How to Embed YouTube Videos on WordPress

There are over a billion users of YouTube, which is approximately one-third of the people who use the internet. Every day, these users watch millions of hours of videos on YouTube thereby generating billions of views. When these numbers are combined with that of WordPress, which powers almost 27% of the web, it certainly gives you a match made in heaven.

Content is king 👑

It is inevitable that a business would want to use videos on their WordPress website. Content is king, but it doesn’t really have to be in the form of words. Videos are certainly a good option to explore when it comes to using content because they attract and engage visitors. As a matter of fact, these videos can even bring back visitors to your website. You can choose to use any kind of video on your WordPress sites, such as a marketing video, an instructional or educational video, and even a personal video.

Moreover, embedding videos to the website can also help it rank better in search engines, which is also one of the prominent goals of every business. However, one thing that websites need to bear in mind is that making a YouTube video is just half the battle. They still have to deal with the process of embedding it, which is easier said than done.

Video on WordPress is usually bad 😞

Anyone who has used WordPress is fully aware that hosting videos on your website through the WordPress Media Library is not a good idea. Those files are extremely large and they also consume a lot of bandwidth. In addition, the video is not delivered as seamlessly as you would hope and this can often disappoint and frustrate your visitors. While it is a perfectly great option to make a YouTube video and post it on the platform where you will expose yourself to YouTube’s impressive audience.

But, when you intend to embed these videos on your WordPress website, YouTube may not exactly be the ideal choice. This is due to the fact that its video player has been designed to lead people back to its website and you want it to keep people on your website, which creates a conflict.

The solution ✅

So, is there an alternative? Indeed, you can find one in the form of SmartVideo. What is it? Put simply, it's an uncluttered, minimalist video player that can be used on any WordPress website with all existing as well as new videos.

You can find a SmartVideo plugin for your WordPress website that boasts a widget, which can be used for adding SmartVideo tags easily to the videos. With this player, the videos start playing immediately and users don’t have to deal with any buffering. Furthermore, SmartVideo player has also been designed to play videos in the highest possible quality, ensuring a wonderful and enjoyable experience for the viewers. It allows you to capture the attention of your audience and doesn’t slow down your website, which can lead to high bounce rates otherwise.

Regardless, this is not the best part about SmartVideo. The best thing about this unique video player is that it still gives you the freedom of using YouTube for uploading and managing your videos, which is particularly great when you are already using YouTube videos on your WordPress website.

But, the question that begs to be asked is how can you possibly use YouTube and SmartVideo simultaneously? How will that work? SmartVideo is essentially a snippet of JavaScript code that can be added to your website’s header. It will automatically scan your website for any YouTube videos and will convert them to SmartVideo. However, SmartVideo doesn’t just reskin the YouTube player; it also deals with the delivery.

Use what you want 🙌

Another appealing feature of SmartVideo is that you can use it with other video services as well, such as Dropbox, Google Drive, and even Vimeo. It is not just restricted to YouTube. Moreover, if you are interested in using your own self-hosted videos, the SmartVideo tag can be manually used on individual files to play them through the video player. Now, let’s take a look at how to embed YouTube videos on WordPress with SmartVideo:

1. The first step that you need to take is to add the SmartVideo code snippet to your WordPress website. The easiest way to do this is by installing the SmartVideo plugin that has been released by the developers recently. You just need to copy the code snippet into the plugin and you are good to go. There is also the option of turning off the SmartVideo option for certain videos on your website.
2. This is all there is to it. After you have added the SmartVideo code, all your website videos will be converted. This includes the existing ones that you have posted before. You will feel a difference in experience when you play those videos now as compared to before. In fact, SmartVideo offers you more flexibility than the YouTube player because you can choose to add parameters to the video, such as auto-playing the video, muting it or looping it.

SmartVideo ▶

Swarmify created the SmartVideo plugin for WordPress users who want to add clean, fast and neat videos to their website. But, they want a plugin to deal with the job of embedding YouTube videos and delivering them right. Any website that’s worried about the video load speed on WordPress can take advantage of this plugin to ensure all visitors can enjoy a smooth and seamless experience on their website. It will convert and embed the video automatically and you don’t have to have any coding or programming knowledge or experience to use it on your website.

Apart from that, the SmartVideo plugin is also available for a very reasonable price, which makes it value for money, as it can save you from a lot of hassle in the long run. Plus, there is also a free trial available, which can be used by WordPress websites to try out the player and see exactly what it has to offer to their business.