Google tests “in this video” search feature

Google often shows video results in its search results, in fact, Google has a feature to show suggested clips, a method to jump you to the portion of the video that answers your specific query. Now, it appears, Google is testing showing “in this video” – a timeline that shows you what sections of the video talks about sub-topics.

What is it? The “in this video” section shows up under a video snippet in the Google search results. It will show you sub-sections of the video in a timeline format, letting you click to jump ahead to that specific portion of the video.

What it looks like. Here is a screen shot of what this looks like:

See more. Amit Singh posted this on Twitter and shared a video cast of this in action. Here is that tweet:

Why it matters. Clearly, between the suggested clip and this feature, Google knows what content is within the video. Google is able to jump over irrelevant portions of your video and send people directly to the section the searcher wants to see and hear. Structuring your video content in a clear and understandable way so that humans and robots can easily breakdown the format of the video may become more important in your video SEO strategy.

About The Author

Barry Schwartz

Barry Schwartz a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land and a member of the programming team for SMX events. He owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry's personal blog is named Cartoon Barry and he can be followed on Twitter here.