YouTube disabled clickable links in Shorts descriptions, comments, and the vertical live feed to reduce spam and phishing. To direct viewers from a Short to a full-length video, creators must now use the "Related Video" feature. This tool adds a prominent, clickable play button directly above the channel name in the Shorts player, allowing you to bridge short-form clips to your channel's long-form content, live streams, or other Shorts.
Why YouTube Disabled Shorts Links
In August 2023, YouTube announced a major shift in how links function within its short-form ecosystem. According to the official YouTube Community update, links in Shorts comments, Shorts descriptions, and the vertical live feed are no longer clickable.
This policy was implemented to combat a rising tide of spam, phishing attempts, and deceptive links that were negatively impacting the viewer experience. While creators previously relied on pinned comments or description links to drive affiliate sales or redirect traffic to full-length videos, those text URLs now render as plain text. Viewers cannot tap them, and they cannot easily copy and paste them on mobile devices.
To replace this lost functionality for internal channel navigation, YouTube introduced a safer, structured alternative: the Related Video link. This ensures that viewers are directed to verified content within the YouTube ecosystem rather than unvetted third-party websites.
How to Add a Related Video to a Short
The Related Video feature allows you to link one active video from your channel to a specific Short. When configured, a clickable button displaying the linked video's title appears in the Shorts player, positioned right above your channel handle.
You can set this up during the initial upload or add it to existing Shorts via YouTube Studio. According to YouTube's official documentation for editing Shorts details, here is the standard process:
- Sign in to YouTube Studio on a desktop browser.
- Navigate to the Content tab on the left menu.
- Click the pencil icon (Details) on the Short you want to edit.
- On the right side of the screen, locate the Related Video box.
- Click the box and select a video, live stream, or another Short from your channel.
- Click Save.
You cannot link to external websites, unlisted videos on other channels, or content that violates community guidelines. The linked video must be hosted on the exact same channel as the Short. If you delete the linked video or change its visibility to private, the Related Video link will disappear from the Short. For creators looking to understand how this impacts their overall channel revenue, reviewing YouTube Shorts monetization requirements can help clarify the financial value of routing viewers to long-form content.
Visualizing the Call-to-Action in Your Edit
Because the Related Video button is a native UI element, viewers often overlook it unless directly prompted. To maximize click-through rates, you must design your Short's visual and audio cues to point directly to the link.
The Related Video button appears in the lower-left quadrant of the screen, sandwiched between the channel handle and the Short's title. When editing your video, you need to account for this specific placement.
- Use Visual Pointers: Add on-screen graphics, such as an animated arrow pointing down and to the left, appearing precisely when you deliver the call-to-action.
- Verbal Cues: Tell the viewer exactly what to do. Phrases like "Tap the play button right above my name to watch the full video" perform significantly better than a generic "Link in description," which is now obsolete.
- Respect Safe Zones: Ensure your arrows and text do not overlap with the native YouTube UI. The right side of the screen is occupied by the like, comment, and share buttons, while the bottom fifth contains the title, handle, and the Related Video link itself. Keep your CTA graphics in the middle-left section of the screen.
Proper framing is critical. Just as you must carefully consider YouTube Shorts thumbnail policies to optimize how your video appears on your channel page, you must edit your video's safe zones to ensure the Related Video link is highly visible and uncluttered by your own graphics.
Timing the Call-to-Action
Placing the call-to-action at the wrong moment will severely limit your conversion rate. If you ask viewers to click away too early, you hurt your Short's retention metrics, which signals the algorithm to stop promoting the video. If you wait too long, viewers will simply scroll to the next video before hearing your pitch.
The most effective strategy is to place the CTA in the final three to five seconds of the Short. By understanding how to track the completion rate on Reels, TikTok, and Shorts, you can identify the exact moment viewer drop-off begins. Your goal is to deliver the core value of the Short immediately, and just as the viewer feels satisfied, offer the Related Video as a natural continuation of their viewing session.
Content Strategy: Bridging the Gap
A successful short-to-long-form funnel requires more than just a pointing arrow; the content itself must create a knowledge gap that only the linked video can fill.
When you create a Short, treat it as a high-retention hook for the main video. Do not attempt to summarize an entire ten-minute video into sixty seconds. Instead, isolate a single compelling moment, a surprising fact, or the inciting incident of a story. Cut the Short right before the climax or the final resolution, and use the final seconds to direct the viewer to the Related Video link for the conclusion.
For example, if your long-form video is an in-depth software tutorial, the Short should demonstrate the impressive final result and the very first step. The Related Video link then promises the complete, step-by-step breakdown. This approach ensures that the viewer has a distinct, compelling reason to leave the fast-paced Shorts feed and commit to a longer viewing experience.
Automating Your Shorts Pipeline
Transitioning from manual editing to a streamlined workflow allows you to test multiple hooks and calls-to-action without spending hours in a timeline. If you are extracting multiple clips from long-form content to drive traffic via the Related Video feature, an AI YouTube Shorts generator can significantly reduce your production time.
Viral Day is an AI clipping platform built to automate this workflow. It features AI-assisted clip selection that analyzes your footage across 18 viral-potential signals to find the moments most likely to capture attention. You can upload source videos up to 10 hours long, making it easy to mine extensive podcasts, streams, or documentaries for high-converting clips.
The platform includes a professional video editor, bulk editing tools, and a brand kit to ensure your visual CTA arrows and text overlays remain consistent across every upload. Viral Day's entry plan starts at $9.99/month and includes 30 hours of processing time, giving you the capacity to build a robust, high-volume Shorts strategy that consistently funnels viewers back to your main channel.
