Do you want to embed YouTube videos in your WordPress posts? Videos add that something extra to your blog and are a great way to increase user engagement. Embedding YouTube videos in WordPress has never been easier since the WordPress 2.9 release. In the past, you had to install extra plugins or know some programming to include them in your articles.
In this beginners guide, we will show you how embedding YouTube videos to WordPress posts is super easy. Also, show you some clever ways to make your videos stand out more.
How to embed YouTube videos into WordPress posts
Since the WordPress 2.9 release they have added an amazing feature called auto-embeds. This allows your WordPress blog to automatically get the embed code from all the popular video sites. More importantly, all you need is the video link. No additional plugins or coding is necessary.
Grab the video link
Copy the URL from the search bar or click the YouTube share link button.
Add it to your post
Now all you need to do is paste the URL into your WordPress editor and the YouTube video will automatically turn into an embedded video.
You can now preview or publish your post to see the embedded YouTube video in your blog post. Easy, right?
Adjust video
To change the video’s settings after it’s been embedded in your WordPress post, use the block toolbar and settings column on the right hand side.
You can add your YouTube video’s caption, adjust the video width, change alignment and preserve the video’s aspect ratio on mobile devices.
What sites can WordPress auto-embed videos from?
WordPress can only automatically pull the embedded code from certain video sites. For other sites you will have to grab the embedded code yourself and paste it into the WordPress editor.
Here is a list of the sites WordPress will automatically embed videos from:
- Amazon
- Animoto
- Cloudup
- CollegeHumor
- Crowdsignal
- Dailymotion
- Flickr
- Hulu
- Imgur
- Issuu
- Kickstarter
- Meetup.com
- Mixcloud
- ReverbNation
- Screencast
- Scribd
- Slideshare
- SmugMug
- Someecards
- SoundCloud
- Speaker Deck
- Spotify
- TED
- Tumblr
- VideoPress
- Vimeo
- WordPress.tv
- YouTube
To add a video from outside this list you will need the full HTML embed code for the video.
Simply, copy the HTML code and paste it inside the “Custom HTML” block in the WordPress editor.
Embedding YouTube videos in WordPress using the classic editor
You can embed your YouTube videos using the old WordPress classic editor the same way. Simply, copy the URL from YouTube and paste it into your post. You will see a preview of the video.
The only downside is, you will not be able to change any of the settings you can use in the new WordPress editor (adjust width etc.).
Useful plugins to embed YouTube videos in WordPress
Embedding YouTube videos in WordPress doesn’t require having a plugin installed. Although, you can increase your visitors video viewing experience by having one installed.
WP YouTube Lyte
The WP YouTube Lyte will lazy load your embedded YouTube videos so that your website runs as quickly as possible. Lazy load is usually done with images, but this plugin focuses solely on YouTube videos. Lazy loading means it only loads the media that is currently on the user’s screen. Your server won’t be working as hard to load all of the videos on your page or website. You should see improved performance all across your website.
This plugin works differently than most image lazy loaders. It works by embedding an image of the video thumbnail. When the user clicks on the thumbnail it will load up the “heavier” version hosted by YouTube. Your visitors won’t notice any difference, they will still load as quickly as they would if you never had the plugin installed.
WP YouTube Lyte is completely free to install on your WordPress blog. There isn’t a premium version or any add-ons to try get you to part with your money.
Feed Them Social
Feed Them Social is a free plugin that will let you display a feed from your Facebook page, along with album covers and photos. You can include as many feeds as you want, but there is a premium version if you’d like to limit the amount of items coming from each feed.
This plugin supports a wide range of social media sites including YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest. It’s main focus seems to be on Facebook media feeds and videos. Although, you could use this plugin to combine a collection of YouTubers into a gallery or show your own YouTube channel.
The pricing starts at $50 for a single website, but they also do have extensions you can purchase which will end up costing you more. These extensions include, adding Facebook reviews, carousels and combined streams.
Smash Balloon YouTube Feed
This is probably the best plugin you can get for embedding YouTube videos into WordPress. Smash Balloon YouTube Feed allows you to automatically embed all of your YouTube channel videos in a gallery format. This plugin comes with multiple style and layout options. You can add live streaming, automatically import videos, combine feeds and more.
Some of the features of the Pro version include:
- Live Streaming API
- Custom End-of-Video Actions
- YouTube Search API
- Carousel Sliders
- Combine Feeds
- Convert Videos to WP Posts
- Favorites
- Video Filtering
- Smart Video Player Loading
- Pro Support
The pricing is $49 for one website, this includes 1 year of updates and support. There is a free version of this plugin but we recommend you go with the Pro version.
Why not to upload YouTube videos to WordPress?
We do not recommend you upload videos to your WordPress blog!
YouTube video’s can take up a lot of server resources. As most small blogs will be running on small shared hosting accounts, you’re website is more likely to crash if you have a lot of traffic.
Secondly, why not make your own videos and upload them directly to YouTube instead? YouTube is the second biggest search engine in the world and the second biggest social network behind Facebook. You could be missing out on a ton of traffic from YouTube users.
