where you can watch an embedded video while continuing to view your search results next to the video for a more seamless browse and search experience.

Try them out by clicking on the gray icon boxes:

You may have also noticed that we’ve given the Google Video homepage a bit of a facelift. We wanted to make it as easy as possible for you to find and access the web’s most compelling videos, and just as before, you can see what videos people are viewing, sharing, and blogging about — but now, with the new TV view, you can also watch many of the top videos directly on the homepage.

There’s something else we think you’ll like. Have you ever asked yourself “What was that really cool video that everyone was watching a couple of weeks ago?” Well, you can use our timeline viewto find out. If you’re wondering, for example, what was the most blogged-about video on April Fool’s Day, it was Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” (thanks to YouTube rickrolling the world). If you’re curious which video was shared most in October, it was Professor Randy Pausch’s “Last Lecture”, which has persisted as one of the most-shared titles on Google Video ever since. Try it out to discover (or re-discover) something interesting.

We’ll be letting you know as we roll out new features, so keep checking back for more information about what we’re up to!

I want to start off by giving my heartfelt thanks to all of who have been loyal readers of the Google Video Blog. It’s been a real pleasure delivering the best of Google Video to your screens. But even though you may not be receiving your daily dose of entertainment from me, fret not! There’s a plethora of footage at your fingertips on Google Video and of course on YouTube! And if blog reading is a regular habit, do check out the YouTube Blog to find out what the YT editors consider must-see.

And again, thank you for staying tuned. Here’s to hours of happy viewing to you.

Warm messages from the soldiers’ hearts to their loved ones. Happy Holidays everyone!

Click here to watch “Holiday Greeting from PV2 Ernest Marshall”
Deployed Service Members send Holiday Greetings to their family and friends
14 sec

Click here to watch “Holiday Greeting from SGT Amanda Soule”
Deployed Service Members send Holiday Greetings to their family and friends
11 sec

Click here to watch “Holiday Greeting from SPC Damon Pickens”
Deployed Service Members send Holiday Greetings to their family and friends
15 sec

Click here to watch “Holiday Greeting from SFC Shlonda Calhoun”
Deployed Service Members send Holiday Greetings to their family and friends
22 sec

Click here to watch “Holiday Greeting from SGT Harvey Smith”
Deployed Service Members send Holiday Greetings to their family and friends
14 sec

Click here to watch “Holiday Greeting from SPC Raymond Rinehart”
Deployed Service Members send Holiday Greetings to their family and friends
12 sec

Please click here for more Holiday Greetings!

8 videos to celebrate the 8 days of Hanukkah!

Click here to watch “funny chanukah - hanukkah video”
A documentary featuring puppets sharing their feelings about chanukah. http://www.chanukah.org
2 min 14 sec

Click here to watch “THE LEEVEES ROCKING HANUKKAH”
The Leevees are getting ready to rock Hanukkah with an original album of songs about about a forgotten musical holiday, Hanukkah. Keywords:Adam Gardner, Dave Schneider, The Zambonis, Guster
2 min 33 sec

Click here to watch “Zola Levitt Presents: The Feast of Lights, p1: The Story of Hanukkah”
Dr. Jeffrey Seif sets up the story of Hanukkah and the abominable Antiochus Epiphanes; wherein, the Syrian dictator overthrew Jerusalem and desecrated the Holy Temple. Although many throughout history have sought to destroy God’s chosen people, Jeff reassures us that, “He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.” Also, we learn about harvesting the olive and its importance to the golden Menorah, which resided in the Holy Place.
10 min 2 sec

Click here to watch “Zola Levitt Presents: The Feast of Lights, p2: “You Are the Light of the World”"
Jeff interviews Rabbi Martin J. Waldman about the increase of Messianic Jews in the world today, and we see a timely interview with Zola and Messianic believer Simcha Davidov.
28 min 28 sec

Click here to watch “Zola Levitt Presents: The Feast of Lights, p3: The Feast of Dedication”
Discover the Feast of Dedication as observed by Jesus in the Bible, and don’t miss a heartfelt interview where Zola and Jean Rosenberg look at the celebration of Hanukkah in the home today
28 min 30 sec

Click here to watch “Hanukkah Song”
Daily Dancer dancing to Hanukkah Song by Adam Sandler.
1 min 40 sec

Click here to watch “I_Wish_Every_Day-lg.mov”
Hoffman York (an Advertising Agency in Milwaukee) has created an original song and animation for a heart-warming Christmas/Hanukkah/Holiday greeting!
3 min 24 sec

Click here to watch “Waterloo Voca Mocha - Hanukkah! Hanukkah!”
1 min 46 sec

Share these videos with your friends using the “Send link to a friend” feature! Learn how here!