YouTube’s “related links” connect Shorts, long-form videos, and live streams

A new YouTube feature is another asset for creators who utilize multiple formats. The leading video platform has launched a “related links” tool that lets users connect their Shorts to any of their other uploads.

Rene Ritchie, who currently serves as YouTube’s Creator Liasion, announced the new feature on X. With related links, creators can direct viewers from their short-form videos to long-form content, live streams, or other Shorts.

Multiformat creators are already hailing YouTube’s new linker as an easy way to increase viewership. Ritchie also noted several other potential uses for the feature: Creators can let fans remix their content with a single click or drive potential buyers to their merch stores.

Related links are similar to the link-in-bio services that have boomed in recent years. Though startups like Linktree and Koji initially defined that space, major tech platforms have recently rolled out their own takes

YouTube first teased related links when it cracked down on clickable Shorts links in August. In order to combat spam, the video site banned external links in Shorts comments and video descriptions. To replace those URLs, YouTube is building several first-party solutions.

In addition to related links, the Google-owned platform has announced “prominent clickable links” that can be added next to the Subscribe button on creator channels. Those buttons can be connected to any external page that stays within YouTube’s community guidelines.

The impact of related links remains to be seen, but the feature has major potential for multiformat creators. It could be, as the creator Muaaz wrote on X, that long-form views are “about to go up for y’all.”