Subscribe Button Bar for YouTube Embed Videos

Customization Options:

Enable/Disable Toggle: Master switch to turn the subscribe bar on or off globally.

YouTube Channel: Enter your Channel ID, @handle, or any YouTube channel URL.

Theme Selection: Choose between Default (light) and Dark themes.

Subscriber Count: Show or hide the subscriber count on the button.

Layout Options: Default (icon + “Subscribe” text) or Full (channel avatar + channel name).

Custom Text: Add personalized text that appears before the button.

Background Color: Customize the bar’s background color.

Text Color: Customize the text color.

Post Type Control: Restrict the bar to specific post types (posts, pages, custom post types).

Per-Post Exclusion: Exclude specific posts or pages by ID.

Using the Shortcode

Place the subscribe bar anywhere on your site — pages without YouTube videos, sidebars, footers, or landing pages — using:

[subscribe_button_bar]

This uses your global plugin settings. You can override any setting per-use with optional attributes:

[subscribe_button_bar channel="@yourchannel" text="Subscribe for weekly videos!" theme="dark" layout="full" count="hidden" bg_color="#1a1a1a" text_color="#ffffff"]

Shortcode Attributes:

Attribute

Values

Default

Description

url

YouTube or Shorts video URL

(none)

Embed a YouTube video or Short and place the subscribe bar below it. Accepts youtube.com/watch?v=, youtu.be/, youtube.com/shorts/, or youtube.com/embed/ URLs.

channel

Channel ID, @handle, or URL

Global setting

Override the YouTube channel for this bar only.

text

Any string

Global setting

Text displayed before the subscribe button.

theme

default, dark

Global setting

Button color scheme.

layout

default, full

Global setting

default shows the subscribe icon and text; full shows channel avatar and name.

count

true, hidden

Global setting

Show or hide the subscriber count.

bg_color

Hex color (e.g. #ffffff)

Global setting

Background color of the bar.

text_color

Hex color (e.g. #000000)

Global setting

Text color of the bar.

Examples:

Minimal — uses all global settings:

[subscribe_button_bar]

Embed a video with a subscribe bar below it:

[subscribe_button_bar url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ”]

Embed a YouTube Short with a subscribe bar below it:

[subscribe_button_bar url=”https://www.youtube.com/shorts/VIDEO_ID”]

Embed a video and override the channel and text:

[subscribe_button_bar url=”https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ” channel=”@yourchannel” text=”Subscribe for more!”]

Bar only — custom channel with dark theme:

[subscribe_button_bar channel=”@yourchannel” theme=”dark” text=”Subscribe for weekly videos”]

Full layout, no subscriber count:

[subscribe_button_bar layout=”full” count=”hidden”]

Using the Gutenberg Block

In the block editor, search for “Subscribe Button Bar” in the block inserter (or type /subscribe). The block renders server-side so it always reflects your current settings.

The block sidebar includes:

Video URL — paste a YouTube video URL or Shorts URL (e.g. youtube.com/watch?v=... or youtube.com/shorts/...). The block will embed the video and place the subscribe bar directly below it. Leave empty to show only the subscribe bar.

Channel Override — enter a Channel ID, @handle, or YouTube channel URL to use a different channel on this specific page. Leave empty to use your global settings.

Custom Text Override — override the button label text for this block only. Leave empty to use your global custom text.

Entering Your YouTube Channel

The plugin accepts any of the following formats in the settings page and in the channel shortcode attribute:

Channel ID: UCxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

@Handle: @yourchannel

Channel URL: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Handle URL: https://www.youtube.com/@yourchannel

Legacy user URL: https://www.youtube.com/user/yourchannel

Custom URL: https://www.youtube.com/c/yourchannel

The plugin parses the input automatically — no need to extract the channel ID manually.

Getting Started:

Install and activate the plugin via the WordPress dashboard.

Navigate to Settings > Subscribe Button Bar.

Enter your YouTube channel — paste your Channel ID, @handle, or any YouTube channel URL.

Configure your desired appearance settings and save.

Embed any YouTube video in a post/page and the subscribe bar will appear automatically. Or use [subscribe_button_bar] to place it anywhere.

External Services This plugin uses the YouTube Subscribe Button API provided by Google’s Platform Library (https://apis.google.com/js/platform.js). This script is loaded on pages where the subscribe bar is displayed and may send the visitor’s IP address and user agent to Google.

Policies: Google Privacy Policy | YouTube Terms of Service