The YouTube Ads course
Module 8 - Connecting your channel so your ads can use your own data
Linking your YouTube channel to your Google Ads account, through tools and settings then linked accounts, lets you retarget everyone who has watched your videos organically.
Last updated 31 August 2026
Running time 3:29Watch it
What does this video cover?
- 01Linking the channel allows you to retarget anyone watching any videos on your account.
- 02People who come to your channel organically are very warm targets, and you can remind them very cheaply.
- 03The link is made under tools and settings, then linked accounts, then YouTube.
- 04You must own the channel. If you do not, you put in the owner's email and they get a URL to click to approve it.
- 05Multiple ad accounts can be linked to a single channel, so several agencies or several practices can all retarget from it.
- 06Leave the remarketing and engagement options ticked so you can use all of that data.
- 07Once it is linked, you target those viewers through Audience Manager.
Full transcript
Why link your YouTube channel to Google Ads?
Because linking the channel allows you to retarget anyone who is watching any videos on your account. If you have a bigger account with a few thousand subscribers, and you get more and more views from people coming organically, you are able to retarget them and show them ads.
That is very, very powerful if you have a few thousand subscribers, if not more. These are very warm target people, and you can remind them for very, very cheap.
How do you link the channel?
Log into your ads account, go to tools and settings at the top, then linked accounts, then YouTube. Your account might look slightly different if you have different settings, but the process is the same on any account.
Go across to details, then click add channel and search for the channel. If you own this channel, great. If you do not, then you will have to put in the owner's email and get them to link the channel. They will get a specific URL to click, and they click yes.
I am going to click I own this channel, then go to YouTube, and because I am signed in it goes through from there.
Can more than one ad account use the same channel?
Yes, you can have multiple people on this channel. It does not have to be just one. If you have got multiple agencies working on it, or if you have a dentist with different ad accounts for different practices, they can all link to this one channel.
They will need a channel for every business they have. But if you have a blanket channel that covers everyone, they can all be linked to it and they can all retarget from it. Especially if it was a UK wide channel and you had different practices, one up north and one down south, you can just say retarget all of the subscribers whose postcode is within 20 miles of this practice. It is as simple as that.
What do you do at the final step?
Leave all of those options ticked, so you can do the remarketing and engagement targeting I have just described, then click link, and that is it.
If you go back you will see it says awaiting approval, and it might just take a few seconds, but it should be good to go. If I click refresh, there you go, it is linked. All good, that is in there now.
Then when you go to Audience Manager, which we will cover in another video, you can start targeting people who have viewed your channel.
Where next?
The library holds every video we have published. The AEO pages explain the method behind them, what it costs and what the evidence actually supports.