Official YouTube Blog: Why Connecting your YouTube and Google Accounts Matters

Official Blog

Why Connecting your YouTube and Google Accounts Matters

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Over the last several months many of you who created a YouTube account before May 2009 may have seen prompters asking you to upgrade to a Google account. We first announced this transition in a blog post last July. In the coming weeks, all YouTube accounts created before May 2009 will need to complete the process of linking to a Google account. A Google account is a single-sign in system for accessing all Google products and services. Any existing email address can be used to create a Google account.

You’re probably asking yourself ‘‘Why am I being required to connect my YouTube Account with a Google Account?” Well, let’s use an analogy. Imagine instead of that sleek new mobile phone you bought last year, you were instead carrying around one of those big brick phones from the 90’s. It might still make calls, but it would be slow and bulky and unable to do 90% of what current smart phones do. Your old YouTube account is a lot like that cell phone. It still works, but it’s not as fast, secure and efficient as the Google Account we’re asking you to link to.

While we understand that change isn’t always welcome, we’re confident that this transition will result in a better experience for you on YouTube. Not only does connecting your YouTube account to a Google Account improve your account security, it will also give you better video recommendations and quick access to the very latest updates and features which our engineers are releasing on the site every week.

After linking to a Google Account, your YouTube username will stay the same. However, when you link to a Google Account, your old YouTube password won’t work anymore. After linking, you’ll instead need to use your Google Account password when you sign into YouTube.

If you’re having any issues, we’ve created a series of articles that you can reference for help. By clicking on the links below, you can learn how to easily solve some common issues that may arise in the linking process:

I Can't Sign Into YouTube After Linking to a Google Account
I Don't Know Which Google Account I'm Linked To
I Linked to the Wrong Google Account
I Can't Remember My Password

If you’re still experiencing difficulties, you can contact our support team. We know this process isn’t always easy, and it can sometimes be frustrating, but hang in there. Connecting your accounts will create a better, more up-to-date and secure YouTube experience and we’ll do our best to do everything we can to guide you through this process.

Michael Ortali, YouTube Web Developer, recently watched “Macarena - Los del Rio”