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1. bobover3
   Member
   Posted 11 months ago #

   I just put 12 YouTube videos (my own) on 12 new Pages I created for that purpose. Now I need a video sitemap. I looked for plug-ins, and installed BubbleCast Video for WordPress. That installed my videos, but when it came to generating the sitemap, they said it "might take some time." That was 4 hours ago. So far, there's no sign it's even working.

   I tried installing the Google XML Sitemap for Video. That works only for posts, not pages.

   Users say the wp-media-sitemap plug-in doesn't work at all.

   The SW Video Sitemap claims to be for posts only.

   So how do I get a working video sitemap? There doesn't seem to be anything else.

   Any help you can offeer will be gratefully appreciated.

2. esmi
   Theme Diva & Forum Moderator
   Posted 11 months ago #

   Are these videos on Youtube and simply embedded on your site? Or did you upload them to your site as post/page attachments?

3. bobover3
   Member
   Posted 11 months ago #

   Hi, Esmi! The videos are on YouTube; Bubblecast uploaded them to their own site, and inserted them on my pages (I think). Not sure of the technology. Since they're my own videos, I could also upload from my own computer, if that's better.

   In any case, the videos need to be on pages. I have 12 articles on my site, and I want a video version of each article. For some reason, the plug-ins seem to work only with posts.

   Good to hear from you again.

4. esmi
   Theme Diva & Forum Moderator
   Posted 11 months ago #

   Bubblecast uploaded them to their own site

   I think that's part of the problem. These videos are actually on your site. So you can't actually create a site map of them. The closest you can get is to create a map of the Pages that contain the videos.

   Is this map for submission to Google or for use on your own site as a navigation tool?

5. bobover3
   Member
   Posted 11 months ago #

   If I understand, you're saying that the videos are not actually on my site. They're linked from Bubblecast, so they're not recognized? The plug-ins claim to recognize embedded or linked videos. Bubblecast certainly recognizes the videos it's put on my site. Would it be better for me to upload the videos directly to the pages? If I did, I'd still need a sitemap for them.

   This map is for Google, so it's got to be an XML map. I already have a regular XML sitemap for my text pages.

6. esmi
   Theme Diva & Forum Moderator
   Posted 11 months ago #

   you're saying that the videos are not actually on my site. They're linked from Bubblecast, so they're not recognized?

   Correct.

   Have you tried just using http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/google-sitemap-generator/

7. bobover3
   Member
   Posted 11 months ago #

   I've been using the Simple Google Sitemap XML. That covers all my regular pages and posts. Does the Google Sitemap Generator add a video facility?

   I just taught myself to use the YouTube "embed code." WordPress automatically turns it into a video. Now I need to see if the plug-ins work with that.

8. esmi
   Theme Diva & Forum Moderator
   Posted 11 months ago #

   Google Sitemap Generator maps all WordPress content - including your pages.

9. bobover3
   Member
   Posted 11 months ago #

   Yes, pages, but what about videos? I just installed Google Sitemap Generator so I could take a close look, and video isn't even mentioned. There's so much written about video sitemaps, distinct from regular sitemaps. Video site mapping software is for sale. There are the few video sitemap plug-ins. Does GSG do the same? It tells Google not only that there's a page, but that there's a video on the page?

10. bobover3
    Member
    Posted 11 months ago #

    Solved the problem!! Wahoo!

    The "embed code" did it. Every YouTube video comes with one. Just insert this into a new page. WordPress turns it into a video, and this video is recognized by the Google XML Sitemap for Video.

    I'll delete BubbleCast and all the pages I made with it. Then I'll create new pages using the embed codes and Google XML Sitemap for Video. Bliss!

    Thank you so much for all your help! You're one of the great people that make this Forum work. Without you urging me on, I'd have quit hours ago and been miserable. Thank you.

11. esmi
    Theme Diva & Forum Moderator
    Posted 11 months ago #

    Glad I could help :-)

12. Top10SEO
    Member
    Posted 11 months ago #

    Hello,

    Please keep us informed of your progress. It is my understanding that videos hosted on YouTube can not be used in Video Sitemaps. I know you can paste the YouTube embed code into a video sitemap and it may get indexed in Google, but I'll be very surprised if it stays that way. There is some good information at reelseo.com about this subject. http://www.reelseo.com/how-video-sitemaps/

    Good luck!

13. bobover3
    Member
    Posted 11 months ago #

    Google XML Sitemap for Video seemed to perform as promised. It confirmed that a video sitemap was created. The documentation for this plug-in specifically cites YouTube. I went to Google Webmaster Tools and submitted the sitemap. The submission was accepted. Google cautioned that it might take them a while to index the contents, so I'll check back later. So far, so good. Since YouTube is now part of Google, I'd be surprised if they wouldn't index files from their own service.

14. bobover3
    Member
    Posted 11 months ago #

    Just checked. Status of the sitemap is still "pending." I'll let you know if Google indexes the 12 URLs.

15. Top10SEO
    Member
    Posted 11 months ago #

    Thanks for the update.

    I'll check back in a few weeks to see if your videos either get or STAY indexed in Google. Even though you can submit a video sitemap and it gets accepted by Google webmaster tools, that doesn't mean your videos will stay indexed. I've spent the last month researching this and in addition to a lot of mis-information and especially confusing information, I still do not think it will work.

    Believe me, I WISH it would, because I have a number of YouTube-hosted videos that need video sitemaps. Anyway, I sincerely wish you success and will check back later after the dust has settled.

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