When you’ve worked hard to be accepted into YouTube’s Partner Program, the last thing you want to do is risk your content being flagged as inappropriate for viewers.
YouTube has some pretty strict guidelines in place to ensure that creators aren’t publishing the type of content advertisers don’t want their brands associated with.
YouTube’s advertiser-friendly content guidelines leave little wiggle room as to what kinds of content can and can not be monetized on the platform. YouTube introduced the Self Certification system for creators to clarify the content of a video they are about to publish. If the content is entirely safe for advertisers, creators just need to answer one question. However, if the subject matter might trigger a demonetization warning, creators must select from preset options to provide more details to YouTube.
YouTube’s Self Certification Option for Creators
After a video is uploaded, YouTube will automatically screen it and ask you to self-certify that the content is advertiser-friendly. If the platform’s rating matches that of the creator, it’s all good. However, if it doesn’t match, it will cause issues about how trustworthy the creator is.
On your content dashboard in YouTube Studio, YouTube will mark your video with an icon to confirm the status of monetization opportunities. Here’s what each icon means:
Green: Monetization is confirmed, and the video is ready to publish.
Yellow: Your content can run no or limited ads from all advertisers. You can either publish, edit the video and reupload it, or request a human review of your content.
Red: The video can’t be monetized because there’s a copyright claim against it.
YouTube gives a rundown of the types of content that will net you the “Yellow Icon” with clarifications as to what you can post and still keep the “Green Icon” – or “Limited or No Ads” and “Monetized with Ads,” respectively. Here’s your handy guide on the content you need to think twice about Creating. You can also get more information on the guidelines from YouTube itself: