Ever had trouble getting your embedded videos to show up in Google Reader? You’re not alone. Apparently your site has to be on a whitelist for it to work for you. For example, YouTube videos work, because YouTube is on the list. WordPress videos don’t, because WordPress is not on the list.
Somebody complained about the problem in a Google Groups post, and was met with a response from a Google Reader Engineeer, Mihai Parparita:
We have taken a whitelist approach to embedded video, thus we’ll need to include WordPress for its embeds to show up. This should happen in the next Reader release.
“So in case you were wondering, apparently you need to request to be whitelisted,” says Tamar Weinberg at Search Engine Roundtable. “The policy isn’t exactly clear on how you get your site added to the whitelist, nor is it indicated whether this whitelist is publicly accessible. I suppose that just means that you need to be on top of Google Groups (for now) in order for Google to consider your site whitelisted.”
I wonder when the next release of Google Reader is scheduled to come out. It sounds like this problem will likely be improved upon in it, even beyond just WordPress sites.
“Thanks for the suggestions. We’re actually currently working on ways to make it easier to submit embedded media players for verification and eventual inclusion in Reader,” says Roger with the Google Reader Team. “We’ve proceeded cautiously due to security concerns but are always looking for ways to make using Reader a richer experience. Thanks for bringing this to the forefront.”
I have to say I’m a little surprised that this issue hasn’t been addressed in the past. It’s not like embedded video or Google Reader are in their infancies. Oh well, one day at a time. There’s always room for improvement.
