Send Shorts Viewers to Your Long Video: What Works

The Related Video link is the clickable route to one of your videos that you can add to a Short you already posted. A Short cut with YouTube's own tool is linked back to its source video instead. YouTube makes URLs in Shorts descriptions and comments non-clickable, so the pinned comment and the closing line are signposts, not links.

Most writing about the Shorts funnel argues about whether the crossover to long-form happens at all. That debate has its own home in do Shorts help your channel grow. This post is about the plumbing underneath it: which exits from a Short exist, which of them a thumb can actually tap, and what has to be true of your channel before they show up.

Can you put a clickable link in a YouTube Short?

Not in the description or a comment — a URL in either place on a YouTube Short is not clickable — but the Related Video link, shown below your channel handle, is. YouTube's own reference on clickable links states: "To reduce spam and scam attempts, URLs placed in YouTube Shorts comments and Shorts descriptions are non-clickable."

The same page sorts every surface into clickable and non-clickable. On the clickable side it lists Related Videos in Shorts links, mentions and hashtags in Shorts comments and descriptions, channel profile links, and Green screen and Remix attribution links. On the non-clickable side, first item: URLs in Shorts comments and descriptions.

Concrete case: paste the full URL of your podcast episode into a Short's description and a viewer mid-swipe would have to copy it by hand into a browser. The link is there, it is legible, and it goes nowhere.

How do you add a Related Video link to a Short?

In YouTube Studio, open the Short from Content, choose a Related Video from your channel and save; your channel needs advanced feature access. This is the exit built for the job. YouTube describes it plainly: "A related video allows you to showcase your Videos, Shorts, and Live in the Shorts player," and "Viewers will see a clickable link below your channel handle" (Add a related video to your YouTube Shorts).

The steps on that page:

1. Sign in to YouTube Studio.
2. Select Content from the left menu.
3. Click the Short you want to edit.
4. Choose a Related Video from your channel.
5. Click SAVE.

Two requirements sit on it. The destination must qualify — "The video you select has to be public or unlisted and must follow our Community Guidelines" — and so must your channel: "Adding a related video is only available with advanced feature access."

That second line is where creators stall. YouTube's feature eligibility page describes three tiers. Intermediate features come from verifying your phone number. Advanced features come from established channel history or identity verification with a valid ID or video, and the advanced list is where "Add a Related Video to your YouTube Short" appears. So a creator who verified their phone and cannot find the Related Video field is not hitting a bug: the field is one tier above.

Does a pinned comment send anyone to your long video?

Not as a link: a URL in a Short's pinned comment is not clickable. The policy above covers Shorts comments as well as descriptions, so the URL in your pinned comment is the same dead text as the one in your description. Pinning is also itself an advanced feature — the eligibility page lists "Pin comments on videos and posts" alongside the Related Video entry.

A pinned comment still earns its place, but as a name rather than an address. Write the exact title of the long video, spelled the way it appears on your channel, so a motivated viewer can search it directly instead of guessing. A mention of your own handle helps too: YouTube lists mentions and hashtags in Shorts comments on the clickable side, and a mention lands the viewer on your channel, where your uploads and your profile links live.

So the honest version of the pinned-comment tactic is a two-hop: the comment names the episode, the mention carries them to the channel, and the channel does the rest.

What should the end of the clip actually do?

The end of the clip should name the long video out loud and on screen, because the closing seconds are the one part of this funnel that depends on no tier, policy or Studio setting. YouTube's end-screen help page does not address Shorts, so the ending has to live inside the cut.

Two things belong there. Say the destination out loud, by name, in the final line of the cut. And put it on screen, because a spoken line reaches only the viewers who have the sound on, and a spoken cue nobody hears is not a cue.

The common failure is quieter than a bad hook: the moment lands, then the clip just stops — no name, no next step. The clip performed. The funnel did not exist.

That is what a review pass is for. Everpop, an AI clipping tool that turns the long videos you upload into Shorts, is review-first by default — nothing posts until you approve, with Autopilot a separate switch on Pro and Scale — so a proposed clip that ends cold is one to reject for a cut that keeps the closing line. Captions, on by default and timed to the speech, carry that line for viewers with the sound off, and the first three re-renders of a clip are free.

Should you use YouTube's own "Edit into a Short" tool?

YouTube's "Edit into a Short" tool is worth using for a quick pull, because a Short made with it is linked back to the source video by construction. YouTube's page on creating Shorts from your videos says: "Shorts you create from your videos are linked back to your original video, giving new viewers a chance to discover your content."

The trade runs both ways. You get an automatic tie back to the source with no Related Video field to set, but you work inside that tool's limits — the page has you select up to 60 seconds of your video — and give up the framing, caption and export control of cutting from your own file. It is not the tool for a clip you want to caption, reframe and hand to an editor.

Which exits actually work?

Per YouTube's clickable-links page, a viewer can tap the Related Video link and a mention of your handle, but not a URL in the description or a pinned comment.

How do you tell whether the handoff worked?

You tell whether the handoff worked by reading what the Short and the long video actually did, not by how it felt. Views on the Short and traffic to the long video are separate questions, and the gap between them is its own diagnosis — the same gap behind views but no subscribers.

This is where a durable record beats a screenshot. Everpop pulls the 48-hour and 7-day figures of each eligible YouTube Short published through it — views, average view percentage and subscribers gained — from YouTube Analytics into a receipt link a third party can open, flops included. That is the Short's side of the gap, not a count of clicks through to the long video. A receipt may also carry a separately signed prediction recorded before the clip published; the measured numbers themselves are not separately signed.

Where does each fact in this guide come from?

Each claim in this guide maps to the YouTube Help or Everpop page it comes from: