Carla Marshall is the Head of Content Marketing at vidIQ. She has 10+ years of experience in video marketing, social media management, content marketing, DRM, and SEO. She was previously Editor in Chief at ReelSEO.com, and as a journalist and video marketer, she's covered news stories, creator journeys, and digital-first publishing initiatives across all the major online video platforms. She is YouTube Certified and a judge for the Shorty Awards, as well as the UK, US, Canadian, Global, and EU Search Awards.
How to Delete a YouTube Video [Complete Guide]
Deleting a video permanently from your own channel couldn’t be easier. Just follow these steps:
- Click on your YouTube profile image in the top, right-hand corner of the screen
- Then click on YouTube Studio
- From this dashboard screen, click the ‘Videos’ link from the left-hand navigation bar
- Mouse over any video on this list, to be shown several options.
- Click the three dots to the right, and you should see the option to delete the highlighted video
Now, YouTube will warn you that this action is permanent and can't be undone, and will make you check a confirmation box to agree to this. Also, this will be your last opportunity to download the video if you need to.
How to Delete More Than One Video From YouTube
If you want to delete videos in bulk, you can use the checkbox column on the left to select multiple videos.
- When you do this, a black bar of options appears at the top of the list
- Click on "More actions" which will give you the option to delete all of the selected videos
- Again, you will need to click the confirmation box to actually delete the videos forever
If you can't find the video you want to delete from this screen, you can use the search bar at the top of the screen which only searches for channel videos, not only videos on YouTube. When you find the video you want to delete, click on it to take you to the edit details page for that video, and you'll find those three dots to the right of the screen. Click here to find the same delete video option.
Think Very Carefully Before Deleting a YouTube Video
So now you know how to delete a YouTube video, let's talk about all the caveats of actually doing so.
First of all, as YouTube clearly states, there is no way to undo this permanent action. Not only will you lose all of the comments and engagement from that video, but, and most crucially, you will lose all of the views and Watch Time from that video.
So if you are looking to get to your goal of 4,000 hours of Watch Time, really consider why you want to delete this video.
Also, deleting a video because it has a copyright or community strike on it won't get rid of that strike. And if you have copyright claims on that video, then you probably want to fix it through the official YouTube tools.
And finally, if you are embarrassed by your older videos, watch the videos we first put out on the vidIQ YouTube channel. They're not fantastic, but we're proud of them because they're all part of our YouTube journey to where we are now.
Want To Get More Views on YouTube?
If you want to take your YouTube channel to the next level and get more views on YouTube then make sure to download vidIQ. Join over 1 million other users and use vidIQ to help you research YouTube, analyze videos, audit your own channel, and take actionable steps click here to install now!
And if you’re really serious about growing your YouTube views and subscribers, sign up for exclusive access to the vidIQ Academy and learn how to launch a successful YouTube Channel in just 30 days.