You added your website, your shop and your other socials to your YouTube channel, opened your channel page, and only one link is there. Or the links you used to have across the bottom of your banner are gone, or a link you added last week has disappeared and you never got a clear reason.
Most of the time nothing is broken. YouTube changed where channel links are displayed, and its help centre now describes a layout that shows one link up front and hides the rest behind a click. When a link really is missing, it is usually one of three other things: the change was never published, the link broke YouTube’s external links policy, or you are looking at a feature that needs a verified channel. The fix depends on which one it is.
Tell which case you’re in
Open your channel page (signed out, or in a private window, so you see what visitors see) and compare it with your Links list in YouTube Studio.
- One link shows near your name and subscribe button, and the rest only appear after a click → this is the normal layout. Nothing to fix, but you can choose which link goes first.
- Links used to sit on your banner image and now don’t → the current help pages no longer describe banner links. See the section on the banner below.
- The link isn’t in YouTube Studio at all, or Studio shows it but the channel never did → the edit wasn’t published, or you went over the 14-link limit.
- A link was there and vanished, or you got an email from YouTube → the link was likely removed under the external links policy.
- Your channel links show on your channel page but aren’t clickable under your videos or in posts → that is an advanced feature that needs verification.
Where YouTube shows channel links now
YouTube’s page “Manage your YouTube channel’s profile” spells this out: “Your first link will be prominently displayed in the profile section near the subscribe button, and your remaining links will show when your audience clicks to see more links.” (The Android version of the same page says above the subscribe button.) So if a visitor sees one link and a prompt to see more, every other link you added is still live; it is simply one click away.
That makes the order of your links the real setting to care about. Whatever sits first in your Links list is the only one most visitors will see without clicking. If it is an old project or a social profile you rarely use, move your main site or shop to the top.
YouTube says you can showcase up to 14 links on your channel Home tab. If you are trying to add a fifteenth, it won’t appear. Remove one you no longer need first.
Why links aren’t on your banner
Many creators remember a row of site links on top of the banner image, and plenty of older guides still say to tick a box to show links on your banner. YouTube’s current help pages don’t describe that any more. The profile page talks only about the first link near the subscribe button and the rest behind a click, and the branding page treats the banner purely as an image.
If your banner used to point people to your links visually, that is now down to the image itself. YouTube’s requirements for the banner, at the time of writing, are a minimum upload of 2048 x 1152 px at a 16:9 aspect ratio, a safe area for text and logos of 1235 x 338 px at that size, a recommended 2560 x 1440 px (especially for TV), and a file of 6 MB or smaller. YouTube adds that the same banner is used on computer, mobile and TV but is cropped differently by device, so keep any text inside the safe area. Text on a banner is not clickable; the clickable links are the ones in your profile.
Add or reorder links so they actually publish
Older help pages called this section Basic info; YouTube now calls it Profile. On a computer, YouTube’s steps are:
- Sign in to YouTube Studio.
- From the left menu, select Customization, then Profile.
- Under Links, click Add link and enter the title and URL of your site.
- Make sure your most important link is first in the list, since YouTube says the first link is the one shown near the subscribe button.
- Click Publish. Until you do, nothing changes on your channel.
On a phone, YouTube’s steps use the YouTube Studio app, not the main YouTube app: open YouTube Studio, tap your profile picture in the top right, tap Edit next to your channel description, tap Edit under Links, tap Add, enter the title and URL, then tap Done and Save.
If you manage a Brand Account, make sure you are signed in as the channel you want to edit. It is easy to add links to a personal channel by mistake and then wonder why the brand channel looks unchanged.
A link was removed under the external links policy
YouTube’s external links policy says it applies to “video, audio, channel, comments, pinned comments, live streams” and any other YouTube product or feature, so the links on your channel profile are covered. The help centre’s profile page says the same thing more briefly: you can add up to 14 links, “just make sure they follow our external links policy.”
The policy bans links to, among other things:
- Pornography.
- Sites or apps that install malware or unwanted software.
- Phishing sites that try to collect sign-in or financial details.
- Sites that give unauthorised access to paid audio, video, games, software or streaming.
- Sites selling goods covered by YouTube’s regulated goods guidelines.
- Content that breaks YouTube’s rules on hate, harassment, violence, child safety or harmful misinformation such as election interference.
One line in the policy explains many of the disappearances people can’t make sense of: “If we can’t verify that a link you post is safe, we may remove the link.” YouTube doesn’t say what makes a link unverifiable, so if a link keeps disappearing, a sensible first step is to link straight to the final page rather than through a shortener or redirect, so the destination is plain to see.
YouTube says that when content breaks the policy it removes it and emails you. A first violation usually brings a warning with no penalty to the channel, and completing a policy training can let the warning expire after 90 days. After that come strikes, and three strikes within 90 days can lead to the channel being terminated. YouTube’s separate spam and deceptive practices policy also covers links, and lists content “created solely to drive users off of YouTube to external sites” as off-platform diversion.
Links that need a verified channel
YouTube’s help pages don’t list a verification requirement for the Links section of your channel profile itself. But YouTube’s feature-access page lists “Add clickable links to your channel details on watch page or posts” as an advanced feature. If your links work on your channel page but not in those other places, this is the likely reason.
To check, go to YouTube Studio, then Settings, Channel, Feature eligibility. Features you can use show Enabled. YouTube’s route to advanced features is phone verification first (which unlocks intermediate features), then either enough channel history or verifying your identity with a valid ID or a short video. YouTube says ID and video checks usually take 24 hours, only the primary channel owner can verify, and one phone number can verify at most two channels. You can also lose access by breaking the Community Guidelines, and YouTube emails you if advanced access is restricted.
How long changes take
YouTube’s help centre doesn’t publish a time for link changes to appear. The only timings on its profile and branding pages are that a new channel name “may take a few days” to update across YouTube and a new profile picture may take a few minutes. If you clicked Publish and the link still isn’t there after a reasonable wait, check it against the external links policy and your 14-link total before assuming it is a delay.
If you’re a viewer looking for a creator’s links
On the creator’s channel page, look just under the channel name near the subscribe button for the first link, then click to see more links for the full list. If a creator mentions a link that isn’t there, it may have been removed by YouTube or never published, so the creator is the only one who can put it back.
Keeping your first link useful
Since YouTube shows only one link before the click, many creators make that first link a page that lists everything else. A free OneSol page gives you one link for all your profiles, and you can link straight to forms that don’t make people sign in. It is one option if you would rather not choose which single link your viewers see.