{"id":1856,"date":"2025-07-18T10:10:30","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T10:10:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outfy.com\/help\/?post_type=docs&#038;p=1856"},"modified":"2025-11-19T08:02:51","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T08:02:51","password":"","slug":"why-are-some-links-not-clickable-on-youtube","status":"publish","type":"docs","link":"https:\/\/www.outfy.com\/help\/docs\/why-are-some-links-not-clickable-on-youtube\/","title":{"rendered":"Why are some links not clickable on YouTube?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>When adding links to YouTube Shorts, you may notice that they appear as plain text and cannot be clicked. This is due to a policy implemented by YouTube to help reduce spam and scams on the platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr style=\"border: none; height: 1px; background-color: #EDF0FA;\">\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What YouTube Says<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>According to<a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/youtube\/answer\/13748639?hl=en\"> YouTube Support<\/a>, <strong>URLs placed in YouTube Shorts comments and Shorts descriptions are non-clickable<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This means viewers won\u2019t be able to tap or click on those links directly\u2014they would need to manually copy and paste the URL into their browser.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>YouTube disables clickable links in <strong>Shorts descriptions, comments<\/strong>, and <strong>vertical mobile live feeds<\/strong> to help reduce spam, scams, and misleading content. This is part of YouTube\u2019s efforts to protect viewers from potentially harmful external websites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr style=\"border: none; height: 1px; background-color: #EDF0FA;\">\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">When Are Links Clickable?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Links remain clickable in the following cases:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Long-form YouTube videos<\/strong> \u2014 links in both the description and comments are clickable.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Channel profile links<\/strong> \u2014 you can include clickable URLs in your channel&#8217;s &#8220;About&#8221; section or links area.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#fef6d7\"><strong>Note:<\/strong> Links that lead to websites containing content that goes against YouTube\u2019s External Links Policy are not permitted on the platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr style=\"border: none; height: 1px; background-color: #EDF0FA;\">\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">YouTube Link Clickability Overview Table:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; border: 1px solid #ddd; border-radius: 12px; box-shadow: 0 2px 8px rgba(0,0,0,0.08); overflow: hidden;\">\n  <table style=\"width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse;\">\n    <thead>\n      <tr style=\"background-color: #f5f5f5;\">\n        <th style=\"padding: 16px; text-align: left; font-size: 18px; color: #333; border-bottom: 1px solid #ddd;\">Link Location<\/th>\n        <th style=\"padding: 16px; text-align: center; font-size: 18px; color: #333; border-bottom: 1px solid #ddd;\">Clickable<\/th>\n        <th style=\"padding: 16px; text-align: center; font-size: 18px; color: #333; border-bottom: 1px solid #ddd;\">Non-clickable<\/th>\n      <\/tr>\n    <\/thead>\n    <tbody>\n      <tr>\n        <td style=\"padding: 14px; border-bottom: 1px solid #eee;\">Channel &#8220;About&#8221; section or profile links<\/td>\n        <td style=\"padding: 14px; text-align: center; color: green;\">\u2714<\/td>\n        <td style=\"padding: 14px; text-align: center;\"><\/td>\n      <\/tr>\n      <tr style=\"background-color: #fafafa;\">\n        <td style=\"padding: 14px; border-bottom: 1px solid #eee;\">Comments and descriptions of regular (long-form) videos<\/td>\n        <td style=\"padding: 14px; text-align: center; color: green;\">\u2714<\/td>\n        <td style=\"padding: 14px; text-align: center;\"><\/td>\n      <\/tr>\n      <tr>\n        <td style=\"padding: 14px; border-bottom: 1px solid #eee;\">Short video descriptions and comment sections<\/td>\n        <td style=\"padding: 14px; text-align: center;\"><\/td>\n        <td style=\"padding: 14px; text-align: center; color: red;\">\u2718<\/td>\n      <\/tr>\n      <tr style=\"background-color: #fafafa;\">\n        <td style=\"padding: 14px; border-bottom: 1px solid #eee;\">Related Short video links<\/td>\n        <td style=\"padding: 14px; text-align: center;\"><\/td>\n        <td style=\"padding: 14px; text-align: center; color: red;\">\u2718<\/td>\n      <\/tr>\n      <tr>\n        <td style=\"padding: 14px; border-bottom: 1px solid #eee;\">Live chat and channel description in standard live streams<\/td>\n        <td style=\"padding: 14px; text-align: center; color: green;\">\u2714<\/td>\n        <td style=\"padding: 14px; text-align: center;\"><\/td>\n      <\/tr>\n      <tr style=\"background-color: #fafafa;\">\n        <td style=\"padding: 14px; border-bottom: 1px solid #eee;\">Live chat and channel description in vertical mobile lives<\/td>\n        <td style=\"padding: 14px; text-align: center;\"><\/td>\n        <td style=\"padding: 14px; text-align: center; color: red;\">\u2718<\/td>\n      <\/tr>\n      <tr>\n        <td style=\"padding: 14px; border-bottom: 1px solid #eee;\">Hashtags and @mentions in Shorts descriptions or comments<\/td>\n        <td style=\"padding: 14px; text-align: center;\"><\/td>\n        <td style=\"padding: 14px; text-align: center; color: red;\">\u2718<\/td>\n      <\/tr>\n      <tr style=\"background-color: #fafafa;\">\n        <td style=\"padding: 14px; border-bottom: 1px solid #eee;\">Links from the YouTube Shopping affiliate program<\/td>\n        <td style=\"padding: 14px; text-align: center; color: green;\">\u2714<\/td>\n        <td style=\"padding: 14px; text-align: center;\"><\/td>\n      <\/tr>\n      <tr>\n        <td style=\"padding: 14px; border-bottom: 1px solid #eee;\">Remix and Green Screen attribution links in Shorts<\/td>\n        <td style=\"padding: 14px; text-align: center; color: green;\">\u2714<\/td>\n        <td style=\"padding: 14px; text-align: center;\"><\/td>\n      <\/tr>\n      <tr style=\"background-color: #fafafa;\">\n        <td style=\"padding: 14px; border-bottom: 1px solid #eee;\">Community tab post links*<\/td>\n        <td style=\"padding: 14px; text-align: center;\"><\/td>\n        <td style=\"padding: 14px; text-align: center; color: red;\">\u2718<\/td>\n      <\/tr>\n      <tr>\n        <td style=\"padding: 14px;\">Links placed in End Screens<\/td>\n        <td style=\"padding: 14px; text-align: center; color: green;\">\u2714<\/td>\n        <td style=\"padding: 14px; text-align: center;\"><\/td>\n      <\/tr>\n    <\/tbody>\n  <\/table>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>To ensure your viewers can interact with your links easily, we recommend sharing them in long-form YouTube videos or in your channel profile, where they remain fully clickable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When adding links to YouTube Shorts, you may notice that they appear as plain text and cannot be clicked. This is due to a policy implemented by YouTube to help reduce spam and scams on the platform. What YouTube Says According to YouTube Support, URLs placed in YouTube Shorts comments and Shorts descriptions are non-clickable.&hellip;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.outfy.com\/help\/docs\/why-are-some-links-not-clickable-on-youtube\/\" class=\"\" rel=\"bookmark\">Read More &raquo;<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Why are some links not clickable on YouTube?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"doc_category":[27],"doc_tag":[],"class_list":["post-1856","docs","type-docs","status-publish","hentry","doc_category-faq"],"year_month":"2026-04","word_count":290,"total_views":0,"reactions":{"happy":0,"normal":0,"sad":0},"author_info":{"name":"Himanshu Rawat","author_nicename":"himanshu","author_url":"https:\/\/www.outfy.com\/help\/author\/himanshu\/"},"doc_category_info":[{"term_name":"FAQ","term_url":"https:\/\/www.outfy.com\/help\/category\/outfy\/faq\/"}],"doc_tag_info":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why are some links not clickable on YouTube? 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