How-To

How to Remove a YouTube Channel from a Google Account

By Steve Krause

Updated March 3, 2024

Following the acquisition of YouTube by Google, Google wasted no time integrating the business and allowing us to link our YouTube accounts with a Google account. Eventually, YouTube accounts were phased out altogether, allowing us to link only a YouTube account/channel to a Personal Google account. Fast forward to March 2024—when attempting to unlink one of my YouTube channels from my Google account, the process was anything but simple. The more I dug in, the more confusing I became despite Google’s documentation. Fortunately, I’ve been able to figure everything out but, it was a pain and it took several hours of reading and experimenting with test accounts.

While getting this all figured out, I found a few gaps with Google’s documentation so I figured I would document the overall process so you wouldn’t have to bumble around the internet looking for answers like I did—yeah, your welcome!

For those of you who want to get right into the steps of Removing a YouTube Channel from a Google Account, feel free to jump right to the steps below. For those who want to learn how Google Accounts, Brand Accounts, and YouTube Accounts and Channels all work together, read on.

Pre-read before we get started

First, unless the YouTube channel you want to unlink is tiny and you don’t really care if something bad happens to it, don’t skip the pre-read below. It contains a lot of concepts you need to understand before you start messing with your YouTube channel and Google Accounts.

Second, proceed at your own risk. Depending on the size of your channel, if you make one wrong click, you will delete your YouTube channel. So, proceed with caution, and for your first time through this guide, I suggest you create test Channels and Accounts like I did. Get familiar with it before you touch production.

Lastly, I will explain the steps w/screenshots using my Desktop computer. Although Google explains some of this on a mobile device, I don’t like doing system admin work on a mobile phone.  There’s not enough screen space, and it’s too easy to tap the wrong thing. And when it comes to moving YouTube accounts and changing ownership… yeah, don’t use a phone.

YouTube Account Vs. YouTube Channel

As I mentioned earlier, many years ago, Google allowed you to link a YouTube account to a Google Account. Those days are long gone. YouTube accounts should now be referred to as “YouTube Channels,” and, you can’t have a YouTube channel unless it’s linked/tied to a Personal Google Account (the one you’re likely using with Gmail and Google Docs), OR, a Google Brand account.

Huh? What is a Google Brand Account?

Google Brand accounts came about way back when Google started its first real social network, Google+. Brand Accounts were a way for a person or business to create a “Brand” account that was separate from their Personal Google account. This enabled companies to invite multiple people/employees to administer a single Google+ profile—kinda like a YouTube Channel.

Google apparently re-used this code (I’m guessing) when they migrated all legacy YouTube channels to Brand accounts. According to Google, they did this to solve a problem around legacy accounts created prior to 2014.

“Channels created before 2014 didn’t have access to all features that are now available to new accounts. To make sure all channels have the same features, we’ve updated your channel by connecting it to a Brand Account.”

Brand accounts solve another problem as well: Google accounts (including Brand accounts) can only have one YouTube channel linked to it at any given time.

This is why when you create a new YouTube channel, it mentions using your “Brand’s name” as well as a notification that when you create a new Channel on your personal Google Account, it will also be creating a new account, a Google Brand Account.

Notice the highlighted text when creating a new YouTube Channel

Unfortunately, Google hasn’t provided a way to create a Google Brand account other than the one that gets created when creating a new YouTube Channel. To me, that’s silly but OK. I’m sure there’s a reason. I’ll explain why this is a problem below.

Why are we still talking about Google Brand Accounts???

So here’s where it all comes together:

1. Personal and Brand Google Accounts can only have a single YouTube Channel linked to them.
2. A YouTube Channel cannot exist unless it’s linked to a Google Account.
3. You can only create a Brand Account by creating a YouTube Channel.
4. When moving a YouTube Channel to another account, it will delete and replace the YouTube Channel on that account.

Now that we understand all of this, the process is relatively simple—before unlinking a Channel from an account, we need a TARGET Brand Account created for it. Since Google doesn’t give us a way to create a Brand Account, we will create one by creating a throwaway YouTube Channel.

All clear? Perfect. Let’s get back to the purpose of this article: Removing a YouTube Channel from a Google Account.

How to Create a New Google Brand Account

As explained earlier, we need a target Brand Account for the Channel we’re removing from our original Google Account.

Step 1

Go to YouTube and click the Sign in button. Finishing logging in using the Google Account linked to the YouTube account you want to remove from the account or move to a new one.

Once signed in, open another Browser tab and visit the Brand Accounts page at Google. If you have a spare Brand Account already, you can skip the steps below and jump right to moving the Channel. Otherwise, continue on to create a new account.

Step 2

Click your Profile Icon > Settings.

Step 3

On the Account Tab, Click Add or manage your channel(s).

Step 4

Click Create a channel.

Step 5

Type in a Channel Name and Click Create.

Don’t worry about the name here too much. As it mentions, you can always change the channel name and URL later.

Note: While testing, I kept getting an error “This channel does not exist” after creating a new channel. Don’t panic! Just wait a few minutes and hit refresh on the Browser. You should be taken to your new YouTube Channel.

Congrats – Your new YouTube Channel should be created along with a new Brand Account that it’s Connected to.

How to Move a YouTube Channel to a new Brand Account

Now, we’re ready to move a Channel over to a new account. Before we begin, it’s important to note what does not move with the channel.

Channel Content lost:

• Watch & Search History
• Creator Demographic information provided by the channel owner
• Gift settings

Step 1

To begin, we need to switch over to the Channel we’re moving.  Click your Profile icon and Click Switch Account. Select the Channel you want to move.

Step 2

Click the Profile Icon > Settings > STOP. Verify the Channel name listed is the Channel you’re moving. Click View advanced settings to continue.

Step 3

Under the Advanced settings menu, click Move channel to your Google Account or to a different brand account.

Google will likely ask you to verify your identity by asking for your account password again. Carefully enter your password and two-factor authentication if requested.

Step 4

Once again, verify the YouTube Channel you’re moving is correct. In my example, the Target account already has a channel, so the option is to Replace it. Otherwise, the button would say Select.

Replacing a channel is a two-step process. First, the channel in the target account will be deleted, and then we will move the channel into the target account.

Step 5

Verify the Channel you want to replace/delete is the one listed. If it looks good, check the box I understand and wish to proceed. Click Delete channel to continue.

Step 6

Read over the changes being made and if you’r ready for the final step, click Move channel.

Once the final step is completed, YouTube tells you it may take up to 10 minutes before the move is complete and everything is back to normal. During this time, I wouldn’t make any settings changes or upload any videos. Just go grab a cup of coffee and wait a good 5-10 minutes. In my experience, it normally doesn’t take more than 15 minutes, but then again, I’ve never moved a channel with more than a handful of videos.

Once you’ve waiting a few minutes, feel free to test out the channel and verify everything is working correctly, the handle is correct etc. If you’re curious, you can also jump back up to Step 3 above to confirm the Channel was moved from the Source Account to the Target Account.

In my example, you can see the Source Brand account now shows it has no YouTube Channels linked to it. Perfect!

Now, depending on what you want to do, you can delete the unused Brand Account invite users to the new Brand Account you moved the Channel to or even transfer ownership. Whatever you need. If you have questions, feel free to drop a comment below.