How to Add a YouTube Subscription Button to WordPress (In 2 Steps)

Last Updated on March 23, 2023 by 13 Comments

How to Add a YouTube Subscription Button to WordPress (In 2 Steps)
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If you have both a WordPress site and a YouTube channel, you might want to integrate these platforms. One way is by simplyย embedding videos on WordPress or using a YouTube plugin, but you can also use a YouTube subscribe button to get more subscriptions for your channel.

In this article, weโ€™re going to start by talking about why you should add a YouTubeย Subscribeย button to WordPress. Weโ€™ll then show you how to do it in two steps. Letโ€™s get to work on getting your channel more views!

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Why You Should Add a YouTubeย Subscribeย Button to Your Site

Youโ€™ve most likely seen YouTubeย Subscribeย buttons before. Theyโ€™re simple elements that you can click to subscribe to a YouTube channel from a third-party website. The actual YouTubeย Subscribeย buttons are generally fairly basic in their appearance:

Some simple examples of YouTube Subscribe buttons.

However, that simple style can play to your advantage since it means they fit in with almost any site design. Meanwhile, the recognizable red color will ensure they still stand out, just like a Call To Action (CTA). Thatโ€™s good newsย since it means youย can add a YouTubeย Subscribeย button right alongside your other social media icons on your website.

Using a YouTube subscribe button on your site is a smart way of increasing the number of subscribers without taking people off your site. This is particularly good if you already embed videos on your site. It also makes it easy to promote your channel on a medium besides YouTube itself.

If you have a YouTube channel, you can a subscription button to your site using a widget, on your main menu, or pretty much anywhere else you want. Letโ€™s talk about how to do that.

How to Add a YouTubeย Subscribeย button to WordPress (In 2 Steps)

For this process, weโ€™re going to generate a YouTubeย Subscribeย button manually and then embed it into a website. Before you proceed, you should naturally have a YouTube account ready as well as your channelโ€™s ID.

Step #1: Configure a YouTube Subscription Button

If youโ€™re not yet familiar with the Google Developers site, then itโ€™s time for that to change. Google Developers is where the search giant shares tools for web developers. Here, you can find information about upcoming tech events, news, and a collection of tools to help you build and monetize web apps:

The Google Developers website.

The tool weโ€™re using today is the one that lets us create our YouTube subscription button. To find it, you can go to theย Product Indexย page on the Google Developer site and find theย YouTube Subscribe Buttonย option:

Find the YouTube subscription button option.

Click on that link now and look for theย Configure a Buttonย option on the left of the next screen. Now, youโ€™ll see a form where you can configure your button. Start by entering the ID or name for your channel:

Configuring a new button.

After this, the remaining options enable you to customize the buttonโ€™s appearance. You can select a layout, a theme, and choose whether to show or hide your subscription count.

Letโ€™s check out some of these other styles of buttons you can generate. In the last example, you saw the small default layout. Hereโ€™s the full alternative, which can be a bit big for a navigation menu, but may be perfect for a sidebar:

A full YouTube subscribe button.

Thereโ€™s also aย darkย theme you can use, but it only shows if youโ€™re trying out theย fullย layout:

A subscribe button with a dark layout.

That option could be a good fit for a dark footer area. As always, the choice of how to style the element is up to you! Itโ€™s also worth remembering that you can generate multiple buttons for different areas of your site.

When youโ€™ve settled on a style, you can select whether or not to show your Subscriber count.ย Generally speaking, thereโ€™s no right or wrong selection here. For instance, you might want to hide your subscription count if itโ€™s still low, or if you want the button to be cleaner. However, if you already have a lot of subscribers, showing this off can be a subtle selling point in itself.

Finally, when youโ€™re happy with your settings, look down to theย Codeย section. Within, youโ€™ll find the snippet you need to add to your site to display the YouTubeย Subscribeย button:

The code you need to display a YouTube subscribe button.

Next up, weโ€™ll check out how to add that code to your website!

Step #2: Add Your Embed Code to WordPress Using a Widget

One way you can use this code snippet on your site is by going to theย Appearance > Widgetsย tab on your WordPress dashboard. Here, you can look for theย Custom HTMLย widget and move it to wherever you want to display your YouTubeย Subscribeย button:

A custom HTML widget.

Paste the code you copied earlier into theย Contentย section of your brand new widget and thatโ€™s it. Hereโ€™s an example of what your button will look like:

A simple subscribe button.

More Options for Divi Users

There are more options at your disposal when adding a YouTubeย Subscribeย button to your website if youโ€™re a Divi user. Options that gives you greater control over its placement. Weโ€™re talking, of course, about Diviโ€™sย Codeย module.

The Divi Code module.

Simply place the code module where you want to show your button and paste the code you got from the Google Developers site within itsย Contentย field:

Adding your subscription button code to the Divi Code module.

Save the changes to your page and youโ€™re good to go. Your YouTubeย Subscribeย button should show up on your front end where you specified. Which approach to use is up to you.

Conclusion

Ideally, your WordPress website and YouTube channel should drive traffic to each other using social media icons and links. However, you can always take this further by adding a YouTubeย Subscribeย button on your site. This way, visitors will have an easier time subscribing to your channel, which will benefit both of you.

All it takes to add a YouTube subscription button to your website are two steps:

  1. Configure your YouTubeย Subscribeย button using the Google Developers platform.
  2. Add your embed code to WordPress using either a widget or the Diviย Codeย module.

Do you have any questions about how to integrate WordPress with YouTube? Letโ€™s talk about them in the comments section below!

Article thumbnail image by Mar1kOFF / shutterstock.com

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13 Comments

  1. Got idea about YouTube subscription button
    Thank you.

    • You’re welcome! ๐Ÿ™‚

  2. This should be an option in Monarch!

  3. Has your testing showed any negative effects on website load time? If so, what are your recommendations to remedy this?

    • This isn’t something I noticed when testing. I suspect this can become an issue if you have many similar buttons that require connections to external sites, but I haven’t found the YouTube button specifically to have any noticeable effect.

  4. The problems with those direct buttons is that they are supossed to “get” info for the visitors even before they click them. So they can be a problem with RGPD I guess ๐Ÿ™
    It would be nice if everyone if everything was easier.

  5. Now is there any actual way of customizing the appearance of the button?

    • I just use a Divi butting with the subscription link as it fits the design of the website then but you don’t get the sub count displayed.

    • Yes, you can pick a theme, layout, and whether or not you want to display the number of existing subscribers. ๐Ÿ™‚

  6. Thanks John! This is exactly what I was seeking to get the subscriber count over 100 a get a custom name for the YouTube channel.

    • You’re welcome, Luke!

  7. show!!!!! ๐Ÿ™‚

    • Ahhh Piรก do vรด!

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