Google has removed the requirement to have the description property as part of your video structured data. Google says it is still recommended to provide a description to your videos in the structured data but it is not a requirement. With that, Google Search Console will not report errors for missing description property items.
Structured data change. Google moved the “description” property from “required” to “recommended” in the structured data documentation. You can see that over here.
The description of the video is used to help Google understand the video, but it is no longer a requirement for video structured data.
Search Console change. The description property is no longer required for Video structured data items, Google wrote here. Google added “it’s still strongly recommended to help Google better understand the content of your video.”
Missing description issues will no longer appear as “critical issues” in that rich results report. Now you may see an increase in the number of valid Video structured data items in your, that is if you did not use descriptions for your video structured data.
Why we care. This should make it easier for you to publish video structured data and have Google pick them up as rich results. Your video thumbnails may show up for more videos and you may see a higher click-through rate from those search result snippets in Google Search.
Related stories
New on Search Engine Land
About the author
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 can be followed on Twitter here.