How to embed course videos in Squarespace website from YouTube
While hosting your course directly on Squarespace offers numerous advantages, such as cost savings and streamlined content management, it does come with a limitation when it comes to video hosting. Fortunately, there's a simple workaround using embedded videos!
The idea is to embed videos that are either unlisted or privately listed on an external platform onto your Squarespace site. This approach is especially useful for those who want to share private course videos on their Squarespace site without incurring extra expenses for additional video hosting services. Whether you're hosting your course within a Squarespace Membership area or on a password-protected page, embedding videos in this manner provides a versatile solution.
Choosing the Right Video Hosting Platforms
Many video hosting platforms can be embedded into your Squarespace site, such as YouTube, Vimeo, and Wistia. In this article, we'll focus on YouTube, as it's a free and highly accessible option. While Vimeo and Wistea are excellent alternatives, they come with additional costs.
A noteworthy alternative we're currently enthusiastic about is Descript. It serves as a screen recorder, basic video editor, and hosting platform, allowing you to embed your videos directly using an embed code. It's available for about $15 a month, which covers recording, editing, and hosting, making it a fantastic value!
Integrate Videos with YouTube:
Unpublished Video Content
With YouTube, you have the flexibility to upload videos as Private, Unlisted, or Public. For this tutorial, we'll focus on Unlisted videos. This means that the video will only be visible when directly embedded on a website (like ours!) or when the link is shared. It won't be publicly visible on the YouTube platform.
Make Your YouTube Videos Unlisted
Click your account thumbnail located in the top right corner.
From the dropdown menu, choose YOUTUBE STUDIO.
Click the CREATE button or the upward arrow icon to begin uploading your new video.
Fill in the video details, including title, description, playlist, and audience information. Make sure to select a video thumbnail that represents your course.
Click NEXT in the bottom right corner to proceed.
Continue configuring the settings for your YouTube video until you reach the "Visibility" section.
Here comes the crucial part: Choose UNLISTED for visibility and then click SAVE in the bottom right corner to publish your video.
This will ensure your course videos are accessible when shared but remain unlisted on YouTube.
Embedding videos via the Embed Block
Click on the EDIT option in the top left corner.
Then, select + ADD BLOCK in the top left corner.
Choose EMBED from the available block options.
To edit block details, click the pencil icon at the top of the block.
Under the EMBED AS section, select "link."
Copy the video URL from your Youtube Studio.
Once you paste the URL, a red "successfully located" message will appear below the URL field, and a thumbnail representing your video should show up.
Hover over DONE in the top left corner, and then click SAVE to publish your edits.
Insert a video using an embed code.
If your video doesn't appear as expected when you input the link, you can manually enter the embed code to ensure it displays correctly. Here's how to do it:
After selecting the embed block in Squarespace's block options, opt for "code snippet" under the embed as option.
Click the arrow on the left side of the embed data.
In a separate tab, go to your YouTube video.
Beneath your video title, click "share."
From the sharing options, select the "embed" button.
Click "copy" in the lower left corner.
Back in Squarespace, paste the code under embed data.
A preview of your video should show up on your page.
Click "SAVE" in the top left corner to save your page edits.
This straightforward process can be repeated for any private course videos you wish to include on your Squarespace site, offering a practical solution for working around Squarespace's video hosting limitations and costs.