Choose your YouTube video starting point

January 20, 2011

I was looking to start a YouTube video at a certain point and thought I’d share this with you for those in search of the answer.
In order to start a YouTube video at a certain point you would add this to the video URL:

#t=2m20s

Where “2m” indicates 2 minutes and the “20s” indicates 20 seconds. ….if you like a little bit of ‘caterpillar’ (you will see what I mean) then check this video out below with the video to begin playing at 2:20 into it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMH0bHeiRNg#t=2m20s

However this method only works for directly linking to YouTube videos.

If you want to start an embedded YouTube video at a certain point? That can also be done:

First, extract the video embed code after specifying your desired settings which is easy as YouTube provides these tools for you.

It will look something like this:

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="https://www.youtube.com/v/dMH0bHeiRNg&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="https://www.youtube.com/v/dMH0bHeiRNg&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

You then need to add the command &start=140 (for this example we are using 140 seconds, which is the same as 2 minutes, 20 seconds) to the end of both URLs in the embed code. It will look like this:

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="https://www.youtube.com/v/dMH0bHeiRNg&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&start=140"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="https://www.youtube.com/v/dMH0bHeiRNg&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&start=140" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

Please enjoy and look forward to any comments or other tips.

Zak Jacobs is the Director of RAD SEO, extensive experience in Digital Marketing and SEO. Zak has worked with local companies alongside national and global organisations with both hands on work and strategic consultancy for over 15 years.