Top questions

Creators have questions and we've got answers. We've compiled the most common questions that we get with answers, plus links to helpful how tos and Help Centre articles. So that you can get all the info that you need, fast.

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 in to 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 in to 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 in to 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.

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.

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 'Customisation' 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

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

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!

There are a few ways for creators to make money on YouTube, but most start with becoming a member of the YouTube Partner Program (YPP).*

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

Our newest offering through the YouTube Shorts Fund is not limited to creators in the YouTube Partner Programme. Anyone is eligible to participate by creating unique Shorts that delight the YouTube Community. Each month, we'll get in touch with thousands of creators with the most popular Shorts to reward them for their contributions.

How to make money

*Subject to eligibility requirements.

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

  • Attempting to monetise videos you don't own. Make sure that you have the right to upload the content: Check the copyright FAQ, and make sure that you know how fair use works.
  • Attempting monetisation 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 monetisation policies, YouTube spam policies, AdSense programme policies or YouTube Terms of Service.

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

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

Your channel's monetisation 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 Programme and your monetisation was paused, don't worry – you're still in the programme. Monetisation will resume after linking an active and approved AdSense account.

See policies and guidelines

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 in to your account.

If you can't sign in to 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