YouTube Channel Audit Checklist: branding, settings and access
Tick through your channel's branding, profile, Home tab, features, defaults and team access.
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Our checklist score, not a YouTube rating. Your ticks stay in this browser, so you can come back to them.
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About the YouTube Channel Audit Checklist
A checklist for setting up or tidying a business channel, group by group: the name, handle and images, the profile and links, the Home tab, feature access, upload defaults and comments, team access and your content habits. Each item gives YouTube's own rule, or says when it is our suggestion, and links to our tools where they help. Your ticks and score are kept in this browser, so you can come back to them.
How it works
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Step 1
Open YouTube Studio next to this page.
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Step 2
Go through each group, check the setting on your channel and tick it when it is done; the score shows how much of our checklist is complete.
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Step 3
Copy the list to share with your team, or reset it for the next channel.
Rules that catch channels out
You can change your channel name twice within 14 days, and changing it removes the verification badge. Handles are 3 to 30 characters. Channel banners must be at least 2048 × 1152 pixels, with text and logos inside the central 1235 × 338 area. Videos over 15 minutes and custom thumbnails need phone verification, and pinned comments and clickable links in descriptions need advanced features.
Access for your team
YouTube recommends giving people access through channel permissions rather than sharing an account. The roles are Owner, Manager, Editor, Editor (Limited), Subtitle Editor, Viewer and Viewer (Limited), and only the Owner can delete the channel. A channel with a business name uses a Brand Account.
What this tool cannot do
It is a checklist, not a connection to your channel: it cannot see your settings or tick anything for you. The score is our measure of how much of this checklist you have done, not a YouTube rating, and it cannot predict views or subscribers. YouTube changes Studio from time to time, so a menu name may differ.
Frequently asked questions
How often can I change my YouTube channel name?
Twice within a 14-day period. Changing the name removes the verification badge if you have one; changing the handle does not. Do not add words such as "Official" or "Real" to look like another channel: YouTube's impersonation policy gives that as an example.
What can a YouTube handle contain?
Between 3 and 30 characters: letters or numbers from 75 supported languages, plus underscores, hyphens, periods and Latin middle dots. Handles are not case-sensitive. You can change your handle twice within 14 days, and your previous handle is held for 14 days.
Why can I not upload videos longer than 15 minutes or add custom thumbnails?
Both are intermediate features, which need phone verification in YouTube Studio. A phone number can verify at most 2 channels a year. Advanced features, such as pinned comments and clickable links in descriptions, also need channel history, or ID or video verification.
Should I share my YouTube password with my agency or editor?
No. YouTube recommends channel permissions instead of sharing accounts. In Settings > Permissions, invite each person with the role they need, such as Manager, Editor or Viewer. Only the Owner can delete the channel, so keep the Owner role with the business.
How do I get the verification badge on YouTube?
A channel needs 100,000 subscribers, and must be authentic, complete (public, with a banner, description and profile picture) and active. Renaming the channel removes the badge. This checklist covers the complete part: the banner, the description and the profile picture.
Sources and checks
Rules last checked
The YouTube Channel Audit Checklist follows these official pages:
- Manage your YouTube channel's profile (support.google.com)
- Manage your channel branding (support.google.com)
- Get access to intermediate and advanced features (support.google.com)
- Add or remove access to your YouTube channel with channel permissions (support.google.com)
Scores, limits and suggestions marked "our checklist", "our measure" or "our suggestion" are ours, not Google's or the platform's. How our tools work
Related reading
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