Should I Age Restrict My YouTube Videos?

Have you ever asked yourself: "Should I age restrict my YouTube videos?" If so, you aren't alone. This is a question many content creators on YouTube ask themselves at one point or another. Is age restricting your YouTube videos a good idea? Or, can doing so lead to less visibility for your videos?

You should never age restrict your YouTube videos. By age restricting your YouTube videos, you will limit the visibility of your videos, leading to fewer views gained. As a content creator on YouTube, you must always do your best to ensure that your YouTube videos do not get age-restricted.

Content creators should never knowingly restrict the ability for a video to gain views. Age restricting your videos will cause YouTube not to promote the video and this will lead to fewer gained views. If your main objective is to grow your channel, you must do your best to position your videos to be appropriate for viewers under the age of 18.

What Is Age Restriction on YouTube

What is age restriction on YouTube? Age restriction on YouTube is when a video is determined to contain mature content that individuals under the age of 18 years old should not see. A video is typically reviewed by AI upon being uploaded, and the AI scans the video for any mature content to determine if it should be age-restricted.

Sometimes, videos undergo a human review. In these instances, the reviewer will evaluate the same criteria that the AI would review. Typically, humans only review videos with a large number of views. So, in 99% of cases, AI will be the reviewer of videos to determine if they should be age-restricted.

Of course, what constitutes "mature content" is different for everybody. However, while on YouTube, YouTube's rules are the rules that must be followed. Every content creator must adhere to YouTube's rules or else they will run the risk of getting their YouTube videos age-restricted.

What Happens When You Watch Age Restricted Videos on YouTube

You might be wondering- what happens when you watch age-restricted videos on YouTube? The answer to this question depends on the scenario. Certain individuals will have no issues watching age-restricted videos, whereas other individuals will have a difficult time watching age-restricted videos.

While signed in on a YouTube account, if you have set your age to be 18 or older, you will have no issues watching age-restricted videos. Not being signed in on a YouTube account or being signed in on an account with a specified age younger than 18 will cause you to be unable to watch age-restricted videos.

When you click on an age-restricted video, you will be met with a message. This message will inform you that the video you are about to watch might contain mature subject matter. Once you have confirmed that you have received the message, you will be able to watch the video like normal.

Should You Age Restrict Your YouTube Videos

So, should you age restrict your YouTube videos? No, you should not age restrict your videos. By age restricting your videos, you will cause your video to be promoted less often by YouTube, leading to less visibility and a drop in views. You should do everything in your power to ensure your videos do not get age-restricted.

To stop your videos from being age-restricted, you can:

• Avoid mature themes
• Avoid swearing/cursing
• Avoid using swear/curse words in your video metadata

It can be annoying to have to potentially edit your videos so they do not include these things. However, if it is your goal to grow a YouTube channel then you must play by YouTube's rules. All YouTube is trying to do by having these guidelines is not upset advertisers, as fewer advertisers will lead to less money made for YouTube and content creators.

Let's dive deeper into what each of these things consist of so you know what to avoid when creating videos.

Mature Themes

Videos with mature themes often are automatically age-restricted by YouTube. Mature themes consist of nudity, violence, blood and gore, and sexual themes. Ideally, you should do your best to ensure that none of these things exist in your videos if you wish for them to be shown to the widest audience possible.

Swearing/Cursing

In recent years, YouTube has made it clear that they prefer that videos do not contain any swearing/cursing. Since this is the case, you should avoid including any swear or curse words in your videos, as the inclusion of these words in your YouTube videos could result in them being age-restricted.

Swear/Curse Words in Video Metadata

Along with avoiding the inclusion of swear/curse words in your videos, you should also avoid having them in your video metadata. Meaning, you should not include swear words or curse words in the titles, descriptions, or tags of your videos if you want to avoid your videos getting age-restricted by YouTube.

Conclusion

Content creators on YouTube should do everything in their power to stop their videos from being age-restricted. When a video gets age-restricted, it is promoted less by YouTube, leading to a loss of views. Under no circumstances should you manually age restrict your videos if your goal is to get views and grow your YouTube channel.