Google has recently introduced regionsAllowed, a new structured data property that specifies that a video is relevant to users in a certain geographical location.
regionsAllowed is part of the existing VideoObject structured data type, which generally defines that the content is video-based, but regionsAllowed goes a step further by offering more information to search engines.
The search engines would process this new structured data property, for example, to either show or limit the appearance of a video in organic results depending on the region where the search takes place.
This all works to give publishers and content creators more control over rich results.
You’ve probably noticed video results on the SERPs before, whether on organic results pages, as a part of the video or images tabs, or in Google Discover.
The regionsAllowed structured data affects the presence of video in all of these places.
How Schema.org and Google Define the Property
Schema.org defines the property as:
“The regions where the media is allowed. If not specified, then it’s assumed to be allowed everywhere. Specify the countries in ISO 3166 format.”
Google echoes the same message on their structured data developers page, with slightly different wording:
“The regions where the video is allowed. If not specified, then Google assumes the video is allowed everywhere. Specify the countries in ISO 3166 format.”
Is the regionsAllowed Structured Data Required?
regionsAllowed is a recommended property, meaning that the main VideoObject structured data will work properly even without the addition of the regionsAllowed property.
You only need to implement it when you want to specify a video to a particular region.
When to Use the regionsAllowed Structured Data Property
Implement the recommended property when you have video content that is only relevant to or should be shown only to a certain audience based on their geographic location.
If your video content can be seen by anyone, there is no need to add the property.
How to Add regionsAllowed Structured Data?
The property is added to the end of your code. In the U.S., for example, the code would look like this:
}, "regionsAllowed": "US" } </script>
This is what it will look like for the UNited Kingdom region (GB)
}, "regionsAllowed": "GB" } </script>
The regionsAllowed property is now another way that publishers can get their content in front of the right audience. If you have no need for specifying a region to your video, you can still use the VideoObject structured data type, as the regionsAllowed is only a recommended additive.