Sometimes, people have love-hate relationships with commenters on your YouTube channel. If your creative efforts have undergone sustained trolling and you had to pull the plug on comments, the time may have come to open up and let your fans connect with you again via the comments section. Keep reading to learn how to turn on YouTube comments, step-by-step, with photos.
Benefits of Allowing Commenting on Your Channel
Comments are a powerful tool for raising the profile of your Youtube channel. Don’t turn off comments lightly if you want to grow and monetize your channel. Here are some of the great benefits of turning your channel’s comments back on:
1. An active comments section boosts the authority of your channel
By maintaining active comments on YouTube, you demonstrate that your channel provides informative and engaging content beneficial to your YouTube fans. When you switch on your comments and respond constructively to them, the YouTube algorithm up-ranks your content. Over time, this helps you cement your position as an authority in your niche.
2. You can use your comments to build a community
The YouTube channels that do well are thriving communities. Expert YouTubers know that building and nurturing a community of active subscribers is vital. Respond to commenters who respond positively to your content in the comments sections, and you’ll find that they return to your channel repeatedly.
3. The comments section increases your channel’s visibility online
A busy comments section helps your content perform favorably on YouTube searches and leads to placement on Google for relevant searches. Your commenters may add keywords and phrases used in popular search terms to help the algorithms determine where to rank your content.
4. Comments help you to network your channel with fellow YouTubers
Having an available comments section is great for communicating with fellow YouTubers. Other content creators may want to comment on your content to encourage you in your creative journey. You can communicate with them and establish collaborative projects.
5. Comments help your viewers decide if your content and channel are worth viewing
Many YouTube viewers read viewer comments as part of their viewing experience. Allowing commenting lets viewers see what other viewers think about your content, as questions, or learn more about what you have shared. Commenters may also want to reach out to other commenters on your videos which massively boosts engagement.
Turn on comments on YouTube
As you can see, having comments on your YouTube channel can make all the difference in making your content successful online. However, it can be tricky to navigate to the settings you need. So, if you’ve decided that it’s time to turn on comments on YouTube, these are the steps you need to follow:
Step one: Log in to YouTube using your channel’s account
Comments are managed in the settings of your YouTube channel. Head to YouTube Studio by clicking on your profile picture in the top right of the screen and selecting it from the menu options.
Step two: Click on Settings in your YouTube studio
You’ll need to access your channel’s Advanced Settings on your YouTube studio to access the comment settings. Another way is to access the settings via the standard settings on your channel page.
Step three: Go to the Community settings
To switch on your comments, you can head to the community settings tab in the settings options. Community settings are one of the advanced channel settings that include options for adding moderators and approved users, blocking links and enabling or disabling comments.
Step four: In the community settings, click on the Default tab
The Default tab is where you’ll find your comments settings. You have several options for switching on your channel’s comments:
- Allow all comments
- Hold comments that are potentially inappropriate for review (with an increased strictness setting)
- Hold all comments on your channel for review
The great thing is that you can hold comments for review before they are published on your channel, so you can keep any trolls or spammers away from your content.
To see these steps in action check out the video below.
Enable or disable comments on individual videos
If you only want to turn off commenting for a particular video, you can disable it on individual YouTube videos by designating them as being Made for Kids. YouTube viewers are not allowed to comment on any ‘Made for Kids videos.’ Here’s how to do this:
Step one: Go to your content page in your YouTube Studio
To disable comments in an individual video, you need to alter the settings of that video. Head over to your videos via the Content tab. You can find this tab on the left-hand side of your YouTube Studio homepage.
Step two: Select a video and click on the Details option
In the content section, you’ll find a list of your current published videos with thumbnails. When you hover over the thumbnail, icons will appear, including a pen icon with Details.
Step three: In the Video details page, scroll down and change the audience settings
You can switch the Made for Kids setting on the Video Details page. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to the section titled Audience. This is where you can restrict comments by making the video Made for Kids. Select the radio button that says. This will turn off comments on the video, leaving your other content unaffected.
Step four: Click SAVE to update your video settings
Save your changes and YouTube will update the settings for the video, switching comments off.
Rounding up
Rogue commenters on your videos are a reason to take control of your YouTube video comments. However, turning off your comments may disadvantage you in the longer run. So use these simple steps to not only switch your comments on YouTube back on but change the level of moderation and switch comments off individual videos if you have to.
The image featured at the top of this post is ©JuliusKielaitis/Shutterstock.com.
