How to Moderate Comments on Your YouTube Videos

Regardless of how hard you try, some comments on your YouTube videos are just punitive. And as you know, comments can either improve or harm your reputation.

If you’ve not had the last straw and have not disallowed comments completely, here’s how to moderate them so they don’t cause more harm than good.

Thanks to its dedicated section for managing your comments section, comment moderation is just one of the many things you can do with YouTube Studio. Of course, you’ll first need to enable comment moderation, so you can check any comments before they go public.

To do this, open YouTube Studio via a web browser and follow the next steps below:

1. Once in YouTube Studio, click Settings at the bottom of the left sidebar.
2. From the menu, go to Community.
3. Select Defaults at the top of the settings menu.
4. Click Hold potentially inappropriate comments for review. Then click the Increase Strictness checkmark for a higher level of protection.
5. If you want to disallow comments from going public unless you review them, select Hold all comments for review instead. But this works better if you have dedicated moderators.
6. Finally, click Save.

How to Add a Moderator to Your YouTube Channel

To improve community engagement, you can also add moderators to your YouTube channel. That way, you leave the job to your subscribers and focus on content creation. It can be a helpful tip for managing many YouTube Channels. The moderation role can be paid or voluntary, depending on the deal and your community.

A moderator can’t access your YouTube Studio dashboard unless you permit them. But they can visit your YouTube channel to remove potentially harmful chats and comments and hold them for review.

To add a comment moderator to your YouTube channel:

1. Go to Settings on the left sidebar of YouTube Studio.
2. Click Community.
3. Under Automated filters, type the name or URL of the YouTube account you want to add inside the Managing moderators field. Type a comma after each name you add.
4. You can also use the Standard moderators field, but this grants fewer permissions than the Managing moderators.
5. Once added, click Save.

You can use YouTube’s Blocked words feature to prevent certain words in comments and chats. Comments containing blocked words will automatically be held for review.

To add blocked words to your YouTube Channel:

1. Go to Settings on the left sidebar of YouTube Studio and then click Community.
2. Scroll down to the Blocked words field.
3. Type each word accordingly and separate each with a comma.
4. You can also click the Block links checkmark to avoid unnecessary redirects or potential spam.
5. Finally, click Save.

Harmful comments potentially damage your channel’s image. Even if you remove them after they go public, they might’ve gone far already.

Besides, managing public comments for a popular YouTube channel can be challenging. Whether they are constructive, spammy, or abusive, it’s best to review comments before they’re public.

FAQ

Q: How Do I Remove Bad Comments From My YouTube Channel?

Navigate to the video and find the comment that you want to remove. Hover over the comment with your mouse to show the three-dot menu icon. It will appear on the far right-hand side of the comment and may be difficult to see at first. Click on the three-dot icon, then click Remove.

Q: How Do You Become a Paid Moderator?

Volunteering for online communities or your favorite YouTube channel will help you gain valuable experience as a moderator. Learning the skills required to be a good moderator will help when applying to paid job listings at a company. Learning a few key things about being a social media moderator can further help you fill a paid position.

Q: What Can a YouTube Moderator Do?

A moderator on your YouTube channel can review and remove comments, hide a user from the channel (hiding their comments from everyone), plus put a user in timeout in the live chat function.