How to Hide YouTube Related Videos in WordPress (Two Methods)

WordPress is currently the most used CMS in the whole world, and about 43% of the entire internet runs on it. One of its many strengths is it has seamless integration with YouTube, meaning you can easily embed YouTube videos on WordPress websites.

A problem with embedded videos is that once you pause or end a video, related videos appear on the screen. But many times it’s seen that users want to watch the same video repeatedly, but due to accidentally clicking a related video, they go to another video.

This really creates a negative user experience. As a content marketer, you’ll never want to lose visitors at crucial moments. The best way to do this is to turn off displaying related YouTube videos. This blog post will guide you on how to hide YouTube related videos in WordPress.

Turn Off YouTube Related Videos

YouTube introduced the related videos feature a few years ago. It shows similar video content at the end of each video to increase user engagement. Surely, it is a nifty idea from YouTube’s perspective. But not all publishers want to give free traffic to another YouTube channel.

The related videos often work as a distraction. Below is a list of some key reasons why you may want to turn off related YouTube videos in WordPress.

• Maintain Reader Focus

By turning off the related video feature, you can ensure that users remain focused on the content you have provided. They can even rewatch the entire video or particular part by dragging.

• Prevent Losing Visitors

Even related videos might be appealing which can cause your web visitors to move away. So, to prevent losing visitors, you must stop the related video feature.

• Prevent Unwanted Promotions

Related videos may include promotional content from your competitors. Turning off these videos can ensure you customers don’t move away to your competitors’ advertised products.

• Improve Site Aesthetics

Disabling related videos can keep your site cleaner and look more professional. This can enhance the overall user experience on your site.

How to Hide YouTube Related Videos in WordPress

There are two easy ways to hide YouTube related videos in WordPress. We’ll explain the both in the following write-up of this section. Get started!

Method One: Hide YouTube Related Videos with a WordPress Plugin

Years ago, it was possible to hide YouTube related videos by editing the video URL. You could turn off YouTube related videos by adding ‘&rel=0’ or ‘;rel=0’ at the end of the URL. But this system doesn’t work anymore. Hence, you have to use a plugin to do this.

You’ll find lots of plugins to do this. YouTube by EmbedPlus Team is such a plugin you can use in this case. Not only hiding related videos but also many other things you can execute with this plugin.

Step 01: Install and Activate the YouTube by EmbedPlus Team Plugin

Go to Plugins > Add New Plugin. Type the plugin name YouTube by EmbedPlus Team in the search box on the top-right corner.

Install and activate the plugin.

Step 02: Add the YouTube Wizard Block to Your Post/Page

The plugin comes with a Gutenberg block named YouTube Wizard. Add the block to the editor.

Step 03: Configure the Block and Add the YouTube Video Link

Click the Open Wizard button.

Select the Embed a single video, or YouTube short option.

Write your desired YouTube video link to the box. Hit the Submit button.

Select the option Insert into Editor.

The YouTube video will be instantly displayed on the editor without showcasing any related videos.

You can now preview this video on a new tab to check if related videos appear or not. Hope you won’t see this.

Method Two: How to Turn Off YouTube Suggested Videos on Your Browser

If you just want to turn off suggested YouTube videos on a personal level, you can use a Chrome extension, known as  Enhancer for YouTube.

We found Enhancer for YouTube works remarkably well to have a clean and great YouTube experience without ads, suggested videos.

The extension also adds new features to improve your YouTube experience. For example, it automatically blocks all ads, removes annotations, plays videos in HD only, can dark the whole webpage except the video and more.

Bonus Point: How to Create a YouTube Playlist in WordPress

For academic discussions, learning materials, tutorials, etc., you may want to create a series of videos and upload them to YouTube as a playlist. With the above-mentioned plugin, you can add and display YouTube playlists on your WordPress site. Let’s see how to do this.

Step 01: Add the YouTube Wizard Block to the WordPress Editor

As displayed above, add the YouTube Wizard block to your WordPress editor.

Step 02: Configure the Block and Add the YouTube Video Playlist Link

Click the Open Wizard button.

Select the Embed a playlist option.

Add the YouTube video playlist link to the box and click the Get Playlist button.

Click the Insert as Playlist option.

You can see the YouTube video playlist has been added to the editor.

Wrapping Up

Adding videos to eCommerce websites or multivendor marketplaces is a good idea to attract new customers.

You may need to speed up the WordPress website since you need a fast-loading site to keep users engaged. Check out our WordPress speedup techniques to increase your WordPress website speed up to 3x.

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