Google supports mRSS, an RSS module that supplements the element capabilities of RSS 2.0 to allow for more robust media syndication. If you publish an mRSS feed for the video content on your site, you can submit the feed's URL instead of (or in addition to) including the video information in a Sitemap.
Here's an example of a basic mRSS feed with a single item. Enclose all information about a specific video in its own <item> tag.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0" xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/"
xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/">
<channel>
<title>Example MRSS</title>
<link>http://www.example.com/examples/mrss/</link>
<description>MRSS Example</description>
<item xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/">
<link>http://www.example.com/examples/mrss/example.html</link>
<media:content duration="120">
<media:player url="http://www.example.com/shows/example/video.swf?flash_params" />
<media:title>Grilling Steaks for Summer</media:title>
<media:description>Get perfectly done steaks every time</media:description>
<media:thumbnail url="http://www.example.com/examples/mrss/example.png" height="120" width="160"/>
</media:content>
</item>
</channel>
</rss>
For detailed information on creating an mRSS feed, including samples and best practices, see the Media RSS specification.
The following tags are required for each video item:
media:contentmedia:playermedia:titlemedia:descriptionmedia:thumbnail
In addition, Google strongly recommends including the following tags, where applicable:
media:restriction: For videos that can be played only in some territories.dcterms:valid: For videos that have an expiration date.media:price: For videos users must pay to view.
Here's an example of an mRSS entry that provides all the key tags that Google uses. This includes <dcterms:type>live-video</dcterms:type>, which you can use to identify live, streaming videos.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0" xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/">
<channel>
<title>Example MRSS</title>
<link>http://www.example.com/examples/mrss/</link>
<description>MRSS Example</description>
<item xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/">
<link>http://www.example.com/examples/mrss/example.html</link>
<media:content url="http://www.example.com/examples/mrss/example.flv" fileSize="405321"
type="video/x-flv" height="240" width="320" duration="120" medium="video" isDefault="true">
<media:player url="http://www.example.com/shows/example/video.swf?flash_params" />
<media:title>Grilling Steaks for Summer</media:title>
<media:description>Get perfectly done steaks every time</media:description>
<media:thumbnail url="http://www.example.com/examples/mrss/example.png" height="120" width="160"/>
<media:price price="19.99" currency="EUR" />
<media:price type="subscription" />
</media:content>
<media:restriction relationship="allow" type="country">us ca</media:restriction>
<dcterms:valid xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/">end=2020-10-15T00:00+01:00; scheme=W3C-DTF</dcterms:valid>
<dcterms:type>live-video</dcterms:type>
</item>
</channel>
</rss>
When submitting an mRSS feed as a Sitemap, make sure that your robots.txt file isn't blocking Googlebot from accessing the feed URL.