Category: YouTube

YouTube comments are an incredible way to engage with others, create attention for yourself, and even drive people to pages that you care about.

However, since they are such a core part of YouTube’s functionality, YouTube has taken great steps to moderate them effectively.

One thing people often wonder about is in regards to links. Are you allowed to post links within YouTube comments, and is there anything that you should keep in mind?

In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know about posting links in YouTube comments.

Can You Post Links Within YouTube Comments?

Although users can indeed post links within YouTube comments, the majority of comments will be held for approval. This is true both on regular YouTube videos, as well as for comments left on YouTube Shorts.

This means that the comments aren’t actually public after you post them. Although YouTube will display the comment to you as if it were posted for everyone to see, this isn’t actually the case.

Instead, the comment will go to a special inbox called ‘Held for Review’ within the video creator’s YouTube studio. Comments placed in the ‘Held for Review’ section must be manually reviewed and approved by the video creator. You can see an example of this here:

Notice the icons below each comment. From left-to-right, video creators have the option to:

• Approve the comment.
• Remove and delete the comment.
• Flag the comment for spam or abuse.
• Hide the user from their channel completely (which also deletes the comment.)

This way, the video creator will be able to have more control over what types of comments they allow on their videos.

So, why are most comments containing links held for approval? The majority of time, it comes down to spam management.

Most of the people posting links within YouTube comments are doing it for commercial purposes – they’re intending to promote themselves, or some product or service.

This sort of spammy behavior goes against YouTube policy. In order to keep the comments section clean, YouTube automatically hides comments it believe may be spam. By placing them in the ‘Held for Review’ section, YouTube creators have the opportunity to override this and let legitimate comments through.

However, many YouTubers don’t bother to regularly check their comment moderation queue, instead relying on YouTube’s own internal systems to make the best judgement.

Therefore, it’s very difficult for even legitimate comments, with legitimate links to actually end up posted within YouTube comments.

How To Know If Your Link Went Through

Let’s say that you posted a comment on a new video containing a link. How do you know if it went through, and is viewable by other people? Is there any way to check whether or not YouTube considered it to be spam?

Fortunately there is a solution, and it’s quite easy to carry out.

YouTube will always show your comment to you, even if nobody else can see it.

Therefore, in order to know whether your comment is public, you need to visit the video while signed out of your YouTube account.

The easiest way to do this is to simply open a new incognito window, and visit the same video again.

Then, once you’re on the video, scroll down to the comments section. Click on ‘Sort by’, and then select ‘Newest first’.

If your comment is missing, this means it was automatically hidden and will have to be manually approved by the video creator. While this is unfortunate, it’s usually what you can expect.

Most comments containing links will need to be approved, even if you have no history of spamming and you’re a perfectly legitimate YouTube user.

YouTube May Be More Lenient With Links To Other Videos

It should be noted that you may have more success posting links in YouTube comments, if your links are pointing to other video’s on YouTube’s platform.

If you think about this, it makes a lot of sense.

YouTube’s goal with blocking links is to prevent spam, scams, and other bad behavior.

Although YouTube is owned by Google (who has crawled more of the web than surely anyone else), they cannot know the contents of every single website. They cannot be sure whether a particular website can be trusted, or intends to cause harm to YouTube users.

Therefore, they want to avoid sending users to other websites that may cause them harm. By allowing this to happen, one could assign blame to YouTube, which would not be good for anyone.

At the same time, linking out to external websites goes against YouTube’s goals as a platform – particularly if they’re sending people to spam sites.

YouTube wants to keep people on their platform as long as possible.

They want users watching video after video, without getting distracted by another website.

The longer you spend on YouTube, the more data that Google can collect about you. Then, they’re able to monetize that data by showing you more and more ads.

By going off-site, you break that cycle and Google can now no longer make as much money from you.

Therefore, YouTube is incentivized not to allow random links to pull you away from their platform.

Can Leaving Comments With Links Get You Banned From YouTube?

Let’s say you went around, leaving a bunch of comments on other people’s videos with your link. Will anything come of this? Can you get banned from YouTube just for posting comments with links?

Based on YouTube’s spam, deceptive practices, & scams policies, it does appear that this type of behavior can get your YouTube account suspended if you do it with the intention of spamming.

Posting a relevant, helpful link related to the video seems to be okay. Spamming a link for promotional purposes is not. This includes links to your own YouTube channel or videos.

If you are reported or caught participating in spammy behavior, YouTube will remove the comment and send you a community guidelines violation warning.

If you receive three strikes within 90 days, your YouTube account will be closed.

Additionally, if your first strike is for a particularly harmful offense, YouTube may close your account even after only one strike.

For example, if you were caught linking to websites with malware, or linking to websites with illegal content, they may opt to ban your account straight away without any further warnings.

Of course, at this point your YouTube account being closed may be the least of your worries!

How To Block Comments Containing Links On Your Videos

Did you know that YouTube creators have an option specifically to block all comments containing links?

It’s true!

This setting can be found by following these steps:

1. Open up YouTube creator studio.
2. Click on Settings.
3. Click on the ‘Community’ tab.
4. Under the ‘Automated Filters’ tab, scroll down to ‘Blocked Words’.
5. There will be a checkbox with the text ‘Block links’. Check this box, and all links will be held for review (even if they would have made it past YouTube’s automatic spam filter before.)

It should be noted that this option will only block full, normal links that people would copy and paste into the comment section.

However, people are clever, and break up the links to try and bypass this filter.

Therefore, you may want to use the ‘blocked words’ section to add additional phrases such as domain extensions (.com, .net, .org etc) as well as variations (such as .c0m or .n3t.)

Again, this setting will send all comments containing these blocked words to your ‘Held for Review’ section. This way, you can manually approve or delete them.

How Creators Should Use Links To Grow Their Business

Although links within YouTube comments aren’t very effective when commenting on other people’s videos, they can be quite powerful under your own.

In fact, if you’re a YouTube creator, it makes a lot of sense for YouTube creators to utilize links in almost all of your videos, to direct your viewer attention in ways that aid in your business goals.

So, pick one core objective, and write a comment to pin underneath your video. Here are a good examples you may consider trying out:

1. Lead Magnets

If you have a business presence off of YouTube, one of the most effective ways to further escalate the connection you have with your YouTube subscribers, is to get them onto your mailing list.

Email marketing is one of the most powerful ways to turn a casual viewer into a regular buyer for your brand.

By offering some sort of digital product that ties in with your core video topic – such as an eBook, digital report, or downloadable PDF, you will entice people to sign up for your mailing list, which will then allow you to build the relationship further.

If email marketing is appealing to you, I have an entire course on the topic.

2. Your Product

If you have a product that you offer for sale, you should certainly link to it within your pinned comment!

Write a few sentences explaining why the product (or products) are so great, and then end it with a link.

I’ve heard of many people making sales this way. It works wonders for digital course creators, authors, and those selling branded merch for their channel.

3. Link To A YouTube Playlist

Finally, you may also consider linking to a YouTube playlist that contains other similar videos on the topic.

YouTube rewards creators that keep viewers on the platform as long as possible. This is after all, one of YouTube’s core goals.

By linking to a playlist, you encourage people to watch more of videos, spend more time on YouTube, and likely subscribe if they haven’t already.

Conclusion

Links are allowed within YouTube comments, but they are usually hidden by default.

This is because so many people use them for spamming. Although there are legitimate reasons to be able to post links within YouTube comments, allowing all links without any sort of moderation would quickly turn YouTube’s comment system into a field of spam.

Therefore, most of the time comments containing links will have to be manually approved by the video creator. The only exception to this is if the creator is leaving a comment on their own videos.

I hope that you’ve found this article helpful. If you have any more questions about placing links within YouTube comments, please feel free to ask using the comment form below.

Thank you for reading,

– James McAllister

Did you upload a video to YouTube, only to have it get stuck at the processing stage?

Most commonly, YouTube processing gets stuck at 0%, 95%, and 99%, and each of these are incredibly frustrating.

Thankfully, this doesn’t mean that there’s anything wrong with your video – usually one of the quick fixes mentioned below will solve the problem, often without needing to reupload.

Let’s look into them now!

1. Edit The Video Details In Another Tab

Usually, when YouTube gets stuck at the processing stage rather than the uploading stage, this means that the issue lies with YouTube itself.

This is because processing doesn’t begin until the video has been fully uploaded to YouTube’s servers.

So, one of the first things you’ll want to try is sending a sort of ‘pause and unpause’ signal to YouTube, which can be done by editing the video details in a new tab. This can sort of trick YouTube into continuing the processing process, and allow the processing percentage to increase again.

To do this, follow these steps:

1. Open up YouTube in a new tab and go to your Creator Studio page. DO NOT close the tab that the video is being uploaded on, or you may end up having to reupload it. This is especially true if your video is stuck at 0% processing.
2. Locate the video that processing is stuck for, and click the button to edit the video details.
3. Edit any of the video details, such as the title, description, or tags.
4. Save the changes. Note that you can always reverse whatever you changed later.

Wait a few minutes, and refresh your Creator Studio page. You should see that the video has continued processing, even if the original tab that you uploaded it on does not update.

If this fixed the problem, congratulations! You do not need to read any further.

If this didn’t work however, we recommend trying out another one of the suggestions listed below.

2. Make Sure Your Internet Is Working Correctly

Sometimes, if your internet connection isn’t stable it can appear like the processing is stuck.

This is particularly common if you are uploading from mobile, using satellite internet, or a WISP.

Without a stable and reliable internet connection, uploads may not complete correctly. This can lead to the videos getting stuck in the processing stage, and ultimately failing.

Generally speaking, once a video is fully uploaded and begins processing, your own personal internet connection shouldn’t matter as much – everything remaining will be done on YouTube’s end.

Still, having a poor internet connection increases the likelihood of problems.

So, try to use the most reliable internet connection you have for uploading. If you’re on mobile, try to upload using Wi-Fi with possible. Likewise, if you live in a house with two internet service providers, try using the more reliable service – even if the upload speed is slower.

3. Delete And Reupload The Video

Sometimes, the best way to solve the problem is to do a full reset.

This means that you end up deleting the copy of the video that you uploaded, and then fully reuploading it from scratch.

This can be annoying, especially if the video took a long time to upload. Most of the time however, this alone will completely solve the problem.

It’s the equivalent of ‘turning it off and back on again’ that is so common with tech issues.

YouTube deals with 500 hours of content being uploaded every single minute. They are well equipped to handle most issues. On the rare occasion there is a glitch, simply starting over will fix it 99% of the time unless there’s something seriously wrong with your video file – in which case, another solution should help.

4. Compress The Video

This one is particularly important if the video you’re uploading is quite long, or has an extremely large file size.

Unfortunately, this is becoming more common as more and more people begin filming and rendering their videos in 4K – or even higher resolutions.

Needless to say, the larger the video, the more work has to be done for it to fully process. A 1080p video that is 2 minutes long should always upload and process more quickly than a 2-hour long video shot in 4K.

Unfortunately, the longer the processing time, the more of a chance YouTube has to screw something up.

By compressing the video using software like Handbrake, you can reduce the video’s file size without necessarily reducing its quality or fidelity.

So, this may be a good idea if you are consistently running into uploading issues.

5. Try Uploading the Video In A Different File Format

Sometimes, YouTube is more prone to issues with videos in certain file formats.

This is particularly common if you’re uploading videos in a format that’s rare, such as the video files created by a certain type of camera.

Generally speaking, it’s best to stick to common file formats unless you have a specific reason to use something else. A few examples of common video file formats would be .MP4, .WMV, .AVI, .FLV, .MKV, and .MOV.

.MP4 is the most common, and can give you excellent video quality while still keeping your video at a good file size.

So, when it comes to rendering your video, we recommend selecting MP4 as your file format. Many modern video editing programs (like Adobe Premiere Pro) even have a preset specifically designed for YouTube, so it’s certainly worth taking advantage of this!

6. Check For YouTube Outages

It’s possible that YouTube could currently be experiencing problems with video uploads, even if the rest of the site is working fine.

In fact, giant services like YouTube compartmentalize so many of their features – meaning that certain things can be completely broken, but the rest of the site appears to be working absolutely fine. Very rarely does the entire site ever go down completely.

So, how would you know if there’s a site-wide outage, or known bug causing issues? The easiest way is to use a service like Downdetector.

If issues are detected, Downdetector will automatically update to say so.

Additionally, by looking at the comment section towards the bottom of the page, you can see reports from other users. They will often mention specific things that are going wrong, such as the YouTube upload being stuck at 95% processing, the upload being stuck at 0% processing, etc.

If many other people are having the same issue, then you know the processing being stuck is not caused by anything you did.

Likely, YouTube is already aware of the problem and is taking steps to fix it.

7. Wait

Finally, it’s possible that the processing may not be stuck at all.

This is especially common if you’re uploading a lengthy or large video. As you might imagine, larger videos require a longer amount of time to process.

The thing is, the progress bar does not go up linearly, like it should. Instead, it may shoot up quickly to 50% for example, and then freeze for a considerable period of time before the progress bar continues further.

So, it can look like your YouTube video is stuck processing for several minutes or even several hours before it moves further. In reality, everything is working completely fine.

In order to make this problem less of an issue in the future, try uploading your videos in advance and then using YouTube’s built-in scheduling feature to have them go live at the exact date and time you desire.

Conclusion

Usually, videos being stuck processing does not mean that there’s anything wrong with your video itself. Usually, it’s a temporary issue that is quickly fixed.

By trying out each one of the fixes above, it shouldn’t be long for your video has been fully processed, and goes live for the world to see.

I hope that you’ve found this article helpful. If you have any other questions about YouTube, please ask them using the comment form below.

Wishing you the best,

– James McAllister

Are you uploading 4K video to YouTube, and are wondering how long you can expect for it to finish processing?

While 4K video certainly is a great way to futureproof your videos (and win the love of us 4K monitor owners), the truth is that 4K videos are much larger than the 1080p standard we’ve been accustomed to for so many years.

So, how long will processing take, what determines the length, and is there any way to speed it up?

In this article, I’ll cover everything that you need to know! (more…)

Do you ever wonder how much it’s actually worth to a creator, when you subscribe to their channel on YouTube?

The truth is, there are channels making full-time livings out there with less than 1,000 total subscribers.

So, how much do creators make per subscriber on YouTube, and what determines the value?

In this article, I’ll cover everything that you need to know! (more…)

Have you ever wondered whether YouTubers make most of their money on new videos that they release, or whether their old videos still pay them as well?

The truth is actually pretty simple, but it also depends on how the creator chooses to monetize.

In this article, I’ll be sharing when creators still get paid, and when they don’t. If you’re a creator yourself, I’ll also be sharing some tips to build a YouTube catalog that continues making money for years to come.

Let’s get to it! (more…)

The way that YouTube counts views is actually quite unique – and YouTube has changed it several times over the years.

As creators, we all want our videos to have as many views as possible. But can you increase the view count on your videos by watching them yourself?

This is an interesting question. In this article, I’ll cover what YouTube considers to be a view, and whether or not you can boost your view count by watching your own videos. We’ll also talk about how YouTube factors views into their algorithm, and what you should actually be focusing on to grow your channel.

Let’s get to it! (more…)

Are you planning on publishing a short video on YouTube, and wonder if it will still be eligible for monetization?

It’s common to wonder if very short videos can even monetized at all – especially when the video would be even shorter than the ads that may appear before it!

So, what is the minimum video length? In this article I’ll be answering that question, along with whether or not you should publish the video as a YouTube Short instead.

What Is The Minimum Required Video Length For Ads To Play On YouTube?

Currently, there is no required length for a video to be eligible for monetization on YouTube.

This means that even videos under 30 seconds can have pre-roll ads run before the video starts, despite the fact that they can be longer than the content of the video itself!

That being said, shorter videos do tend to earn less, which I’ll explain in just a moment.

However, as long as the video is published as a normal YouTube video, and you’ve hit the requirements necessary to be able to monetize your videos, then even your shortest videos are eligible to run ads.

Why YouTube Creators Opt For Longer Videos

Just because you can create very short videos however, does not always mean that you should.

This is because the less time your audience spends watching a video, the less money it tends to make. And with very short videos under a few minutes long, your opportunities for extended watch time aren’t really there.

When you think about it, earnings on a video comes down to a simple equation:

Viewers X earnings per ad, X number of ads watched.

The problem with short videos is that you will only be able to show the pre-roll ads, and perhaps an ad that plays after the video ends.

You will not be able to run any ads in the middle of the video, since the video will be too short to support these.

That being said, video length is not the only factor that determines how much you’ll earn. While it does factor into the ‘number of ads watched’ part of the equation earlier, there is another big factor that’s just as important – earnings per ad.

Generally speaking, the more money your audience has – and the more they’re willing to part with it, the more advertisers will pay to reach that audience.

So, if your viewers are based in the United States, you’ll earn a lot more than if they’re based in India, for example, since disposable income in the U.S. is a lot higher.

Likewise, if your videos are about say, finance, you’ll earn a lot more than videos about gaming or art.

Since earnings can vary so wildly, it’s a good idea to avoid comparing yourself to others when it comes to YouTube revenue!

Be Careful Not To Publish As A Short!

If your goal is to make money from ads, it’s very important that you publish the video as a regular YouTube video, and not as a YouTube Short.

YouTube Shorts offer a number of key benefits – namely, the fact that YouTube will push it out to at least a small audience.

However, when it comes to monetization, YouTube Shorts are handled a lot differently.

The fact of the matter is, in its current state it is very difficult to make meaningful income from YouTube Shorts – even on videos with hundreds of thousands of views.

So, even if your video is under 60 seconds (and is eligible to be published as a Short), carefully consider whether or not it’s actually the right option for you.

Again, if you want to run ads on it, than probably not!

Conclusion

Currently, there is no minimum video length required in order to monetize your videos on YouTube.

So, you are free to publish videos as short as you’d like, and still have them be eligible for monetization. However, they must be published as normal YouTube videos, and not YouTube Shorts.

I hope that this article has answered all of your questions. If you have any other questions about monetizing on YouTube – or when you should publish videos as a Short, please ask them below and I’ll be happy to help.

Wishing you the best,

– James McAllister

Have you ever wondered about the effects that dislikes have on YouTube creators, and their video’s performance?

The truth is, YouTube dislikes are factored into the algorithm, but not in the way that you’d think.

So, in this article, I’ll be explaining exactly how dislikes are used by YouTube, both for creators, as well as for viewers.

It’s actually quite interesting!

Do Dislikes Matter On YouTube?

Contrary to popular belief, dislikes do not have a negative effect on a video’s performance – at least not directly.

In fact, the opposite may be true.

YouTube uses engagement signals to assess the quality of a video, and dislikes are considered one of these engagement signals.

This means that disliking a video can actually help it perform better, as it’s treated near-equally to a like, a comment, or any other sort of engagement.

Remember, YouTube’s goal is to keep people on the platform as long as possible. This means rewarding videos that are engaging and aid with this goal, even if people have a negative reaction to them.

That being said, there are instances where dislikes can hurt creators as well.

Therefore, it’s important to keep the following context in mind, so you can assess whether a dislike is likely to help a creator, or hurt them.

Here’s When Dislikes Can Hurt Creators

In addition to keeping you on the platform for as long as possible, YouTube’s other goal is to collect as much data and information about you as possible.

This is because YouTube (and Google, the owner of YouTube) make most of their money through serving advertisements.

The more they know about you, the better they can target you for advertisements, and the more money they make.

In fact, your entire value to YouTube can be summed up by this equation:

Number of ads viewed X money made per ad.

So, what does this have to do with dislikes?

Well, a video’s performance is hurt most when dislikes show up along with low watch time.

If you watch only a few moments of a video before disliking it and leaving, this sends a very bad signal to YouTube, and indicates that they shouldn’t waste valuable slots suggesting this video to others.

If people are watching the video all the way through however, this aligns with YouTube’s goal. Therefore, the video will still benefit, even if it’s disliked afterwards.

The other way dislikes can affect the video’s performance is based around your interests, and what YouTube knows about you.

YouTube divides people up into groups, based on everything they know about you. Your demographics, location, interests, previously watched videos, etc are all compared with other users, to predict what sort of content you’re likely to be interested in. This is what makes YouTube’s suggestion algorithm so great!

If you (and a lot of people similar to you) all dislike a video, this indicates to YouTube that this specific type of person isn’t interested in it, or didn’t enjoy it.

Therefore, YouTube may be less likely to show it to people who are similar to you in the future.

Dislikes Are Useful For The Viewer, Too

As we’ve already discussed, dislikes can either act as a positive engagement signal, or hurt a video’s performance if combined with a low watch time.

Additionally, dislikes show creators whether or a video is being well received, and can help guide the future direction of the channel.

However, if you think about it, dislikes are very useful for the user too! At least they used to be, before YouTube removed them from appearing publicly.

In the past, you were able to view how many likes and dislikes a video had received.

If a video had a lot of dislikes, you could know before watching it whether or not it was any good, or a complete waste of time.

This was particularly important for things like tech tutorials or DIY projects that you’d need to follow along with as you actually do something. If the video ended up not actually helping, you’d want to know that before you invested a ton of time into it.

So, the decision to remove dislikes from YouTube was strange, and hurts the overall experience.

We can only hope that YouTube brings them back someday, as they were incredibly useful for viewers.

Because some videos will get watched for a longer period of time before people realize that they’re low quality, these bad videos may be getting rewarded more than they were in the past.

Conclusion

Dislikes are a great way for creators to know how their audience feels about a particular video, which can help shape the direction they go with their channel in the future.

While dislikes are ironically seen as a positive engagement signal to YouTube, they can help dissuade YouTube from showing videos to different groups of people, especially if the video has a low average watch time.

I hope that this article has answered your questions, and that you understand the role dislikes play a little more.

If you have any other questions about YouTube, ask them below and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

Wishing you the best,

– James McAllister

Have you ever thought about how YouTubers get paid – and what actually helps creators grow on the platform?

It’s common for YouTubers to ask for likes at the end of their videos, but does this actually help them make money? In fact, what do likes actually do?

These are great questions, and the answer is actually pretty interesting.

So, in this article I’ll be answering these questions, as well as talking about the other factors that help creators make money on YouTube. If you’re a creator yourself or you simply want to help your favorite YouTubers out, you’ll certainly learn how! (more…)

Are you taking advantage of the world’s 2nd largest search engine?  Are you utilizing potentially the biggest entrance door to your website in existence? Chances are, you’re a regular user of this site. But are you profiting from it?

The fact of the matter is, YouTube is an incredibly powerful resource for your business provided you’re utilizing it as you should. In this article, we will discover the potential benefits of having a YouTube channel for your website. (more…)