YouTube helps you drive traffic to your website by putting your business in front of people who are actively searching for information, and then giving you several ways to send those viewers to your site: links in video descriptions, a links section on your channel page, clickable cards and end screens, and pinned comments. Each method works a bit differently, and some only become available once your channel meets certain criteria. This guide walks through what actually works today.<\/p>\n
YouTube is the second largest search engine after Google, and people use it to look for tutorials, product reviews, comparisons and demonstrations before they buy or sign up for anything. If your business publishes videos that answer those searches, you have a direct route to an audience that is already interested in what you do.<\/p>\n
Unlike a blog post, a video lets people see a product in use, hear you explain a process, or watch a short demonstration. That can build trust faster than text alone, particularly for small businesses and local services where people want to know who they are dealing with. If you already run a blog alongside your site, video can work well as a companion to your written content rather than a replacement for it.<\/p>\n
Several YouTube features can point viewers towards your website. Not all of them are available to every channel, and some have changed significantly in recent years, so it is worth knowing what currently works before you plan a strategy around it.<\/p>\n
This is the simplest and most reliable method, and it works on every channel with no eligibility requirements. Add your website address to the description of any long-form video. Make sure the link starts with This only applies to standard, long-form videos. Links in Shorts descriptions are not clickable, which is covered below.<\/p>\n You can add up to 14 links to your channel, and the first one is the most prominent, since it displays on your channel homepage. The others appear in your About section. To add them:<\/p>\n Put your website first in the list, since that is the one most visitors will see without having to click further.<\/p>\n Note that this is different from how channel banners used to work. Older banners allowed up to five clickable links overlaid directly on the banner image, but YouTube has moved away from that. Links now appear below your channel description and in the About section instead, so don’t rely on guides that still describe the old banner-overlay method.<\/p>\n Cards are small, clickable elements that appear during a video, marked with an “i” icon. A viewer can click one at any point while watching, rather than waiting for a fixed moment. To add a card:<\/p>\n A link card that points to an external website is only available if your channel is in the YouTube Partner Programme (YPP). This rules the feature out for brand-new or very small channels, so don’t plan your early strategy around it.<\/p>\n End screens appear in the final 5 to 20 seconds of a video and can feature up to four elements on a standard 16:9 video. The video needs to be at least 25 seconds long. To add one:<\/p>\n It is worth knowing that end screens themselves are available to every channel with videos of 25 seconds or longer \u2014 you don’t need YPP membership just to add one. However, a link element pointing to an external website still requires YPP membership, the same as with cards. Without YPP, you can still use end screens to promote your subscribe button, a playlist or another video, which is still useful even if you can’t link out yet.<\/p>\n Pinning a comment that contains your website link is a simple option that doesn’t require any eligibility criteria. It keeps a clickable link visible at the top of the comments section under any video. This is particularly useful for Shorts, where description links don’t work at all.<\/p>\n Since 31 August 2023, links in Shorts descriptions and comments have not been clickable. This is a deliberate policy change across every account, channel size and region, not a bug, and it was introduced to reduce spam. If you have been copying a link into a Short’s description expecting it to work, that’s why it isn’t.<\/p>\n In place of that, YouTube introduced prominent, clickable links on the channel page itself, shown near the Subscribe button. Viewers can tap your channel name from within a Short, land on your channel page, and then tap through to your website from the links section or About tab. The practical route for a small business using Shorts looks like this:<\/p>\n Some channels with access to Advanced features can also add a clickable “Related Video” link within a Short, pointing to another public or unlisted video, Short, or live stream on the same channel. This appears below the channel handle. There is also a limited external link sticker available for declared paid partnerships, but this only applies to eligible brand deal campaigns and isn’t something most small businesses posting regular Shorts can use.<\/p>\n Because link cards and end-screen website links both require YPP membership, it’s worth knowing the current thresholds if that’s part of your plan. There are two tiers:<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/<\/code> \u2014 without this, YouTube will not turn it into a clickable link. Put the most important link near the top of the description, since YouTube truncates long descriptions and viewers have to click “more” to see the rest.<\/p>\nChannel page links (About section)<\/h3>\n
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Cards<\/h3>\n
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End screens<\/h3>\n
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Pinned comments<\/h3>\n
YouTube Shorts and why links behave differently<\/h2>\n
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Joining the YouTube Partner Programme<\/h2>\n