Embedding a YouTube video into a WordPress website is quite an easy task. You can do it in a few different ways, including embedding YouTube videos through the WordPress default embed feature, using YouTube embed code, and with the help of a third-party WordPress plugin.
It will be very beneficial for you to embed YouTube videos into your posts. If you have your own YouTube channel, embedding will help you get more views, and if you are embedding other’s videos, it will help you spark your content.
It’s a fantastic way to catch visitors’ attention and improve engagement and conversions.
Below, in this article, we have shared step-by-step instructions to embed YouTube videos into WordPress. Follow the below instructions carefully to be done with it.
Why Should You Embed Videos in Your WordPress Blog Posts?
Embedding YouTube videos to your WordPress post and pages has many benefits. A few of them are as below:
1. Help You Explain Complicated Topics Easily:
If you feel your blog post is too complicated to understand, you can create a video explaining the topic, upload it on YouTube and embed it at the end of your post.
After reading the entire article, your visitors may watch it for a better understanding. It will also increase the Time on Page and minimize the Bounce Rate.
2. Improve Your Ranking:
I have recently experienced that blog posts with more images and videos are getting a better ranking in Google SERP, and many SEO professionals also recommend embedding videos in the blog post.
To check things, I experimented with and embedded YouTube videos in a few blog posts on my old website and got positive results; my ranking improved in the next 20 days.
Those are the few benefits of embedding YouTube videos in WordPress.
Why Is It Recommended to Embed Video Rather Than Directly Uploading It to WordPress?
If you ask about the possibilities, you can easily upload the video directly to WordPress. Video and images on the web page significantly affect the loading speed, and loading speed affects the ranking.
And if you upload videos directly to WordPress, your website’s loading time will increase, which is why it is recommended to embed videos from YouTube or any other video hosting platform rather than directly uploading them to the server.
And as you know, most web developers and newbie bloggers use shared hosting to host their website, and if they upload and use videos from their own server, it may crash their website.
Thus, these steps are necessary for websites on shared hosts to prevent higher bandwidth and resource usage
3 Ways to Embed YouTube Videos into WordPress?
As I have already told you, there are a few different ways to embed YouTube videos in WordPress.
Here I have explained all the ways with proper instructions.
1. Embedding YouTube Videos into WordPress through Default Embed Feature
After the WordPress 2.9 update, WordPress introduced a new embed feature that makes embedding YouTube videos super easy.
Here is how you can do it.
First, go to YouTube.com and then search for your desired video. Now, you need to copy the video link from your browser address bar, as shown in the image below.
After you copied the video link, you did half of the work.
Now login to your WordPress website » go to the post or page where you want to embed the video and paste the link.
WordPress will process and start showing the video as soon as you paste the link. And your visitors can play, pause, control volume, and do other things from here.
This is how you can embed youtube videos into WordPress with the help of its default embed features.
2. Embedding YouTube Videos into WordPress using YouTube Embed Code?
When the default embed feature is not available in WordPress or if you want more control over your video, embedding YouTube videos using embed code is the most used way. In this way, you need to copy the embed code from the YouTube video and paste it to the place where you want to show the video.
Here is how you can do it.
First, go to YouTube, and search for the video you are thinking of showing on your website. Play the video; below, you will see the option to SHARE; click on it.
A new pop-up will open. Click on the “Embed here” option and check the settings, and copy the embed code.
Now, it’s time to paste this embed code into the right place.
Login to your WordPress website » go to the post » and paste this embed code in your Gutenberg’s HTML Block, and WordPress will start showing the video.
Now, WordPress will show the video over there no matter where you paste the embed code.
3. Embedding YouTube Videos into WordPress using a Third-Party WordPress Plugin?
The third and last way to embed YouTube videos in WordPress is by using the third-party WordPress plugin. This is an old method, suggesting you not use it if you only want to embed the video, as installing a new plugin will make your website heavy and increase the loading time.
But if you want to create a video gallery or embed a YouTube feed, then you can use those plugins.
To do this, log in to your WordPress website using the correct login ID and password, then hover over the Plugin option and click on Add New
As many plugins allow you to embed YouTube videos in WordPress, you can search and install any of them. Here for this article, I am using the plugin called Embed Plus Plugin for YouTube, which can help you in adding YouTube Gallery, Channel, Playlist, Live Stream, and Facade to your WordPress website.
As shown in the image below, search for the plugin » click on Install » and then Activate it.
Now go to the post or page where you want to embed a YouTube video.
If you are using the WordPress classic editor, then you will get the option to embed video using this plugin at the top of the classic editor.
And if you are using the WordPress block editor, you can search for the YouTube Wizard block and embed the video, as shown in the image below.
This plugin not only allows you to embed YouTube videos but also provides you with the features to embed YouTube playlists, embed YouTube channels, and embed a live stream or premiere video.
Few Best Plugin to Embed YouTube Video into WordPress
Embed YouTube is not the only plugin available for embedding videos from YouTube to your WordPress website. There are a lot more.
And here, we’ve shared a few other plugins to embed YouTube videos into WordPress.
1. Smash Balloon YouTube Feed
Smash Balloon YouTube Feed is a freemium plugin that allows you to embed a fully customized YouTube feed into your WordPress website. The feed will respond to different screen sizes and is mobile-optimized.
Even the plugin is lightweight and sends optimized requests to YouTube, so your website’s speed will not be affected. And by using this plugin, you can showcase the video feed and display videos in multiple layouts, including a list, gallery, or grid layout.
Some cool features
- This plugin uses post caching and sends only a few API requests to YouTube
- You can customize it using the CSS
- Allows you to embed multiple feeds, even the feeds from different channels.
And more…
2. Simple YouTube Embed
This is an entirely free-to-use plugin that allows you to embed YouTube videos easily with the advanced parameters of the video player. The unique feature of this plugin is that it does not embed the video with JavaScript or HTML code, but the plugin uses oEmbed API.
Using this free plugin, you can customize the embed video control, like you can specify a time to begin the video and also specify a time when the video should stop. You can also remove the YouTube logo from the control bar.
Some cool features
- This plugin doesn’t need any configuration. You can install and start using it.
- No need to configure APIs
- Allows you to enable to disable video player
And more…
Final Words
This is how you can embed YouTube videos into your WordPress website using the WordPress default embed feature, YouTube embed code, or with the help of free WordPress plugins.
All three methods are suitable for embedding YouTube videos on WordPress.
Still, I recommend you go with the first way of embedding video using the WordPress default embed features because it is super easy to use and allows you to embed video wherever you want.
I hope this article helps you. And if it does, please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
