Video Removed By YouTube - Strike 1
So my recent review video was removed by YouTube:
And also:
So somebody must have flagged that video as spam. So that's all it takes, is someone to flag your video and you can get hit by YouTube.
So, although Google seems to love my blog posts, it doesn't like my videos. So I'll have to stop making videos, because most of my other videos would have been similar to this, product reviews, that kind of thing. I'm not really interested in making other types of videos.
But I have appealed, with just one simple sentence: "It was a useful product review video, like most of my other videos, and like a lot of other videos on YouTube."
If they are going to remove that one, they might as well just close my YouTube account down right now, as well as half the YouTube accounts out there.
So this serves as a warning to anyone who creates review videos like this that lead back to your own internet marketing site. If they haven't been removed, maybe it's only because nobody has flagged them yet. Because if YouTube, once alerted to my video as being flagged, decided that it violates their terms, then everyone who makes these types of videos is at risk.
This particular video was no different to the ones that came before, apart from me being more pleased with getting better at making videos. It was no different than the kind of video Kyle might even make, other than he's had more practice.
Back to focusing on what I do best: writing blog posts...
Recent Comments
48
YouTube is loaded with videos that do product reviews, many of them about internet scams etc. I don't know why they would have banned yours.
Only last night my Facebook advertising account got permanently disabled, because they said my ad didn't follow their guidelines. No warnings to change my ad, or what was wrong with it in the first place. I just got instantly banned, forever apparently. The ad was just seeking subscriptions to my email list in return for a free email course on affiliate marketing.
I didn't see your video so it's hard to say what they didn't like about it.
Could be spam or copyright.
Have you read the community guidelines?
Spam can be within your description or tags, too.
Maybe you did something wrong without even knowing it.
Will be interesting what Youtube will say to your appeal.
The description was along the same lines, saying that I thought it was a scam. I contained a link to the full review on my website, but surely that's just standard behaviour anyway?
I didn't see that I did anything that loads of other YouTubers are doing.
Maybe this one?
"If the main purpose of your content is to drive people off of YouTube and onto another site, it will likely violate our spam policies."
Taken from the Youtube guidelines.
But like I said it's hard to say without knowing the video.
So maybe it was the speech bubble I added which links back to my site? But then why didn't they remove my previous few videos?
But that rule you just quoted, if they are going to start enforcing that so strictly, then that's it. That's us done for as video marketers, because of course we use the video to direct people to our website. If we are not trying to direct people to our website, then creating videos is really a waste of time, from an internet marketing standpoint. Yes, of course it is possible to use videos for branding, but that's not how people are using videos here. Even Jay says to include a link to your website in your video description.
But it's not like my video was just a few seconds of me saying "Go to my website". it was about 4 minutes long, with me taking a good look at the product i was reviewing. So people viewing it would definitely get value out of watching that video even if they didn't visit my website.
Anyway, thanks for finding that quote and for your input. It's greatly appreciated :-)
Wow I am kind of surprised at this one....Good that you have appealed, this seems quite draconian...Plus senseless? Free speech comes to mind....as in what about that!? Best of luck and thanks for sharing! Dave : )
Yes and with links back to websites, hell I even know of 1 offering a discount membership to their website club. It's up alive and well!
W
the same thing happened to https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/aj88 yesterday awesome review video of Wealthy Affiliate. !!
It's OK I am very confident we can both get our content on YouTube. Like you said, we are not doing anything wrong and there are plenty of similar videos. We just may have to mix things up you know? Change the approach and reword a few things until it stays. Maybe it was our tags, I used the max I could. Did you use excessive tagging as well?
Sorry to hear that Marcus, still definitely worth creating your videos and embedding them into your site to give your readers another format to consume your content. Video seems to be the future of the internet.
I check my links with Google shorter! ! I never bother with any other like bitly. They seem to be quite detrimental to these kind of reviews. Surveys have a bad name for themselves cause ppl abuse them
Sound like a load of shut to me someone jealous. What's to stop everyone flagging these videos as spam ?.
I think you're probably right. That's what I was thinking too. Maybe the owner of the site I reviewed found it and flagged it to stop the truth getting out.
It makes a mockery of being able to have a free voice. Maybe we should all just lie and say everything is great. I'm all for being able to flag things as spam but it should be if a number of people are flagging it as spam not just one person.
The true irony here is that the very thing I was reviewing in my video does far more harm by scamming people than my video does. Dure, I am linking back to my website, but the main thing I promote on my site is WA which is not a scam. So I am trying to help people avoid scams and help steer them towards genuine internet business training, but somehow that's seen as bad in YoouTube's eyes. YouTube would rather let these scammers get away with it unchecked than let me do an honest video showing it up for what it is.
Far more people are going to get conned out of their money by falling for the scams I review.
Millions of videos on YouTube link back to websites, and many of those sites are scams, such as some of the ones I've reviewed on my site.
I am very sad about this. I am a video guy myself.
Was there any link on the video which is affiliate?
Having a pure product review and link back to your site, how bad it is in google’s eye?
No, I haven't included affiliate links on any of my videos. I would have a link back to the full review on my website. I review these make money online products to see if they are scams, and they usually are, so I say so. I am genuinely helping people avoid scams by doing those videos.
Marcus, here is my proposal. If I were you I would like to do this:
1. I look at google’s business intent of social connection and good social engagement and connect with what I am doing here.
2. I appeal to google that what I have done is to save the people from the scam. I will get more material on there in google space citing that this is a scam.
3. I will then connect back to google that you and me are having same vision. I will try to argue, that people should not be scammed using the creativity google allows in social interactions. And I just say, I support google in this in my own way. I show them the data.
4. Also I will say how google is going to be mis-used if voice like mine is stranggled. I will challenge google’s bigger vision by allowing this to happen.
5. I will argue, it is the same scammers who are winning in the game by flagging this wrong.
JUST these five things. I will build a case.
Let fairness prevail on this earth.
My 2 cents. your call please.
As far as I'm aware you're allowed to have affiliate links on YouTube videos. Many affiliate marketers using video do this.
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YouTube is where I came across WA in the 1st place. Great video review by pribs. Shame, I hope your get a response soon. Olive
Thanks