How to Add URL Link in YouTube Video Description

YouTube video description is the best option to add video description and share other related content sources. You can add text content, URL links and formatted text in description within 5000 character limit.

In this post you will get a detailed guide about how to add different (Affiliate link, Video timestamp link, Channel subscribe link, Related video link, Social page link and any other web URL link) links in your YouTube video description.

Quick answer:

You can add a clickable URL link in video description by adding full link URL string in description. YouTube will convert URL strings in clickable links, when shows description to viewers.

Let’s start checking all things in detail…

Following are steps to add a URL link in YouTube video description. By following these steps, you can add affiliate link, social link or any other URL link in video description.

  • Open video edit “Video detail” page in YouTube Studio.
  • Copy your URL string and paste in video description input.
  • Click the “Save” button and check the description in the normal video page.

Actually, YouTube automatically converts URL link strings to clickable hypertext links. So, you just need to add your URL in description and the rest of things are managed by YouTube.

YouTube does not support hyperlink for normal description text. It means you cannot add a link on video description text. In the YouTube video description, your URL string will be shown as the link’s string text.

Tip: If you want to add a link for a specific text, then you can add the URL just after your text with brackets. So, viewers can easily understand that the given link is related to the previous text.

Video timestamp links in description are called “chapters”. You can add it in your video description to navigate your users directly to a particular video chapter.

Overview of YouTube video chapters:

You need to add a minimum 3 timestamps and title in your video description. Also, each chapter needs to be at least 10 seconds in length. Video chapter feature is automatically enabled when you add timestamp and title in your description.

Following are steps to add a video timestamp link in your video description.

  • Upload your video on YouTube.
  • Prepare a list of timestamps (minutes:seconds), which you want to add in description.
  • Add space separated timestamp and title in description.
  • Click the “Save” button.

Following are example of the YouTube chapter timestamp and title in description.

0:00 Start video
0:15 First page of chapter
0:30 Second page of chapter

If you want more detail on the YouTube video chapter, then check out related YouTube Help page.

Before checking the answer to the above question, let’s check, channel subscribe link creation process. After that you can go for the main answer.

How to prepare a YouTube channel subscribe link?

You can prepare a channel subscribe link by adding “?sub_confirmation=1” behind your channel URL. For example, https://YOUR_CHANNEL_URL?sub_confirmation=1. You can get your “Channel URL” from “Your channel > Customize channel > Basic info” page.

Example channel subscribe URL:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/XyzChannelID?sub_confirmation=1

Now, let’s move to main answer,

To add a channel subscription link in the video description, first prepare the channel subscription URL by adding “?sub_confirmation=1” to your “Channel URL” which exists in channel “Basic info” page. After that, add that URL in the video description input box and save changes.

For sharing a PDF link in a YouTube video description, first you needs an online PDF link, which directly opens the PDF file in the browser.

To add a PDF URL link in the video description, you need to paste the link string in the video description box and save changes. Now, on the video page, the added link string will show as a clickable link. Viewers can click and open PDF by that description link.