Last updated on 30th July 2024
Now almost 20 years old(!!), YouTube has well and truly come of age. Shrugging off those awkward early years of Leave Britney Alone and Charlie Bit My Finger, Googleโs video-sharing juggernaut has matured into a self-assured teenager boasting more than a billion users (nearly a third of the internet!) who devour a billion hours of video daily. When it comes to grabbing a slice of that PewDiePie, verifying your channel is the holy grail. If you were wondering how to get verified on YouTube, weโve got some pointers.
What is YouTube verification?
Can you name the founders of YouTube? Unless youโre an avid tech trivia fan weโre guessing not. In fact, it was three former PayPal employees โ Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim โ who were the brains behind what is now the worldโs second biggest social media site. It wasnโt until a year and a half after YouTubeโs launch in 2005, and an explosion in popularity, that Google bought up the business for a cool $1.65 billion.
Of course, YouTubeโs founding fathers have got plenty of reasons not to care about their relative anonymity. But we think itโs a shame. All that hard work for minimal recognition. Which, if youโve been regularly uploading world-beating content to your channel and diligently building a following, is a situation you might be familiar with. In which case, you deserve more credit too.
This is where YouTube verification comes in. Not the straightforward kind that you get when setting up your account. Weโre talking about that little grey tick box next to your channelโs name that tells the world youโre legit. Itโs a badge of honour to gain one of these notoriously exclusive check symbols because they serve as a literal mark of approval from YouTube. It shows that your channel is an authenticated brand deemed worthy of the vlogosphereโs attention.
Achieving YouTube verification doesnโt grant access to favourable treatment, but it does bestow you with a whole lot of social proof. Weโre talking jacked up credibility here. Consider that little grey box the online equivalent of the little black book โ it opens doors to a wider network of viewers who may not have heard of your brand but are willing to give it a look if YouTube deems you worthwhile. As well as enhancing your brandโs reputation, verification can protect it too. Your audience can sidestep any imposters looking to cash in on your content.
On paper, the eligibility requirements seem simple (though far from easy): gain 100,000 subscribers and submit a request to YouTube. If that was all it took then chances are you wouldnโt be reading this blog now though would you?! In practice, YouTubeโs powers that be, and their trusty algorithms, ultimately have the final say over whoโs in and whoโs not.
There are a few things you can do to improve your chances though.
How to get verified on YouTube
Okay, so youโve amassed those all-important 100,000 subscribers โ congratulations! If youโre now wondering how to get verified on YouTube, hereโs a step-by-step guide on how to apply and what extra measures youโll need to take in order to gain YouTubeโs approval.
1. Visit Google Support
Just click on the following link: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/3046484?hl=en, or copy and paste it directly into your browser.
2. Click โContact flowโ
If you have the prerequisite number of followers, youโll find a link to Googleโs โcontact flowโ in a grey box within the eligibility criteria section. If you donโt have those 100k followers, itโll look more like this:
3. Choose โEmail Supportโ
The โContact flowโ link leads you to a page where you can opt to โEmail support.โ
4. Fill in the form
Fill in the form and be sure to answer โyesโ to the question: โIs this a request for a verification badge?โ
5. Submitโฆand wait!
Now itโs a simple waiting game! YouTube should put you out of your misery within 24 hours. By which time your check symbol may or may not appear.
How to improve your YouTube verification chances
As weโve mentioned, having a great following and filling out the form represent the bare minimum for getting verified. Youโll need to pay attention to the following details to give yourself the best possible chance.
Build a recognisable brand
If youโve got 100,000 subscribers then youโre obviously doing plenty of things right. But even if you havenโt, YouTube has been known to bend the rules a little in the past for creators whoโve built an exceptionally strong brand presence.
Post great content regularly
This one is a bit of a given but it bears repeating. The key to moving into the big leagues is consistency. For YouTube to take your channel seriously you need to be posting regular content and it better be good. That means zero margin for error. So no โoff daysโ when the lighting wasnโt right and you couldnโt find your motivation, or lengthy gaps in transmission. YouTube verification demands commitment and dedication. There are no shortcuts!
Encourage audience participation
The most successful YouTube channels arenโt always the ones making the best content. Theyโre often the ones who are most adept at self-promotion. How do they do that? By encouraging viewers to interact with their content through hitting โLikeโ, sharing with friends, and subscribing to the channel for more great content.
How to keep your verification badge
Itโs one thing knowing how to get verified on YouTube and then achieving it, but quite the other to keep hold of it. Motivation and misdemeanours are often the main culprits whenever any title is relinquished. The same goes for clinching and hanging on to your YouTube verification. Maintaining an unblemished record, by following YouTubeโs Community Guidelines and Terms of Service, is essential. Step out of line and youโll soon find your verification revoked.
Itโs also worth bearing in mind that your verification badge is solely for your established channel name. If, say, your business underwent a rebranding exercise, you couldnโt then transfer your YouTube verification to your newly named channel โ your verification badge lives and dies with your original channel. You could of course reapply with the new channel, but that leaves you open to all the aforementioned perils and uncertainty. If it ainโt broke, donโt fix it basically!
Conclusion
Hopefully now youโve got a much better idea of how to get verified on YouTube. If youโve got the subscribers, have a strong and identifiable brand presence, are driving engagement and sticking to the rules youโve got more than a fighting chance. If youโve found this blog useful, you might also enjoy similar Wyzowl reads, including YouTube SEO: 10 Ways to Rank Higher, 21 YouTube Video Ideas for Businesses and our YouTube banner size template recommendations.