Youtube to allow external linking from video annotations.

33 replies
This is quite a serious feature upgrade that will be coming soon to partners in good standing.... Basically you will be able to link out from your Youtube videos directly to (approved) associated website(s) to your channel.

Zoom to 4:00 in this video for the news:

#annotations #external #linking #video #youtube
  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    OMG, that is seriously HUGE news (linking out of annotations to external site).

    My brother is a partner, I've been telling him to move that YT traffic to a site > list (BINGO!). He's averaging around 10K YT views per day on 1 channel.
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  • Profile picture of the author djax3000
    This is big. Especially for someone like myself who is just really getting started in video marketing.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    I guess this annotations/external link is for full Partners, where the partner can customize the channel page?

    I'm running Adsense, but it's not the same thing that my brother runs, he's a full YT partner (full control over the channel page, etc...).

    When your a full YT partner, YT makes you verify your external site, so YT already knows the partners external sites are approved for linking out of annotations.

    I doubt very much this is for anyone that's not a full partner. Anyways, good news for my brother.
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  • Profile picture of the author Broderick Boyd
    That's awesome but will probably just be a test and will be used for YouTube partners. I can imagine a charge for this service also but either way that's great news!

    -Brody
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  • Profile picture of the author carlossousa
    Originally Posted by Marty S View Post

    This is quite a serious feature upgrade that will be coming soon to partners in good standing.... Basically you will be able to link out from your Youtube videos directly to (approved) associated website(s) to your channel.
    Thanks for sharing this, it will certainly help me in the future.
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    • Profile picture of the author James Hessler
      Great News and thanks for the share. Not a partner as yet, but hopefully soon. I host my main videos on EVP2 and have considered linked tube... But this is great news.

      Thanks again

      James
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      www.magicnewstelevision.com

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  • Profile picture of the author murtuza
    LOL, great news, I am really looking to leverage annotations to get traffic to my site as I have just started in video marketing and my videos have got me around 700 views. Great to see this explanding in future... thanks for sharing this info...
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  • Profile picture of the author paulgl
    Love it. Terrific news, thanks for sharing.

    IMHO, it's google, in a round about way, of integrating
    more "social," under the guise of sending people to your
    websites. I got clues from this when the use words
    like,
    drive viewers to your website
    do contests
    get emails
    sell products
    whatever you want
    with no "youtube" constraints

    Isn't that one reason why people "like" FB?

    Looks like they are only allowing one website per channel.

    Not bad.

    Paul
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    If you were disappointed in your results today, lower your standards tomorrow.

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    • Profile picture of the author Marty S
      [DELETED]
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      • Profile picture of the author bengirwb
        You can already do external linking without being a partner.

        Put your link (to Amazon sales page, your web site, etc.) at the top of the "description"

        Then your clickable link appears right under the video box.
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  • Profile picture of the author CBusiness
    great news. definitely. But it will be limited.

    I'd love to transfer my 2 million views per month traffic!
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  • Profile picture of the author nadal619
    thanks for sharing
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    • Profile picture of the author CYCLONE
      That's pretty impressive, thanks for sharing...
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  • Profile picture of the author TimHutch34
    that's good to know since i do most of my selling on youtube
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  • Profile picture of the author alistair
    All I do with annotations is close them out as soon as they pop up but still very interesting news.
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  • Profile picture of the author Manie Amari
    This is BIG! Thanks for letting us know.
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    This will NOT be up for long. Get it now whilst You still can. Btw it's FREE...
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  • Profile picture of the author gpwilson
    Great. I believe this would certainly help those who are looking to be a video marketer. Thanks for sharing this informative video.
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  • Profile picture of the author Matt121
    This is great news indeed. More traffic for our websites!
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    • Profile picture of the author Kenji
      I don't use annotations for my videos. Why? Because I never click on any annotations when I'm viewing some other's videos.

      Overlay or not, I don't click on any space on a video. I prefer to watch the video in its entirety and then click on any links in the descriptions.

      Also, I don't watch embedded YT videos on any site but only on YT because I like to know what other videos and what channel I'm viewing the videos.

      My videos do get embedded in other people's sites but I prefer to lead any viewer back to YT. Hence, I don't need annotations. I find it's an eye sore.

      Sorry, annotations is just plain disrespect to the video content. I turn off annotations, I like the video viewing experience to be clean.
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      • Profile picture of the author Marty S
        Originally Posted by Kenji View Post

        I don't use annotations for my videos. Why? Because I never click on any annotations when I'm viewing some other's videos.
        Hmmm.. What you personally do when you watch a video is hardly relevant.

        Originally Posted by Kenji View Post

        Overlay or not, I don't click on any space on a video. I prefer to watch the video in its entirety and then click on any links in the descriptions.
        Annotations can be clicked to a new window so the viewer can watch them whenever they want.

        Originally Posted by Kenji View Post

        Also, I don't watch embedded YT videos on any site but only on YT because I like to know what other videos and what channel I'm viewing the videos.
        I can't make any sense of this, but again, YOUR actions when viewing don't necessarily (probably not) extend to the masses.

        Originally Posted by Kenji View Post

        My videos do get embedded in other people's sites but I prefer to lead any viewer back to YT.
        I don't think you understand fully, because you just made the argument FOR annotations.

        Originally Posted by Kenji View Post

        Hence, I don't need annotations. I find it's an eye sore.
        Yup. It's called advertising, and it's why Youtube exists.

        Originally Posted by Kenji View Post

        Sorry, annotations is just plain disrespect to the video content. I turn off annotations, I like the video viewing experience to be clean.
        Actually, when done thoughtfully they can really compliment the video content, but as well you could say this about any media you see these days, even on television. The TV screen is constantly shared with some form of advertising, logo, promo, lower third etc. It's probably something you're going to have to get over.
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  • Profile picture of the author GBM
    Wow, this is GREAT news!

    Also the bulk annotations thing is going to be amazing. I've actually been waiting for something like that for quite some time.

    Thanks for sharing
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    • Profile picture of the author Nathan251
      Don't people already do this i.e. create overlays linking back to affiliate offers via redirects - is this just a way of saying that is ok or saying there is no need for the redirect?
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  • Profile picture of the author WinstonTian
    But think about it this way...

    Every kind of advertising becomes fatigued over time. When
    more "spammers" start to exploit the system (Don't we all love
    these guys)...

    Fake, faux videos will start to populate Youtube.. Not to
    mention the whole thing will start to get rigged like crazy.

    So one word of mention... To make this sustainable, you
    probably need a loyal following instead of making a lot of vids
    or one-time viral hits...

    I always thought Youtube as a "list" - especially because of the
    Subscribe feature, but I never thought they'd actually pull the
    "External link" thing off.

    Well, let's see how this goes..

    Winston Tian
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    Cheers,
    Winston
    The Beginner's Doctor

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  • Profile picture of the author robbhw
    Thank you for sharing. This is pretty amazing, clickable link with in the video it self; opening up lots of possibilities...

    And that "In-Video Programming" feature is pretty awesome too!
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    • Profile picture of the author Marty S
      Originally Posted by WillR View Post

      You have been able to put direct links on your Youtube videos for a long time now.
      Yes WillR. Many on the forum have seen that (now dated) tutorial before. Thanks for reminding.

      However, this announcement was regarding the ability for channel owners to create links from inside Youtube's own annotations feature. Something quite new and accordingly, completely within their own terms of use.
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      • Profile picture of the author WillR
        Originally Posted by Marty S View Post

        Yes WillR. Many on the forum have seen that (now dated) tutorial before. Thanks for reminding.

        However, this announcement was regarding the ability for channel owners to create links from inside Youtube's own annotations feature. Something quite new and accordingly, completely within their own terms of use.
        Yeah, I understand that. The thing is the typical YouTube user is not a YouTube partner so it won't help very many people.

        The option I mentioned above however allows you to add a message, image, and link and you don't need to be a partner to do it. And YouTube are not going to check your URL like they will with partner sites.

        Regardless, be sure to let us know when it's actually implemented because yes, it will be useful for those who are YouTube partners.
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  • Profile picture of the author Komsat
    What's their angle?!?!? lol Thanks for the share will, I do video a lot and had no idea you could do that!
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  • Profile picture of the author shintaiguy
    That's great news but It does make me wonder what there angle is and how long it will last. for all the guys that are saying they don't look at or just close annotations.

    "it is not your viewing habits that matter, just the customers"
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  • Profile picture of the author shipwrecked
    And if we think about it...
    YouTube channel pages also have PR... while we're usually concentrating on sites, we are missing out on this.

    Linking YouTube annotations is great for advertisers!

    But imagine how videos will look like?

    The videos on YouTube are now filled with ads... YouTube and Facebook have become immense advertising platforms. To us marketers it's paradise! But some people are full with all sorts of ads, banners, "stickers" stuck to everything!
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  • Profile picture of the author greatscott
    Wow first I heard of this.. could be great if your in good standing, but I wonder about the site approval process with big G ?
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  • Profile picture of the author echelon
    Thank you for sharing news. This could be a way to increase the click through rate for the links being promoted. It could be interesting to see how it plays out to be able to only link to associated sites.
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