YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world, second only to its owners Google, and is becoming more and more powerful in that capacity. Beyond the ability to integrate video with numerous other Google services, for example, the recent adaptation of embedded YouTube videos for Google Instant Preview has added to the ever-growing bank of Google services. Google has access to the largest video platform in the world. However, YouTube cannot afford to become complacent with its success. Google is constantly fighting against litigation and for licensing, and they must simultaneously add enough features to keep hold of the global video-watching masses. With that in mind, their two most recent feature additions have been the HD video preview images and the logo-less embedded player.

Here’s a brief rundown of each:

The HD video thumbnail will pull the HD version of a snapshot as the image to display for your video preview. This feature is available on new videos of 480p or higher resolution. Those who already have HD videos for which they want an HD image preview will only have to wait for a bit; Google is rolling out HD thumbnails to existing videos in the next few weeks.

The logo-less embedded player will give users the option to embed videos in their page without the YouTube logo that usually sits comfortably in the lower-right corner. To make any video player logoless, simply add the code “? modestbranding=1″ at the end of the embed code. This doesn’t remove the logo that appears in the top-right when videos are paused, however.

The first change (HD preview images) just makes sense in appealing both to users and video uploaders. However, the logo-less player is a particularly generous move on Google’s part. Few companies are willing to part with their branding so readily.

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