In this video you’re going to learn how to embed a YouTube video into your WordPress post or page.
You can freely use any video that’s shared publicly on YouTube, even if you didn’t create it yourself. If you encounter a message that says that the video is listed privately then please respect the video creator’s wishes and find another video for your site.
Go to your chosen video on YouTube and click on ‘Share’.
As I create my own videos I’ll use one of mine.
The first share option is the link you can use to share the video in an email or on social media. To embed the video on your website you’ll need to get the embed code.
Why should you choose embed instead of just the link?
I’m glad you asked. If you just use the link your readers will be taken off your website and may never return. Same situation if you leave the ‘Show suggested videos’ checked.
Select or de-select the embed options and choose the Start time if you want it to be a little later than the beginning of the video.
Scroll down and you’ll see that you’re agreeing to YouTube API Terms of Service. If you’re not sure what that is, then click on the link. It’s a comprehensive document so please read it carefully and make sure you agree with the all the terms and conditions.
All done? Let’s go back to getting the code.
Finish tweaking the options and click on ‘Copy’. This copies the code to your clipboard ready for you to paste.
Now is a good time to talk about the size of the video. More than half your website visitors could be using a mobile device. With this in mind stating a fixed size is no longer necessary or desirable as long as your WordPress theme is mobile responsive. So just copy the code as is and it will adjust to your viewer’s screen.
Go back to your WordPress post and choose the spot where you want to insert the video. Type in something to help you find the right place. I use ‘(video)’ but you could use something else like *** three asterisks. It doesn’t really matter as long as it’s not a regular part of the written content.
Now click on the Text tab instead of the Visual tab. If it’s a long post use Ctrl+F to open the find window (that’s Command+F on a Mac). Type in your marker. Now delete the marker and paste in the code.
Switch back to Visual and you’ll see the video in your post in the place you’ve chosen.
Save as draft and preview the page.
When you’ve finished editing the article then hit ‘Publish’.
That’s it. You’ve just learned how to embed a YouTube video on your WordPress website.
Please share your experiences with embedding YouTube videos.
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