Most of you have seen some videos with no button other than the play button. YouTube embed codes are in place for you, the user to change the look of your videos. You may have thought these accounts or people who own these accounts may have some sort of special privileges with YouTube.
Actually, there is one thing that they have over a general account which only takes about 15 minutes of time on your part to achieve. It’s all about verification.
The verification is to put you in a partner account status. other than that, you only need to know some code, which I’ll show you below.
Update: most of the embed commands are now located in the embed area of each video and can be turned off and on by simply selecting and deselecting a box.
NOTE: It’s important to realize that these commands will only work when sharing videos on YouTube to another WordPress site or social media site. For the most part, places like Facebook, Twitter, and the like will have their own preferred video solution and so using these commands are generally for use when sharing to a blog that you already own and operate.
YouTube Embed Commands For Your Videos
Title Bar Removal
To prevent the video title link from showing before the video plays, just add the following to the embed URL string: &showinfo=0
This is the easiest modification to use as far as aesthetics are concerned. If removing the title on the video is the only item that you wish to remove than you should use this command.
Modest Branding
remove the majority of the YouTube branding, add the following to your embed URL string: &modestbranding=1
For the majority of my videos that I share or place on my blog post since January 2016, you’ll see this type of video theme applied. I’m a big fan of clean edges and not much in the way of controls popping up to distract the user to move away from the video I’m sharing.
Auto Play Video
To set the embedded video to auto-play, just add the following to the embedded URL string: &autoplay=1
Use this option with care. I say this because not every video will you need to auto-play. Mostly you’ll want to use this on a capture page, or perhaps a post that the video is the only focal point of the blog post. other than that, you’ll want to make sure to leave it up to the reader to push the play button.
Hide Related Videos Display at End of Videos
To hide the related videos, add the following to the embedded URL string: &rel=0
This is one of those that you may want to consider using all the time unless you do not care what type of video comes up after your video has finished. Remember, if you run a blog and you’re embedding a video, you want to have the reader stay on your blog for as long as you can keep them there reading your content.
Hide Controls
To hide the YouTube player controls, such as fast forward, rewind, skip, and time line. Add the following to the embedded URL string: &controls=0. Or simply use the check box as in the case below.
Hiding the YouTube player controls at the bottom of the video is a feature of a capture page. Only use this on videos that you want the listener to have no control on skipping around the video or fast forwarding through the video.
Start at Specific Time in Video
To start video at a certain spot, just add the following to your embed URL string: &start=x (x=seconds from the beginning)
The last one that I will share with you on this topic is one that I don’t see too many reasons to use, but it’s there so that you can use this option. It’s the option to start a video at a specific starting point in the video.
Now if you’re like me, you may want to see an example of how to use all these put together.
Example of all commands in one string:
src=”//www.youtube.com/watch? v=P1SURJcj_Pw&list=PLy8rmPu44hJmY_h3LLux_DDlQpPrfUqOL&showinfo=0
&modestbranding=1&autoplay=1&rel=0&controls=0&start=5
As you can see, using the YouTube embed commands can greatly change how your video looks. If it’s on YouTube, or on your blog, you’ll have your videos look similar across platforms.
