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Create a new YouTube Channel without Google+


Now when you create a new YouTube channel, the new channel will not be connected to Google+ unless you want to use an identity different from your main Google identity. New YouTube channels use the name and profile photo from your Google About Me page (aboutme.google.com).

Note: As of the end of 2016, you can create a new YouTube channel for your Business or Brand without Google+. Learn more here: Create a YouTube Channel for your Brand, Business, Organization or Band


Create a new YouTube channel without Google+ using your Google account name


1. Sign in to YouTube (www.youtube.com) with a Google account. You will need to create a Google account if you don't have one.

2. Click the 3 line menu icon at top left and select My Channel



3. Confirm that the name is the one you want to use.  

  • If you change the name, it will change everywhere on Google (for example, Hangouts and Maps)
  • You can still use just one name by entering a period ( . ) in the last name field
  • Name changes are limited, so be sure to set the name the way you want!
  •  If you want to use a different name than the one you use for other Google products (like Gmail and Hangouts), select the option to use a Business or Other name This will create a new channel connected to a Google+ Page.
4. Click the blue Create Channel button

Learn more: YouTube Help Center: Create a new channel

Reasons to create (or keep) your Google+ Profile


A Google+ Profile is required for some features:

Create a YouTube channel with a "Business or Other Name"

Note: As of the end of 2016, you can create a new YouTube channel for your Business or Brand without Google+. Learn more here: Create a YouTube Channel for your Brand, Business, Organization or Band

If you create a new YouTube channel with a Business or Other Name, your channel will be connected to a Google+ Page. 

Reasons to create a channel connected to a Google+ Page:

Delete your Google+ Profile without affecting your YouTube channel


If you have a YouTube channel connected to your Google+ Profile, you can now delete your Profile without affecting your channel. 
  • your channel will continue to use the name and profile photo you have set at aboutme.google.com
  • deleting your Google+ Profile will not remove your channel's legacy /user/ Custom URL or Google+-based /c/ Custom URL
  • deleting your Google+ Profile will not delete any Google+ Pages the Profile manages (or the Pages' YouTube channels). Manage your Pages at business.google.com/manage/
  • Any post you created on Google+ about one of your own videos will be deleted from Google+. If it is also visible on YouTube, it will continue to appear on YouTube.
  • Any comment you created on YouTube in response to a video, which is also visible on Google+ as a Google+ post, will still exist on YouTube but will be deleted from Google+.
  • Any comment you created on Google+ that is now only visible on YouTube, in relation to a post someone else made about a YouTube video, will still exist on YouTube.
  • Any +1 that you added on Google+ that is now only visible on YouTube as a like, in relation to a post someone else made about a YouTube video, will still exist on YouTube.
  • Any other posts, replies, comments or +1s relating to a YouTube video that you created originally on either Google+ or YouTube but which only now appear on Google+ will be deleted.
Learn more: Google Plus Help Center: Delete your Google+ Profile

What if your channel has never been connected to Google+?

If you never connected your channel to Google+, you will need to Confirm your name in order to use all YouTube features, like commenting. When you confirm your name your channel will use your Google account name and profile photo at aboutme.google.com

1. Sign in to YouTube and click your channel icon at top left

2. Click the gear icon to open Settings > Advanced  (www.youtube.com/account_advanced )


3. Click confirm your name on YouTube

Note that does mean you will be using the same name for YouTube as you do for other Google products and services, like Gmail and Hangouts.

4. To use a name other than your Google Account name, click Connect with a Google+ page

Comments

  1. "deleting your Google+ Profile will not remove your channel's legacy /user/ Custom URL or Google+-based /c/ Custom URL"

    This is great news! From my understanding, if I delete my Google+ profile (https://plus.google.com/u/0/+SamWalterShow), my URL on YouTube will remain the same (youtube.com/c/SamWalterShow), correct?

    Now if I assign my YouTube account to a new Google+ PAGE, will I have to give up my URL or will /c/SamWalterShow transfer over to that page?

    Basically, I want to keep my YouTube url as is but I want my YouTube to be associate with a page instead of at typical profile.

    Thanks! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So the /c/ custom URL is based on the URL of the associated Google+ Profile or Page. Once a Profile URL is set, you can indeed delete the Profile and the YouTube channel will keep the /c/ URL.

      However, if you move your channel to a Google+ Page, that URL stays behind with your Profile (or main Google account) as the case may be. Your YouTube channel would take on the custom URL from the Page you moved it to, if the Page has a custom URL.

      If your channel has a legacy /user/ URL, that stays with the channel when it's moved.

      But the bottom line is if you move your channel to a Page it will lose its current /c/ custom URL.

      Delete
  2. I haven't been able to comment on YouTube for years, since Google started the requirement that we have a Google+ account to like or comment on anything. I started my YouTube account with my grad school gmail address, which has Google+ disabled, and "will look into it" every year when I call them about this.
    Anyway, today Google showed me a page telling me that I no longer need Google+ to comment/like! Incredible! All I have to do is confirm my name. But when I click to confirm my name, I still get the error "Your channel is in a Google Apps domain that disables Google+. We suggest you contact your domain administrator to better understand this policy."
    So why does Google still require me to have a Google+ account? Am I the only person left who is required to have one?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unfortunately Google Apps managed accounts don't always work the same way. Do you know if your account is in a Google apps domain that disables Google+? If so, you might ask your IT person if they would enable it for you. If not, this may be a bug.

      Delete
  3. I haven't been able to comment on YouTube for years, since Google started the requirement that we have a Google+ account to like or comment on anything. I started my YouTube account with my grad school gmail address, which has Google+ disabled, and "will look into it" every year when I call them about this.
    Anyway, today Google showed me a page telling me that I no longer need Google+ to comment/like! Incredible! All I have to do is confirm my name. But when I click to confirm my name, I still get the error "Your channel is in a Google Apps domain that disables Google+. We suggest you contact your domain administrator to better understand this policy."
    So why does Google still require me to have a Google+ account? Am I the only person left who is required to have one?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Peggy! I'm wondering if you can help me untangle my particular situation. I've tried hunting down the answers all over (YouTube help forums, YouTube videos, etc) but haven't found anything that explains my situation. So here's my story: I have an existing Gmail account and I finally decided to start posting videos on YouTube. So I used my Android phone to upload a video from my phone and by doing so I believe I created my YouTube channel. But in doing it that way, no customization options showed up ("confirm name" and that kind of thing) on my phone. I then went into YouTube on my laptop so I could type in video descriptions and set defaults and that kind of thing. That's also when I discovered: (a) that my channel URL is not just my google account name/username after "youtube.com/" or even "youtube.com/user" and (b) my google username didn't show up anywhere in my account (in the URL, in the name) And that's when all the confusion and hours of searching for answers started. (I should mention in here that I don't want my personal name or account info showing up on my channel - for consistency and the work that I do I want it to display my Google username which is also my handle across all other social media that I use so my need is along the lines of "choose a business name or other name" option but that didn't show up for me when I created the channel by uploading a video from my phone.) I found out the info on how a channel name shows up as what you have for Google about info (so in my case it would be my first name and last initial) and what's happened with custom URL's (I am not eligible for the 500 subscribers way & 30 days yet of course. I may be able to go the verify website route as my website URL is basically my Google username but the whole Google + thing throws that off again I think as it will show up as my Google about info - which I want to keep for use in Gmail and on Google Hangouts and the other stuff I have in connection to that email address so changing that isn't an option). So now I don't know how to proceed - some ideas: do I delete my fresh and empty channel in the hopes that if I start it from absolute scratch I can choose a username/channel name? Or do I create another channel with my chosen username (my Google account name) and lose the connection to my email address entirely even though it's the exact same name? And I do want to be able to have a custom URL for my channel that has my username in it so I want to take the right steps to make sure I can get to that as well. There don't seem to be any resources, forums, help topics, etc, etc addressing any of this particular set of circumstances. Do you have any ideas or advice? It would be greatly appreciated. I see you have managed to untangle other people's challenges and I would be super grateful for any insight you may have.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Nikki: you have two options:
      1. Create a new YouTube channel with your business/other name (+ a Google+ Page) on your account's "All My Channels" page (www.youtube.com/channel_switcher)

      2. Create a new Google+ Brand Page at business.google.com/manage/#/pages and then move your existing channel to the Page. It will take on the Page's name.

      How to move your YouTube channel to a Google+ Page:
      support.google.com/youtube/answer/3056283

      Once you have your channel set up the way you want, you can then worry about the custom URL. For Google+ Page-linked channels, custom URL eligibility means either:
      > at least 100 subscribers
      > a website linked and verified on the Google+ Page

      The best place to get assistance is the official YouTube help forum:
      productforums.google.com/forum/#!forum/youtube

      Delete
  5. Any idea when this will happen for G+ pages? It's been almost a year now and 6 months since the disconnection feature was available for G+ profiles...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't know when exactly, other than "soon" (but that is pretty vague).

      Delete

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Spam and personal attacks are not allowed. Any comment may be removed at my own discretion ~ Peggy