Up until recently, there was an option inside of YouTube to embed a video on your website without showing related videos at the end, which were often from competitors. The process was somewhat hidden, but at least it was an available option.
When you went to get the embed code, there was a link to “Show advanced options” and then you could select the checkboxes that you wanted.
After selecting those boxes, the embed code would have the parameters added that you had selected, and when viewers got to the end of your video, they simply saw the play button again.
Now however, that option is gone entirely, and I finally know why…
YouTube Removed the Option to Hide Related Videos
This summer, Google announced that a change would take place on September 25th, that they were going to change the behavior of the rel (related videos) parameter, and they also said that they would “ignore” the showinfo parameter entirely.
In their explanation of the change on this page, Google says this:
Titles, channel information, and related videos are an important part of YouTube’s core user experience, and these changes help to make the YouTube viewing experience consistent across different platforms.
What they DON’T say on that page is that they’re removing the checkbox entirely. If you go to embed a video today, you’ll see that it looks like this now, with no option to remove related videos:
You Can Still Stop Competitor Videos From Appearing
The fact that there’s no more checkbox available doesn’t mean that you can’t still prevent competitor videos from showing on your website.
Google must have decided there would be too much public outcry if they started just ignoring that parameter. Instead, they explain that the “behavior change” means those that currently use the “Do not show related videos” parameter will instead show related videos from that same channel.
So, while you can’t stop related videos from showing altogether, at least you can ensure that they’re your own, by adding some code…
The code to use is ?rel=0
Simply append that code to the end of the Youtube URL in your iframe right before the closing quotation mark. Then, instead of getting videos from your competitors, your users will see videos from the same channel from where the embed code was taken. That means the example above would look like this for use:
So what do you think of this change?
