Creating links in your YouTube videos used to be done with “annotations” but Google did away with it as of this past May. Reason being is, they have never worked on mobile devices, so links were never seen by mobile viewers. As mobile viewers become more popular, the annotations editor was removed. That means no future annotations will be available, but existing annotations will remain on videos currently published.
Don’t fret. You can still link to your websites directly from your YouTube videos using YouTube’s “Cards”, as long as you associate your site with your YouTube channel and you are part of the YouTube Partner Program.
- Add an associated website through the Google Search Console. Make sure to log in to Search Console with the same Google Account as the one you use to access the YouTube channel.
- To agree to the YouTube Partner Program terms, Sign in to YouTube.
- In the top right, select your account icon > Creator Studio.
- In the left menu, select Channel > Status and features.
- Under “Monetization,” click “Enable”.
- Follow the on-screen steps to accept the YouTube Partner Program Terms.
Then create cards for your videos. You can find Cards here in the Edit section of the Video.
Then, choose “Link” to point viewers to a specific links (URL) from your list of eligible sites.
That’s it! Here’s more info on YouTube’s Cards.