YouTube Guide #1: How To Get Your YouTube Custom URL

Below you will discover how to get  your YouTube custom URL for your channel. This is our first YouTube How-To post to help you improve your knowledge and understanding of this monumental platform. This post, in particular, explains one of the simplest YouTube features that surprisingly, not many users know of.

What Are Custom YouTube Channel URLs?

YouTube Channel URLs by default are usually a string of numbers and letters and difficult for any human being to remember like the one below:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgl9rHdm9KojNRWs56QI_hg

This is never a useful way to present your channel to your audience. Instead, you need a URL that is easy to read and represents your channel properly. Take a look at the below example.

http://www.youtube.com/youtubecreators

To find your user-friendly YouTube Channel URL, follow our quick and easy step-by-step guide:

The Guide

Step 1: Navigate To The Settings Cog

In the right-hand corner of your screen, you’ll see your profile image. Click on this image and in the scroll through the drop-down options to the “Settings” cog.

Step 2: Click Advanced Settings Link

Having clicked on the Settings menu, you will be taken to a new screen where another settings tab will appear on the left-hand side of the screen.

This will include the following options seen in the below screenshot. Click on the last menu option, “Advanced Settings”.

Step 3: Find Your Custom URL In The Channel Settings

Under Channel settings, you will either see a sentence stating “You’re eligible for a custom URL” or a sentence stating “Our Custom URL system has changed”.

This is because YouTube has recently updated the criteria that you must meet to be eligible:

• Have 100 or more subscribers
• Be at least 30 days old
• Have an uploaded photo as channel icon
• Have uploaded channel art

Are You Eligible For A Custom URL?

Once you are eligible for a custom URL for your YouTube Channel, you will be able to choose what that URL is t be. For example, it could be based on your display name, YouTube username or the name of your linked website.

The capitalisation of letters within your custom URL does not cause any issues. If the URL is all lower case or all upper case, both will send the user to the same place channel.

Good To Know:

You can’t change a custom URL after creation. However, you can remove the custom URL from your channel and claim a new one if you want to change it.

Google

Important:

Once you remove a custom URL it may become free to be claimed by another creator. In general, a YouTube channel may only have one (1) custom URL and custom URLs cannot be transferred or assigned to anyone.

Google

If You’re Eligible…

If you are found to be eligible by Google, you’ll usually be notified on email, by notice in your Advanced Account Settings and a notification in the Creator Studio dashboard. You’ll then want to claim your custom URL.

Step 4: How To Get Your Custom YouTube Link

Before you start: Keep in mind that you can’t change a custom URL after creation. Remember once you custom YouTube URL has been approved you won’t be able to change it. So make sure you are completely happy with your choice before clicking confirm.

However, you can remove your custom YouTube URL up to 3 times per year.

1. Go to your advanced account settings by clicking your icon in the top right-hand corner and clicking the Settings or cog icon.
2. Click Advanced Settings in the setting navigation on the left.
3. Under ‘Channel Settings’, select the link next to You’re eligible for a custom URL. You’ll only see this link if your channel is eligible.
4. In the ‘Get a custom URL’ box, you’ll see the custom URL(s) for which you’ve been approved. You can’t change the part in the grey box, but you may need to add a few letters or numbers to make the URL unique to you.
5. After reading the ‘Custom URL Terms of Use’ tick the box to agree, then click Change URL.
6. Click Confirm.

If you’re having trouble accessing the ‘Get a custom URL box’ try changing browsers! It’s a known bug that Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Safari experience issues, so try using Internet Explorer 11 instead.

Step 5: Remove The “/c”

If you see a custom URL displayed, you’ll notice that the link includes a “/c”.

This can actually be removed and enable the link to still work. The point of removing the “c” will help make the link even more user-friendly.

Summary

That’s it! Finding your user-friendly YouTube custom URL is pretty easy when you know how. To learn more key tips for making the most of your YouTube channel, keep your eyes peeled for our next YouTube Guide.