Google Adds creator to Video Structured Data

Key Takeaways

• Google's video structured data documentation now lists a creator property: "the person or organization that created or published the video". It is recommended, not required, and author is accepted instead.
• The interactionStatistic property is now documented with four supported interaction types: watches, likes, comments and shares.
• The required properties for video rich results are unchanged: name, thumbnailUrl and uploadDate.
• This is a documentation update, logged by Google on 24 September 2026 — not an announced ranking change.

What Happened

Google's Search documentation updates log records the change on 24 September 2026: "Added the creator property (noting support for author) and updated interactionStatistic to document supported interaction types" in VideoObject structured data.

The video documentation now describes the two properties like this:

• creator — "the person or organization that created or published the video", as a Person or Organization. Recommended. Google notes that author works too.
• interactionStatistic — "user statistics applied to the video, if applicable". Recommended, with four supported types: WatchAction (times watched), LikeAction (likes), CommentAction (comments) and ShareAction (reshares).

Industry Impact & Ranking Volatility

Nothing here changes whether a video can appear in results; the required properties are the same as before. What it changes is how clearly a site can say who made a video — and for businesses that is an easy win. A law firm's explainer, a contractor's project walkthrough or a store's product demo usually has a named person or a business behind it, and the markup can now say so in a property Google documents.

That fits the wider direction of Google's guidance on who is behind content. Clear authorship on pages already matters for trust; this extends the same signal to video, with the creator linked to the Person or Organization the rest of your structured data describes. The interaction statistics are only worth adding where the numbers are real and kept up to date — typically when the video is hosted on a platform that reports them.

For sites that embed video on service pages, this is a small technical SEO update worth making during the next structured data review, alongside the checks in our technical SEO checklist.

SearchPrex Action Checklist

1. Find your pages with VideoObject markup — Search Console's video indexing report and the Rich Results Test will show them.
2. Add creator as a Person or Organization, and reuse the same identity your Organization or Person structured data already defines, so they connect.
3. Keep name, thumbnailUrl and uploadDate correct — they are still the required properties.
4. Add interactionStatistic only with real, current numbers, using the four supported interaction types.
5. Re-test in the Rich Results Test after the change, then monitor the video indexing report.

Quick answers

What is the creator property in VideoObject structured data?

It identifies the person or organization that created or published the video, as a Person or Organization. Google lists it as recommended, and accepts author as an alternative.

Which properties does Google require for video rich results?

Three: name, thumbnailUrl and uploadDate. The creator and interactionStatistic properties are recommended, not required.

Which interaction types does interactionStatistic support?

Four: WatchAction for times watched, LikeAction for likes, CommentAction for comments, and ShareAction for reshares.

📌 Original Source Reference: Read Google's video structured data documentation and the documentation updates log.

Sources

• Video (VideoObject, Clip, BroadcastEvent) structured data — Google Search Central, updated 24 September 2026.
• Latest Google Search documentation updates — Google Search Central, entry for 24 September 2026.

Last verified: 28 September 2026.

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About the Author

Mubashar Sharif is a Verified SEO Expert and Senior Analyst at SearchPrex. He tracks daily SERP fluctuations, Google core algorithm shifts, and generative AI search architecture. Connect with Mubashar on LinkedIn.