Recently one of our users asked us for a way to automate the process of creating a new post in WordPress whenever they upload a new video on their YouTube channel. Adding a YouTube video in WordPress is extremely simple, but it requires you to manually log in, create a post, and then embed the video. In this article, we will show you how to automatically create new WordPress post whenever a YouTube video is uploaded.
We will use a free tool called IFTTT to do this.
What is IFTTT?
IFTTT stands for “if this then that”. It is a powerful service that lets you automate certain tasks based on your specified criteria. For example:
If this happens: ‘A new video is uploaded to YouTube’.
Then do that: ‘Create new post in WordPress’.
The example above is called a recipe. You can create a recipe for many web based services. Check out our article on how to automate WordPress and social media with IFTTT for more examples.
Creating YouTube to WordPress Recipe in IFTTT
First thing you need to do is go to IFTTT website and sign up (it’s free).
Once you are logged in, you need to click on the Create button to start creating your first recipe.
This will bring you to the create a recipe wizard. You need to choose a trigger by clicking on ‘this’ link.
You will now see a number of channels that can be used with IFTTT. Scroll down or search for YouTube and click to select it.
When you click on YouTube, it will take you to the next step asking you to activate a YouTube channel. You need to click on the activate button to allow IFTTT access to your YouTube account.
Once you have activated your YouTube account, you can choose a trigger. IFTTT will show you a few choices. For this example, you need to click on ‘New Video Uploaded’.
This will bring you to the next step which usually allows you to choose fields from your selected trigger. However the trigger we have selected does not have any fields to choose from. Simply click on ‘Create Trigger’ button.
You will now come to the ‘That’ part of your recipe. This is where you define the action to perform when the recipe is triggered. Click on ‘that’ to continue.
IFTTT will now ask you to choose an action channel. Search for or scroll down to select WordPress.
Again you will be asked to activate the channel. Click on the activate button and provide your WordPress site URL, username, and password.
IFTTT will now show you actions you can choose to perform on your WordPress site. You need to click on ‘Create a Post’.
In the next step, you need to choose ingredients from YouTube channel to add into your WordPress post. As you can see in the screenshot below, we have chosen to add YouTube video title as the WordPress post title. We have used description and URL in the post area.
As you scroll down, you can choose whether you want to publish the post immediately, publish privately, or save as a draft. Click on the ‘Create Action’ button to continue.
IFTTT will now display your recipe details. You need to save it by clicking on ‘Create Recipe’ button.
Important: By default IFTTT has URL shortening turned on which means that your YouTube URL will be shortened by IFTTT and WordPress will not be able to embed your video. To solve this issue, you need to disable URL shortening in IFTTT. Start by clicking on your username on top right corner of the IFTTT dashboard and then click on Preferences. Next, scroll down to the URL shortening section and disable it.
That’s all, your IFTTT recipe is ready now. It will automatically check YouTube for new videos every 15 minutes. If it finds a new video, then IFTTT will automatically create a new WordPress post from that YouTube video.
We hope this article helped you create new posts in WordPress from YouTube video uploads. Don’t forget to check out our 9 useful YouTube tips to spice up your WordPress site.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Google+.
Mike says
Hi, this is a good thing on IFTTT for NEW videos, but what if I wanted to generate posts from existing videos on youtube, for example, videos in a playlist. Is there a way to do that?
WPBeginner Support says
For the moment we do not have a recommended retroactive method for creating the posts.
Admin
Zakir A. Qureshi says
Hello Every One if i do AutoBlog With YouTube is there any issue of Copyright Please guide Me Thanks .
WPBeginner Support says
Hi Zakir,
If you created the video and own the rights, then there wouldn’t be a copyright issue.
Admin
John says
Please I tried to use the ifttt to WordPress after connected it does not create post at my website. When I check the report on ifttt it say. Something wrong with WordPress services.
WPBeginner Support says
Hey John,
Try to connect again. If it doesn’t work then you probably have xmlrpc disbaled. If you are using 2-step verification for login, then you will need to create application specific password for IFTTT to use.
Admin
Nick Barban says
Hi found this article by accident. I was investigating autoblogging after an article i read on google+ from WP B. ive signed up with IFTTT but i dont know know wether im being blind or stupid
i ve tried to set up an application password but I cant find anywhere to set this up within my wordpress site. Im guessing that as im using clef authentication to log in, this is causing the problem. Can i get round this problem by deactivating clef and relogging in via login and password? will that give me the option to set up application passwords. And can i reactivate clef once this is set up and the application passwords still work. Primary reason for setting this up is to have a live autoblog update of new videos being posted on YouTube. Im likely to be posting quite a few this year. Thanks for your help in advance. Nick
WPBeginner Support says
You can try deactivating Clef for testing and if it works then ask Clef support how to get around that.
Admin
WPBeginner Staff says
You are welcome.
WPBeginner Staff says
No, IFTTT does not add embed code in your posts. It only adds the YouTube video URL. WordPress then gets the embed code using oEmbed. You may want to take a look at this guide about how to make your videos responsive in WordPress Using Fitvids.
Jose_Martino says
Thank for explaining the nature of the problem better, however, I still havent been able to fix the issue with the oembed adding the old flash code when using IFTTT.
I did add the Fitvids plugin and configured as mentioned in the article, but issue still persist. I did not notice that if I manually add the youtube url to an article the proper ifram code is used, but I still see the problem only occurring when I use IFTTT.
Do you have any ideas as to what may causing this issue. I’ve been dealing with this issue for a while and it has been frustrating not finding the fix. Other then this problem, it works great! Thanks again for answering.
Jose_Martino says
wow, I just noticed what I was doing wrong, I choose embed code instead of URL in the recipe. With the URL, the recipe works as you mention, URL is translated by the website automatically into iframe code.
If you use the EmbedCode ingredient the embed code is added to the post but it uses the flash code. Thank God I read your post, and realized I could just use the URL ingredient and did not need to used EMbedCode.
Thanks again for all your help
Jose_Martino says
I use this service for posting my youtube videos, however, I recently became aware that ifft uses the old youtube embed code to post the youtube videos on your word press page, and therefore when a visitor views your article on the phone the videos do not display. I wish IFTTT would upgrade to use the iframe format of the embed code, because otherwise it is a great function
Rareș Ghinga says
It says that it will scan for NEW videos. What about older uploads/favorites?
WPBeginner Staff says
This can be caused by a security plugin installed on your site.
Also make sure that your WordPress Address and Site Address are the same URLs in settings. If you have a setup where WordPress is installed in a different directory than the site address, then you will need to use the WordPress address on IFTTT.
Michiel Andreae says
Great idea. I was looking for exactly this. Unforunately my IFTTT can’t connect to my WordPress site. It returns “Live channel fields value is not a valid WordPress url”. Any idea how I can fix this?
jc says
you have a super website and this is information I am looking for right now. I already have an account and will set this up today. as always, thanks so very much for sharing all of this pertinent information. whilei am fairly new to WordPress, these articles are a great help. you explain directions in a very clear, concise and easy to understand manner. thanks again!
Syntocode Tomisin says
Wow! great service from IFTTT..Thanks for sharing
Mohammed says
Thank you,
IFTTT great service I already use it on many sites.