Have you ever felt ghosted by YouTube? Where do you constantly upload videos, but your regular subscribers refuse to engage? Where do you find a sudden drop in your impressions and engagement rate? You are not alone! Many creators have found themselves in this situation, which is generally a result of YouTube Shadowban.
Our guide will take you through how you can detect a shadow ban, avoid a potential one, and tackle one if you are unfortunate enough to land in this scenario.
What Is YouTube Shadowban?
YouTube Shadowban is also known as the invisible suppression of a channel, where neither users nor creators are supposed to know that their videos are being blocked.
A shadowban can manifest in the following forms:
- Decreased or zero visibility in the search results.
- Lack of video appearance on subscriber feed.
- Reduced or no recommendations in the “related videos” section.
- Only a select few comments on your videos are made visible to you by the platform.
Why Does YouTube Shadowban Creators?
Channels guilty of the following offenses will be shadow-banned:
- Crude Humor.
- Hate Speech.
- Repetitive videos.
- Sexually suggestive videos.
- Copyright Claim.
- Misleading Videos or rumor-mongering.
- Teaching or promoting harmful activities.
- Ad sense account or campaign error.
Note: If a hacker gets hold of your YouTube channel and posts something fishy or tries to change your account details in a way that doesn’t make sense, then even that will lead to a YouTube shadowban. This also reminds us that if you start a new channel, you can buy YouTube subscribers to make a fresh start.
How To Know If Shadowbanned By YouTube?
With YouTube’s constantly evolving algorithms and community guidelines, it can be tricky to know whether you have been shadow-banned. What’s more? YouTube doesn’t even notify you when the platform shadow bans your channel.
So here are the key indicators to watch out for.
1. Use Analytics To Detect YouTube Shadowban
Use YouTube analytics to track any drops in user engagement.
- Analytics can educate you about the falling trends in likes, comments, shares, and views. Do pay attention if the fall is significant.
- Constant fluctuations are normal. It’s the sharp and sudden declines (which go way out of normal trends) that you should worry about.
2. Check Content Visibility
See if your videos are still visible.
- Check if your previously well-performing and trending videos are still doing well.
- Monitor if your videos are appearing on the desired search terms and if there has been a significant rank drop.
3. Comments Can Indicate YouTube Shadowban
Sometimes, your audience can play a crucial role in informing you about your channel’s health and growth. In this case, their comments can provide hints about whether your channel was shadow-banned.
- Your users might say that your videos aren’t appearing on their feeds, which is a huge red flag.
- You can filter comments or use social listening tools to track user comments and segregate them based on emotions, keywords, and content.
4. Deploy Tools For YouTube Shadowban Test
If you are suspicious that YouTube has shadow-banned you, then you can employ these tools to seek additional insights!
- Shadowban Detector: This tool will browse your channel and list videos that could have been shadowbanned by the platform.
- Shadowban Tester: This tool will tell you if YouTube is hiding any user’s comment on your videos.
Tips To Counter Shadow Ban YouTube
Here are ways to tackle YouTube Shadowban.
- Ask people to hit the notification bell on your channel so that it becomes difficult for shadow ban to hide your video uploads.
- Comply with YouTube guidelines.
- Connect with your subscribers on social media platforms to provide constant updates.
- Keep the community posts active and host polls to seek user interactions; this way, they will follow your video updates even more closely.
- Always optimize your videos, so if you don’t appear on YouTube searches, you might still appear on Google results.
- Contact YouTube Support and detail your experience. Explain what differences you see in impressions and what complaints you have received from subscribers, and wait for their response.
Conclusion – Feeling Overshadowed By YouTube Shadowban?
No worries! A YouTube Shadowban can be detected easily. It usually resolves independently, but if it doesn’t, you know what steps to take. So, your channel will continue to thrive no matter how many obstacles you face.
With or without shadowbans, creators can always find ways to grow if they’re creative enough and promote video on YouTube.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. How long do YouTube Shadow bans last?
In rare cases, shadow bans can last up to a month but are usually resolved within 48 hours.
If your engagement rate is back to normal, but you still want to recover from the loss caused by your previous shadow ban, you should buy YouTube views.
Q2. How do I know what video got me shadowbanned?
See when the most significant engagement and impression drop occurred on your channel, trace your videos based on their publish date accordingly, and then analyze where your content defaulted to YouTube guidelines.
Q3. Does YouTube warn you before banning you?
YouTube will warn you in case of bans, copyright violations, or suspensions, but it won’t notify you in case of a YouTube shadowban.
Word of Caution: Don’t use offensive content to garner views; that will be a short-lived enjoyment with a harsh aftermath. Instead, use AI YouTube Description Generator and AI YouTube Title Generator to make your videos too compelling to resist but without drama!
Q4. Can I start a new YouTube channel after being banned?
A channel ban is different from a YouTube shadow ban. If banned, you won’t be able to create a new YouTube account, no matter how many times you attempt to.