Resources for
YouTube creators

YouTube Studio is your home base for posting videos and making edits to your channel. To update your channel’s basic info like name, profile picture, and banner, just log in and tap Customization to see your options.

How to use YouTube Studio

Use the Studio mobile app to manage your channel on the go. It’s useful for things like checking your stats, responding to comments, and publishing and managing your videos from your phone.

1. Sign into YouTube using a Google account.
2. Click your profile picture and then Settings.
3. Click Create a new channel.
4. Choose a profile picture, name, and handle.
5. Click Create channel.

You can make edits to your channel and post videos in YouTube Studio. To update your channel’s basic info like name, profile picture, and banner, just log in and tap Customization to see your options

You can also make changes to your channel using the Studio mobile app. You can tap Your Channel and then Edit Channel to update and edit how your channel looks to your viewers. Note that you can only change your channel’s name three times every 90 days.

Read more about managing your channel

There are a few ways to get started on YouTube. We offer up different formats and functionalities, giving you the flexibility to create everything from Shorts, which are vertical videos that run 60 seconds or less, to longer form videos.

No matter what you’re creating, you’ll need to start by creating a YouTube channel.

• First you need to Sign into YouTube using a Google Account.
• Once you’re signed in, click Create Account, and choose whether it’s for you or for your business.
• You can then create a YouTube channel on your account, upload videos, leave comments, and create Shorts and playlists.

Next, you’ll want to upload your videos!

• Uploading is easy. You just sign into your YouTube account and then click on the Create icon.
• If you’re planning to upload a longer form video, select Upload video and then choose your desired video file—you can upload 15 files at a time!
• If you’d like to upload a YouTube Short, you’ll need to be signed into YouTube mobile, where you’ll tap Create and then Create a Short. From here you can either upload a video from your camera roll or create using our suite of lightweight tools.

Our search and discovery systems are built to find videos that match viewers’ individual interests. We recommend videos based on things such as: what your audience watches and doesn’t watch, how much time they spend watching, what they like and dislike, if they mark a video as ‘not interested’, and on satisfaction surveys.

So, rather than trying to find a secret code to these systems, focus instead on making videos that you think will resonate with your audience. A great tool here is YouTube Analytics, which provides data that can help you understand how your existing content is performing and provide insights for future videos!

Promoting your videos is all about getting the word out there. On YouTube, you can use tools like cards, end screens, Stories, and Community Posts to drive viewers to a specific piece of content!

Off-platform, think about promoting your videos on your socials and relevant communities, podcasts, or platforms that align with your content and your intended audience.

Read more about promoting your videos

Growing your channel is all about creating videos viewers want to watch and accurately presenting them to the audience. When doing so, here’s a few tips to keep in mind.

With each video, think carefully about the title, description, and thumbnail you plan to use - these should all accurately reflect your content and let viewers know what they can expect from the video. If you’re a Shorts creator, think about how the first 1-2 seconds of your content can grab viewers scrolling through the video feed!

Once you’ve got viewers watching, you can redirect their attention via hashtags, playlists, cards, end screens, and more.

There are lots of ways for creators to make money on YouTube. First, you’ll need to become a member of the YouTube Partner Program.*

Once accepted, you'll begin to gain access to a variety of monetization products, including a share of the Ad and YouTube Premium Revenue generated by your videos; Channel Memberships; Merch Shelf; Super Chat & Super Stickers; and BrandConnect. Each feature has its own performance and eligibility requirements.

* Subject to eligibility requirements

A copyright strike means that a copyright owner submitted a verified, legal takedown request on a video that uses their content.

To comply with copyright law, we took the video down. A copyright strike is a warning. The first copyright strike is a warning. If you get one, you’ll need to go through Copyright School, which helps you understand copyright and how it’s enforced at YouTube.

Three ways to resolve a copyright strike

There are a few reasons your YouTube channel can have monetization disabled. Any of these actions can result in suspension of payments:

• Attempting to monetize videos you don't own. Make sure you have the right to upload the content: Check the Copyright FAQ, and make sure you know how fair use works.
• Attempting monetization of videos that don't meet our advertiser-friendly content guidelines. We may reserve the right to disable ads on your entire channel in situations where the majority of your content is not suitable for any advertisers or where there are repeated, serious violations (e.g. uploading of content which is incendiary, demeaning or hateful).
• Violations of YouTube monetization policies, YouTube spam policies, AdSense Program Policies, or YouTube Terms of Service.

Depending on the issue with your video or channel, there are steps you can take to reinstate monetization.

Remember: Severe violations of our YouTube monetization policies may result in monetization being permanently disabled on any of your accounts.

Your channel’s monetization can also be paused. This happens when there isn’t an active and approved AdSense account linked to your channel. If you’re in the YouTube Partner Program and your monetization was paused, don’t worry – you’re still in the program. Monetization will resume after linking an active and approved AdSense account.

If you notice that your YouTube account or channel has been hacked or compromised, you’ll first want to check whether or not you can sign into your account.

If you can’t sign into your account, you’ll need to recover your Google Account by answering some security questions to verify it’s yours. Then, you’ll be prompted to reset your password.

To keep your account protected, we also recommend turning on 2-step verification, which can be done in your Security settings.

More on hacked accounts

If your own content is being used without your permission, YouTube has several tools you can use to help protect your content from being misused.

Everyone with a YouTube channel has access to our copyright takedown webform. For most copyright owners, the webform is the fastest and easiest way to request a copyright takedown.

The Copyright Match Tool finds full re-uploads of your original videos on other YouTube channels. Once a match has been identified, you can review it in YouTube Studio and choose which action you’d like to take (archive, request removal, or contact the channel).

Just because we’ve found an upload that matches your video doesn’t guarantee it’s copyright infringement. It's your responsibility to review each video and consider whether fair use, fair dealing, or a similar exception to copyright applies. After review, you can submit a takedown request if desired.

Read about Copyright Match Tool

What are copyright management tools?

Fair use is a legal doctrine that allows the reuse of copyright-protected material under certain circumstances, without getting permission from the copyright owner.

However, fair use is determined on a case by case basis, and different countries have different rules about when it’s okay to use material without the copyright owner’s permission.

In the U.S., works of commentary, criticism, research, teaching, or news reporting might be considered fair use, but it can depend on the situation.

Read more about fair use

Watch a video about fair use

When a copyright owner formally notifies us with a complete and valid takedown notice that their work is being used without permission, we take down your upload to comply with copyright law.

If your video was removed through a copyright takedown notice, then a copyright strike has been applied to your account. There are three ways to resolve a copyright strike:

Let it expire: Copyright strikes expire after 90 days. If it's your first strike, you'll need to complete Copyright School.

Get a retraction: Reach out to the person who claimed your video, and ask them to retract their claim.

File a counter notification: If you think your video was removed by mistake, or qualifies as fair use, you can submit a counter notification.

Learn more about copyright strikes

Read about counter notifications

We ask creators publishing content where children are the primary audience, or where the video is directed at children, to mark their content as ‘Made for Kids,’ to ensure you’re complying with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and other applicable laws.

This is important because if you don’t set your content appropriately, there can be consequences on YouTube, or legal consequences under COPPA and other laws.

More on Made for Kids

Want to make money on your videos with ads? Then your content must also meet certain criteria. These are the specific rules regarding what content can run ads, run limited ads, or should have monetization turned off.

Our policies apply to all portions of a creators' content (video or live stream, thumbnail, title, description, and tags). Examples of content that may not be suitable for ads include the following (subject to change):

• Violence
• Adult content
• Harmful or dangerous acts
• Hateful & derogatory content
• Sensitive event.

The AdSense program is how YouTube partners get paid for monetizing their videos. Make sure to follow the AdSense policies, and YouTube’s Terms of Service, which are the terms and conditions that all users and creators agree to when using YouTube.