Some Q&A On Recent Google Video & YouTube Changes

When Google launched Google Universal Search, we saw changes in how Google dealt with video in regular result and in Google Video. Yesterday brought more changes. Danny and I had several follow-up questions related to these. Google representative Gabriel Stricker spent the time with me answer some of them. The answers below are not quotes, but rather my understanding from my conversation with Gabriel.

How does Google protect the search results from showing inappropriate content?

Users can only mark videos as inappropriate if Google hosts the content. For example, if you find a video — and it is hosted at Google-owned YouTube — using the “flag as inappropriate,” will help Google remove the video from YouTube and universal web search results. You cannot mark videos as inappropriate if they are from third party sources, such as Metacafe.

How are third-party videos displayed in Google Universal Search results?

While YouTube and Google Video results can be viewed in their entirety on Google Universal web search results, third-party videos cannot be played as a video at all within the web results. What Danny and I saw over here, being able to “preview” a short clip of the third-party video on the Google Video results, no longer works. Now, if you view the same result, you get several thumbnails from various portions of the video. Here is a screen capture of the rat monster joke video result as I see it today.

Why is Google Video using a frame at the top of the video to display third-party video sources?

Gabriel told me that this allows Google to give users a more detailed user experience. Users can rate, email and see related videos in this frame. It is important to note, Metacafe (as might others) is currently disabling the frame and forcing users to go directly to the Metacafe web site. Try this video as an example.

Finally, will Google show video ads on videos within Google web search?

They are currently not doing this.