Understanding YouTube Handles
YouTube Handles are here! But what are they, and why should you care?
What Are YouTube Handles?
Connect with others in the YouTube community: Photo from youtube.com/handle
Handles are a new identification option for your YouTube channel. Handles will show up with an @ symbol before your chosen name. Unlike channel names, though, YouTube Handles will be 100% unique from channel to channel. This will provide less confusion if you have the same YouTube channel name as someone else. This also means there is a chance your preferred handle may already be taken by the time you go to sign up for one. To view or change your handle visit youtube.com/handle or look for a notification via email or in your YouTube Studio app. From there, follow the prompts to secure your new Handle.
Who Is Eligible For YouTube Handles?
YouTube is rolling out this feature slowly to all channels across the platform. Giving priority to their largest and most active channels first. Some channels already have this feature, and others will be able to sign up very soon. But eventually, everyone will have access to YouTube Handles. YouTube will notify you when it is time to choose your Handle. Previously, to be eligible for a unique URL, you needed to have at least 100 subscribers. YouTube will remove this requirement for new channels once YouTube Handles is officially available to everyone. This will make it easier for you to protect your brand on YouTube as soon as you start a new account and post your first video.
YouTube Handles and Scams
Get noticed in Shorts: Photo from youtube.com/handle
YouTube Handles are a great way to help alleviate the effectiveness of scams. If you haven’t fallen victim to scammers on YouTube, don’t worry it’s coming. Once your channel has its official Handle, it will appear in comments and mentions. This means that scammers won’t be able to create a copycat channel with your exact name and pose as you in your comments section. Several scammers have tried this technique to provide “giveaways” to “winners of daily drawings” for countless channels across YouTube. These scams usually involve the “winner” needing to provide a credit card number or some other personal information to receive their “prize.” (Wow, that was a lot of air quotes) While YouTube has not explicitly said this will stop scams, I imagine it will certainly deter some scammers, at least for a while, and make it harder for them to pull scams successfully.
YouTube Handles Features
Let others find you on YouTube: Photo from youtube.com/handle
YouTube has listed several ways you can use your new Handle. These features include
Get noticed in shorts
Identify yourself in a unique way
Tag people in videos
Let others find you on YouTube
Connect with others in the YouTube community
Promote your channel off YouTube
This list really starts to highlight how much YouTube Handles are going to act like any other social handles. YouTube will function more like a social media platform than ever before.
YouTube Handle Naming Guidelines
Identify yourself in a unique way: Photo from youtube.com/handle
Choosing your YouTube Handle does come with a few caveats. You aren’t able to choose a handle that has already been secured by another channel. Additionally, you won’t be able to select a handle if it doesn’t follow these technical rules listed by YouTube.
Is between 3-30 characters
Is made up of alphanumeric characters (A–Z, a–z, 0–9)
Your handle can also include: underscores (_), hyphens (-), periods (.)
Is not URL-like or phone number-like
Is not already being used
Follows YouTube’s Community Guidelines
I recommend choosing a handle that this memorable and easy to type. Long phrases or obscure words can make it difficult for people to find you on any platform, including YouTube. If you already have an Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok handle, it would be smart to protect your brand and use the same handle on YouTube. That is if it is still available. Furthermore, YouTube won’t allow violent, offensive, sexualized, or spammy handles. And they also won’t allow the sale or transfer of handles. I’m not sure exactly how they plan to enforce that, but when I know, you’ll know.
YouTube Handle URLs and Existing URLs
People can tag you in videos: Photo from youtube.com/handle
Moving forward, your YouTube Handle will be the new path for your channel URL. The new URL format for YouTube channels will look like this https://youtube.com/@user123. If you already have a custom URL, it will automatically be assigned as your Handle. However, if you would like to switch to a different name, you will have the option to do that as well. For those of you who have your custom channel URL spread far and wide across the internet, don’t worry. Your existing channel URL(s) will still work in both of these formats (https://youtube.com/c/user123 & https://youtube.com/user123).
Let us know what questions you have about YouTube’s new Handle feature and how to grow your business with YouTube.
