Why Is YouTube Hiding My Comments?

One of the questions I receive frequently is: "Why is YouTube hiding my comments?" It's a good question, as having your comments get hidden on YouTube is an annoying occurrence. Is there a particular reason why your comments might be getting hidden? Or, is the issue on YouTube's end?

Most of the time, YouTube comments get hidden to reduce spam. Typically, comments get hidden if they contain links or come from accounts that have a history of mass-commenting on videos. If your comments are getting hidden, there is a good chance that you're getting caught up in YouTube's comment spam filter.

Having the ability to comment on videos is one of the best features on YouTube. When the ability to comment on videos gets taken away, it lessens your experience. Along with this, commenting on other videos is a great way to get your channel noticed. So, the sooner you can get your comments showing up on videos again, the better.

Why Does YouTube Hide My Comments

If you've ever asked yourself: "Why does YouTube hide my comments" then you aren't alone. Many people run into the issue of having their comments be hidden on YouTube videos. The problem is, YouTube themselves don't state why comments get hidden. However, there are known reasons that have been discovered that contribute to comments being hidden.

The main reasons why YouTube comments are commonly hidden are:

• Comment approval process
• Comment spam filters
• Link spam filters

Let's cover each of these reasons in more detail.

Comment Approval Process

Sometimes, comments are hidden not because there is anything wrong, but because they need to be approved. When a video is uploaded to YouTube, the uploader can stop comments from being auto-approved. So, for comments to show up, the uploader of the video will need to manually approve each comment.

Comment Spam Filters

As I mentioned above, YouTube has spam filters in place designed to stop users and comment bots from mass-commenting on videos. If a user has commented on an abnormally high number of videos, YouTube will automatically place their comments in the spam folder of videos. When this happens, comments need to be manually approved by video publishers.

Link Spam Filters

In years past, people used to mass-comment on YouTube videos. These comments typically contained links to undesirable websites. To combat this, YouTube made it more difficult to publish comments with links in them. It isn't impossible to publish comments that contain links, but posting comments that contain links cannot be done frequently.

Is There a Limit to YouTube Comments

At this point, you might be wondering- is there a limit to YouTube comments? Meaning, is there a certain limit set for the number of comments that a user can leave in a day? Well, this is a difficult question to answer, as YouTube has never directly provided an answer to this question. However, many studies have been conducted that have led to a semi-answer.

While no concrete daily comment limit exists, it's in the best interest of a YouTube user not to go overboard. Comments should only be left on videos when they are needed, and they should be substantial. At the end of the day, substantial comments will be more likely to be approved and by-pass spam filters.

Think about it this way- how many comments would a typical YouTube user leave each day? Would they leave 10 or 100 comments? You have to be careful not to make it appear like you are spamming comments, as this will raise red flags to YouTube and will increase your risk of getting banned.

What to Do if YouTube Hides Your Comments

When YouTube hides your comments, what should you do? Should you contact YouTube support or should you keep commenting until your comments start to show up? Since there is no clear answer to this given from YouTube, it's important to evaluate what other people have done when faced with this issue.

Most of the time, the best thing to do if your comments are being hidden by YouTube is to stop commenting. The reason for this is, typically, YouTube hides comments from users when they've been commenting too frequently. Of course, if you're trying to share URLs in every comment, this could be the issue as well.

Take a step back and evaluate what you are trying to do. Determine whether or not you are commenting too frequently or if you're trying to publish too many comments with URLs in them. Once you have diagnosed a potential issue, take a rest for a day or two from commenting, and don't make the same mistake again.

Are You Allowed to Post Links in YouTube Comments

Another question I'm asked on a fairly regular basis is "Are you allowed to post links in YouTube comments?" After all, comments are seen by a lot of people, so posting a link in a YouTube comment is a great way to get the link seen. With this said, nobody will see a link in a comment if the comment ends up in the spam filter.

You can post links in YouTube comments, but you need to be careful when doing so. Posting a link in every comment will result in getting your comments sent to the spam folder. Links should only be used in substantial comments with lots of content, and the links need to be relevant to the video at hand.

A way to safely share links in comments is to feature the link you want to share on your channel page. Have a YouTube channel banner with the link written out, like it's a billboard. Doing this will bring attention to your link, without running the risk of leaving too many comments on videos that contain your link.

Your complete focus needs to be on providing value to users when leaving comments. Commenting on videos strictly for the purpose of getting attention to your link is not something that provides value to users. Of course, your link might be valuable, but your comments themselves also need to be valuable.

Conclusion

A great way to engage with users and get a channel noticed on YouTube is by commenting on YouTube videos. However, if your comments are always being hidden, then they won't get seen by anybody. Since this is the case, you must take the necessary steps to help your comments not end up being marked as spam.