Why on Earth are YouTube handles, where do they appear on YouTube, How can you choose the right one for your channel and how can you use them?
Stay tuned throughout this video to find out the answers.
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What are YouTube handles?
It’s unique identifier that helps people find and connect with you and your channel. This will prevent people from impersonating our channel because you have your own unique handle, like @drostvideo and your own unique channel url.
What are the eligibility requirements?
Before this update only creators that had a 100 subscribers were eligible for a custom url. Now, all channels will have a unique URL based upon their handle. For example, my handle is @drostvideo and my custom URL is youtube.com/@drostvideo.
Where will your handle appear on YouTube?
When this feature has been rolled out to all channels, your handle will appear in the shorts player. It’ll appear on your channel homepage in the shorts feed, in the search results within the comments, within your community post and on live streams.
You’ll be able to use this handle to direct people to your content when they’re not on YouTube.
How do you choose your own unique handle?
YouTube will notify you in YouTube Studio when it’s time to choose your YouTube handle. They’ll also send you a email when your personalized handle can be claimed for your channel. YouTube automatically reserves a personal URL that is similar to the name of your channel.
For example, my channel is @drostvideo, so they reserved a handle called @drostvideo. I was a bit worried at first because I used a capital D for Drostvideo and not a lowercase D for Drost video. I checked with YouTube and they said it’ll be the same url whether you’re using a uppercase D or a lower case D. Keep in mind that if you don’t have a personalized URL or want to change it into something different, you can, however it may be taken.
If the handle you want has already been chosen, try adding letters, hyphens or periods to your handle to make it unique. It can be up to 30 characters long and must follow the YouTube community guidelines.
YouTube says…
“Users are not bound to their channel name as the basis of their handle, the way they’re limited today when it comes to creating a custom url.”
This means you can choose a handle that’s even different to your channel name.
How do you claim or change your YouTube Handle?
Go to youtube.com/handle and YouTube will give you a message that says “Hi there. Your handle is reserved. Your handle is @drostvideo. Your additional channel URL is youtube.com/@drostvideo.”
It says, “Your existing handle URL will continue to work.” For example, youtube.com/c/drostvideo or my previous channel name (isitebuild). If you’re not happy with the personalized URL that YouTube has chosen for you, click “change handle”. This is where you choose your handle and then confirm your selection.
So YouTube has chosen @drostvideo, but I could also choose my previous channel name isitebuild. I can also choose a completely different handle that’s different to my channel name. So if I just click the box, I can put my handle name in there.
In my case, I’m happy with the one that YouTube has chosen @drostvideo. After you’ve chosen your handle, whether it’s a personalized one that YouTube automatically selected for you, or one that you’ve chosen yourself, click “confirm selection“. It says “Your handle is confirmed @drostvideo or youtube.com/@drostideo”
If you’ve successfully selected, your handle, handles will start appearing on YouTube later this year. Your channel has a new url, youtube.com/@drostvideo. Your existing channel URLs will continue to work.
Click “Got it.”
Here’s the message you get after you’ve reserved your handle..
“Hi there your handle is reserved.” Your handle is @drostvideo. The additional channel URL is youtube.com/drostvideo. So I can still change the handle to something different if I want, but I’m just gonna leave it as it is.
What are some of the ways you could use YouTube handles to grow YouTube channel?
- It’s a new way for people to find and engage with other creators on YouTube,
For example, you can add your handle in the description below your videos. - It prevents people from impersonating your channel because now you have a unique identifier. For example, recently someone impersonated my channel by using the same channel name thumbnails and even downloading some of my videos. As a result, it confused viewers and subscribers on which was the official channel. Now, I don’t have to worry about that because I can use my unique handle @drostvideo or my unique url, youtube.com/@drostvideo.
- No one else on YouTube can use that handle or that unique url.
Keep in mind that if you’ve previously claimed a custom URL for your channel, that will remain the same. For example, my custom URL is youtube.com/c/drostvideo, or even youtube.com/drostvideo.
- You’ll be able to get noticed in shorts to identify yourself in a unique way.
You can let others find you on YouTube or connect with others in the YouTube community. - Remember, your handle will be the way that people find and interact with you on YouTube. Other creators can also tag you in their videos by using your handle, such as at @drostvideo.
Starting a YouTube channel takes passion, persistence, and perseverance. I should know because it took me 16 years to reach 100,000 subscribers. Watch this video for 10 tips I wish I knew before starting YouTube. You’ll be glad it did.
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