Add YouTube videos to WordPress

Want to learn how to add YouTube videos to WordPress? Whether you just want to start embedding other people’s videos in your own content or you’ve got a YouTube channel that you want to integrate into your WordPress site, we have three unique ways to integrate YouTube with WordPress that go beyond the standard YouTube embed.

From there, we’ll get into the most exciting part of this tutorial, which is how to add YouTube videos to WordPress in ⏩ three interesting ways using a free plugin. Let’s press play!

Why it’s smart to add YouTube videos to WordPress 🧠

Even if you’re just embedding other people’s videos from YouTube or another service like Vimeo, properly using video does a great job of keeping your visitors engaged and will likely increase your time on page [1] (a good proxy for engagement).

If you want to get more involved, creating your own YouTube videos is also an excellent way to build an audience online. This is because video content is highly effective at catching people’s attention, encouraging social shares, and even driving conversions [2].

💡 Those reasons are, in part, why we created the Themeisle YouTube channel.

Instead of running your YouTube channel in isolation, however, you can use it to improve your WordPress website. The reasons to add YouTube videos to WordPress are many. For example:

  • You can introduce website visitors to your YouTube channel (this is obvious).
  • High-quality videos make your website that much more impressive and provide extra content and value for your visitors.
  • Adding videos to your site can actually increase traffic, and offer a number of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) benefits [3].

The most straightforward way to add YouTube videos to WordPress 📏 ➡️ 🎞️

Simply placing a single YouTube video on your website is very simple. The first thing you need to do is go to YouTube itself and get the URL of the video that you wish to add. With the video open, click the share button below it and you’ll get a popup box that looks like this:

Once you have that URL copied to your computer’s clipboard, all you need to do is navigate to a page or post, and do the following, depending on which WordPress editor you’re using:

Embed a YouTube video using the block editor

Click the plus sign wherever you want to add the YouTube video within the page or post. This will open up the block search. Then just start typing in “youtube” and the YouTube embed block will come up. Click on it.

How to add YouTube videos to WordPress using the block editor

Paste in the URL of the video you want to add and click embed.

The YouTube embed block in the WordPress block editor

That’s it. Eezie-peezie. You can preview the page or post to make sure it looks good on the front end and then when you’re ready, either publish or update your page or post.

Embed a YouTube video using the classic editor

Using the block editor to add your video to WordPress is really straightforward and simple, but using the classic editor is just as easy.

You can do it in both visual view and text view but we’ll show you the text view below, which is as simple as pasting the URL of the YouTube video wherever you want it to appear within your page or post. No seriously, it’s that simple.

How to add YouTube videos to WordPress using the classic editor

You can preview your changes to make sure everything looks the way you want it on the front end:

Checking to make sure the video was added and how it looks on the front end of your website

If everything looks okay, save your changes, and the video will be embedded in your content. People can watch it on your page, or click the YouTube button to visit its original location. This works for any video – not only for videos that are featured on your channel.

While these two methods for the block editor and the classic editor are perfectly functional, there are three other more interesting ways to add YouTube videos to WordPress using the free Embed Plus YouTube plugin.

Three ways to add YouTube videos to WordPress 📺

Before we begin, you’ll want to install the plugin. The fastest way to do it is directly through your WordPress admin dashboard in the plugins area. Alternatively, you can click the link below, download the installation file, and then upload it to your WordPress site.

💡 If you need a refresher on how to do this, check out our easy-to-follow beginner’s guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

After you’ve downloaded and installed YouTube Embed Plus, you can use it to add videos to WordPress in three distinct ways:

  1. Use a dedicated YouTube widget for more flexibility
  2. Add your YouTube channel to your site
  3. Create a gallery of YouTube videos

1. Use a dedicated YouTube widget for more flexibility

Since many people nowadays have switched to using the WordPress block editor, we will be using that for the remainder of this tutorial. However, keep in mind that this plugin is also compatible with popular page builders like Elementor, Beaver Builder, Visual Composer, and SiteOrigin.

Installing and activating the Embed Plus YouTube plugin will add a new, rather complex widget to your site. To use it, simply visit Appearance > Widgets in your dashboard, click on the Sidebar widget, add a new widget, and search for Youtube Wizard.

Add YouTube videos to WordPress using the Embed Plus YouTube plugin

Drag the widget wherever you want it to be placed and click on Open Wizard. Select Embed a single video or YouTube short. Enter the YouTube URL, click on Submit, and then on Insert Into Editor.

Using the YouTube Wizard in the Embed Plus plugin to add a video to WordPress

Before embedding your video in WordPress, make sure to check the plugin’s settings in order to customize the way the video will be displayed on your website.

For example, you can decide whether the video will start automatically, show annotations, display the progress bar, or if it will play on a loop:

The Embed Plus YouTube plugin's settings screen

The options here are all self-explanatory, so feel free to customize your video’s functionality until it’s looking just right:

Customizing the video inside of the YouTube Wizard

2. Add your YouTube channel to your site

Rather than embedding a single video onto your page or post, you may want to feature your entire YouTube channel. This is a perfect way to show off your whole body of work and encourage visitors to check you out on YouTube.

You can do this easily using the Embed Plus YouTube plugin.

Just go to its Settings page by clicking on “YouTube Free” in your WordPress admin menu. Here, you need to create an API key that is required in order to be able to feature YouTube channels on your site.

So, go to the API Key tab and follow the instructions written there or simply check out this post that explains everything plainly. After you manage to generate a YouTube API Key for the Embed Plus plugin, go back to the plugin’s Settings page in your WordPress admin and copy/paste the code there.

Embed Plus plugin - get YouTube API

Now that the API is active, go to the post or page on your WordPress site where you want to display the YouTube channel. Click on the + sign to the top left of the block editor to insert a new block. Search for “YouTube Wizard” and insert it into the post/page.

Embed Plus plugin - insert YouTube block

After inserting it, click on Open Wizard, then on Embed a channel and Get Channel. Make sure to carefully read the specifications about pasting the right YouTube URL because otherwise the plugin won’t be able to embed your channel properly.

Add YouTube channel to WordPress using the Embed Plus YouTube plugin

The next step is to select Insert as Playlist, and you’re done.

You can also choose to embed the channel as a gallery. We’ll talk more about adding YouTube galleries to your website in the next method.

Here’s how your YouTube channel will look on the front end:

YouTube channel preview

That’s it! Now, let’s wrap it up by talking about creating a YouTube gallery.

3. Create a gallery of YouTube videos

Instead of displaying all the videos from your channel, you may want to create a gallery of specific content. A video gallery can be an attractive addition to your site, and setting one up is possible with the same Embed Plus plugin.

Once again, go to “YouTube Free” in your WordPress admin menu and click on the Galleries tab. Here, you’ll see plenty of options to customize the YouTube galleries that you want to embed on your site.

You can tweak the gallery page size and the number of columns. You can also choose to display various elements, such as pagination, custom text, subscribe buttons, thumbnails, and more.

Next, just like we presented in the previous method (i.e. inserting a YouTube channel), you’ll need to generate a YouTube API in order to be able to embed a gallery. Follow the easy steps in this post, then add the API key via the plugin’s API Key tab.

When the API key is set, go to the post or page where you want to embed the gallery. Here, click on the + sign to the top left to insert a block. Search for “YouTube Wizard” and click on it.

Click on Open Wizard, then on Embed a playlist. Paste the link of the playlist you want to display and click Get Playlist. Make sure the playlist you want to insert is public.

The final step is to select Insert as Gallery.

Now you’re all set. Here’s what your YouTube videos will look like as a gallery on your WordPress site:

YouTube gallery preview on front end

Conclusion 🧐

It’s not a stretch to say that video content is the future of the internet. If you’re still only adding text-based content to your website, you’re missing out on the opportunity to really grab your visitors’ attention and keep them coming back for more.

That’s why it’s so crucial to integrate your YouTube videos with your WordPress site. As we’ve shown, it’s simple to add YouTube videos to WordPress in more advanced ways by using the YouTube Embed Plus plugin.

👉 You might also be interested in other video hosting sites that can offer an easy solution to integrate videos to your website.

Do you have any questions about how to use the plugins we’ve discussed in this post? Ask away in the comments section below!

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Travel Videos
May 7, 2018 11:50 am

My site was working fine but now all video embeds don’t load just showing a number 1 instead. I’ve checked to ensure the shopisle theme and plugins are updated so not sure now what to do. Has anyone else had this problem and solved it?

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