Transcription
In this video, I'm going to tell you seven things most small creators do that can literally get your entire channel banned on YouTube. And making these innocent mistakes can mean that all of your hard work, your videos, and your progress gone in a second. If you're serious about growing on YouTube, you need to avoid these. Let's break them down for you right now.
Firstly, you may have seen the rise of small creators gathering in the comment sections of my videos and other people's videos too where they basically ask people to sub to their channel. And you might even be one of these yourself. Now, look, I get it. Many of you are looking for a way to get your channel out there and bag a few new subscribers, which is absolutely fine if that's what you want to do. However, if you are getting involved in these, you need to be extremely careful because if you do this wrong, which a lot of you do, you will get your channel banned.
Here's an email I got from one of my subscribers a few weeks ago. She was just another regular small channel and she saw that everyone was subscribing to each other in the comment section. So, she thought she'd get involved by commenting the word subscribed to loads of people's comments. What she didn't realize though is that YouTube actually blocked her channel because it thought she was a bot because she was spamming loads of comments. Her entire channel was removed because YouTube didn't like the fact that she kept commenting on these threads telling them that she subscribed to them. All of her videos gone and it took us weeks of working together to contacting YouTube to try and get her account reinstated. Like, I mean, feel free to pause this video if you want to read the whole email, but this should just highlight just how easy it is to get yourself banned if you do this. So my advice here is if you are going to get involved in these, don't spam the same comment over and over again. You need to be unique and add value to the group or just stay away from it altogether.
Now the next common mistake small channels need to avoid making is adding too many hashtags to your videos. And this applies to shorts too. Now you might be thinking, but what's the big deal? Like surely hashtags aren't that dangerous. Well, YouTube literally has this on their website. It says overtagging. If a video or a playlist has more than 60 hashtags, we'll ignore each hashtag on that content. Overtagging may result in the removal of your video from your uploads or from searches. So, they're literally saying if you try and stuff as many hashtags in as possible onto your videos, YouTube will remove them and your account will end up getting shadowbanned because the algorithm would just assume you're a bot account. So, I'd personally recommend just using anywhere from three to six hashtags. I mean, you can use it to 59, but to be honest, I think it's much more worth your time to pick out three to six highly targeted hashtags related directly to your niche. You'll see the most growth this way. And just to be clear, hashtags and video tags are two completely different things. When it comes to tags, there are also some very strict rules you need to follow with these too, but I'll discuss that later on in the video.
Now, the next mistake that would get you banned is using other people's content without their permission. Now, I know a lot of you will have seen YouTube experts, including me, telling you to use a tactic called viral replication, where you basically look out into your niche, identify successful videos, and then use them as inspiration for your own. Now, this tactic can work wonders for small channels, but only if you do it properly. And if you do it wrong, it will lead to you receiving copyright strikes or worse, having your account taken off the platform altogether. Now, I've seen many small channels copy viral videos but barely make any changes whatsoever from the original. So, if you're someone who uses a viral replication strategy, you need to make sure that the content itself is actually your own words and your own work. Like, don't just copy the transcript of someone's video and then use it as your own. Like, I promise you, YouTube will ban you for it. And on the topic of copyright, you even need to be careful of images you're using for your thumbnails, too. Like if you're taking images for thumbnails like off the web from Google or somewhere you don't have permission to the owner of that image can write a formal copyright complaint and I have seen small channels being removed simply because of their thumbnails. So always make sure that you have permission to use images in your thumbnails as well if you take them off the web.
But now, let's also talk about your overall online safety now. Because as a content creator, you're pretty much putting yourself out there on the entire internet for everyone to see. And that means you'll be interacting with all sorts of people. Some good, some not so good. And if you're not careful, you could leave the door open to some serious problems into your life. And this is where small channels need to be a bit more mindful with what you're doing on the platform.
Now, the first thing you need to consider when protecting your actual YouTube account is don't use the same email on your channel description page as the one tied to your actual YouTube account. This is because if someone gets their hands on that email, they could potentially misuse it to cause you trouble with your YouTube account. And it also makes it much easier for people to gain access to your channel if they're determined enough. So, the solution here is to create a completely separate Gmail account that you use for public use. This would be the email that you put on your about me like channel description. It's the one that brands, fans, and potential collaborations will contact you through. This keeps things professional and more importantly keeps your personal YouTube account safe and secure.
And I think it would actually genuinely surprise you at just how much of your personal information is floating around online. And I don't just mean your name or your email. I'm talking about phone numbers, location data, and even the websites you visit and how long you spend on them. And the scary part is you probably never gave permission for most of it. And that's because there are hundreds of shady companies out there called data brokers. And their entire business model is collecting your personal data, packaging it up, and selling it to advertisers, scammers, or whoever is willing to pay for it. Now, as a YouTuber, especially if you're just starting out, you're already exposing a lot of yourself just by uploading videos. But once your email is out there too, and once you've signed up for a few tools or made your contact info public, your digital footprint starts growing fast and it becomes harder and harder to stay in control of what's being shared about you. And that's where Incogn comes in. They're an online privacy tool that I've personally been using. And what they do is they contact those shady data companies on your behalf and force them to delete all of your information. Think of it as like having a digital bodyguard who just wipes your name off dozens of sketchy databases from across the web. And here's the best part. Once you sign up, Incogn keeps working for you every month. So, as your info shows up in new places, Incogn will keep requesting removals so you don't have to. It's super easy to get started. It takes just a few minutes and honestly, it gives me peace of mind knowing that someone is fighting to keep my personal data off the internet. So, if you're serious about protecting your online presence as a YouTuber, I highly recommend checking them out. Take your personal data back with incogn.
Okay, then. So, the second thing you need to consider when thinking about the safety of your YouTube account is connecting your channel to too many apps. And this is another big mistake I see small channels make, and it's where they're connecting their YouTube channel to way too many third party apps. And I get it. Look, there are so many new AI softwares out there right now. And some of these tools might be things like analytics dashboards, editing software, or even AI tools that help your channel grow faster. But every single app you have connected to your Google account is like opening a tiny door to your channel. And the more doors you have open, the easier it is for someone to sneak in. Now, here's where it gets a little bit risky. Like, even if one of those third party tools gets compromised, or worse, if it's actually just a scam tool designed to look legit, but really just harvest your data, your entire account could be vulnerable. And that means someone else could gain access to your user channel. It could change your login info or even delete everything you've worked so hard to build. So, here's a fix. Go to google.com/acount. Click on security. Scroll down to third party apps with account access and start removing anything you don't absolutely need. Like if it's not essential to your channel or if you don't recognize it, get rid of it. Like on my channels, I only ever have a couple of reputable brands on there that I know I can trust. And you should only be connecting to tools that you 100% trust, too. And this is just another simple way to protect your channel from potential threats.
And the final point of the channel safety topic before we talk about how tags can be dangerous. I want to first talk about the most common way I see small creators get their channels hacked. And this is clicking on dodgy links in emails. As you grow on YouTube as a small channel, you'll start getting loads of emails that look like they're from brands wanting to collaborate. But not all of them are real. Some of them are just fishing scams. They'll send you what looks like a normal business email, maybe even with a fake YouTube logo or official sounding name and ask you to do things like review their product or check out that media kit or even something like someone has shared a video link with you. But the moment you click on a dodgy link, you could be taken to things like a fake login page designed to steal your data or you could unknowingly download malware that gives them access to your Google account. And I've seen channels with thousands of subscribers completely wiped out because of one wrong click. So, here's how to stay safe. Never click on links and emails unless you're absolutely sure it's from a trusted source. Like, double check the sender's email address. Look out for weird grammar or formatting. And if something feels off, just trust your gut. And if a brand reaches out and you're unsure, just Google them. Check out if they've worked with other creators or even ask other YouTubers in that space. And also, look, if you're offered a brand deal that seems way too good to be true, like $5,000 for a 30-cond mention, it probably is a bit dodgy. So, just always make sure you verify it before you click on anything.
And lastly, the final point touches more on your actual video upload process, which is tag stuffing. Now, if we go back to the statement made from YouTube that we covered earlier, you'll notice at the start it said, don't add too many tags to a single video or playlist. The more tags you add, the less relevant they become for viewers or listeners who are searching. And look guys, this is important because obviously YouTube gives us a dedicated space for tags. And of course, I'd recommend you fill out as many as you possibly can in that box. However, I see lots of small channels try and cram in loads of tags or keywords into their descriptions as well, like on top of the hashtags and a full tags box. Now, I get it. You're trying to make sure there's plenty of keywords in there for the algorithm. However, if YouTube notices that you keep stuffing in loads of tags and keywords into your descriptions unnaturally, you risk having your entire video being deleted from the platform. Again, don't just take my word for it. Also, take YouTube's. They literally said the following types of content are not allowed on YouTube. Placing excessive tags in the video description tag stuffing rather than placing them as a tags upon upload. So, there you go. It's really not a good idea to do that. So, if this is you, I'd recommend stopping this as soon as possible.
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