Verify your Facebook page to show up higher in search results

Facebook page verification checkmark

Ever wonder how (or why) a Facebook page has a checkmark next to its name?  It indicates that their Page has been verified by Facebook and is the official page representing the brand or person.

That legitimacy it adds is nice and makes you look super-professional, but the really great part is that once your page is verified it will come up higher in Facebook search results.

Heads up: The standard business verification will get a gray badge Gray badge for your page.  If you’re a public figure, celebrity, or media company or brand, you’ll get a shiny blue checkmark Blue badge. So you may want to adjust the “Category” of your page before proceeding (it’s in the About > Page Info > Category settings).

Getting verified is free — so this is a complete no-brainer — but you do have to jump through a couple of hoops. Here’s how to verify your Facebook page:

1A. Go to your page, click “Settings” at the top right, and then find the row that says “Page Verification.”  Click “Edit” on the right side.

Verify your Facebook page

1B. If you don’t see the Page Verification section, you may need to change your page’s Category (in the “About” section). Anecdotally, these Categories have been reported to work:

  • Companies & Organizations > Food/Beverages  (try this one first!)
  • Brands & Products > Food/Beverages
  • People > Blogger

Set your Facebook Page Category

1C. Once you change your Category, it seems to work best if you then log out of Facebook and log back in. You may also need to verify your personal Facebook account by adding your mobile phone number.

2. Click “Verify this Page” and a popup will open asking you to enter your phone number. If you can get this step to work (it doesn’t seem to for most bloggers), it’s by far the easiest and fastest way to go. Enter your number, then follow the prompts to enter the verification code.

Facebook page phone verification

3. If the phone method doesn’t work, you’ll need to verify the page with documents instead. You can only upload one file at a time, so if you’re not sure what to send, it may be best to compile several documents into one PDF before sending.

Facebook document verification

4. You should hear back from them within a couple of days. In my case, they didn’t find the first round of documents to be sufficient — but I was able to go back and forth with them via email a few times until we got it sorted out. Once your page is successfully verified, you should receive an email notification like this one.  Note the super-awesome highlighted part: “Show up higher in search results to help attract more visitors.” Hooray!

Completed Facebook Verification

5. If you get stuck on the above steps, try using this form to request verification instead, as your site may be listed there as an option. Keep in mind you’ll need to be an admin of your page, and your page will need a profile picture, cover photo, and must meet (undisclosed) eligibility requirements, else it won’t be in the “Select Page” list on this form.

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Comments

      1. Hi Julia! First, just to be cover the potentially obvious: Have you verified your Page or your Personal Profile? They’re verified separately — so be sure you’re checking the correct one.

        Beyond that, I’m afraid I probably can’t help much. The best thing I can recommend is contacting Facebook (no small feat, of course). When you received the verification, did they email you? Maybe replying back to that correspondence is a good place to start.

        Hope that helps!

    1. If you failed the verification, hopefully they sent you a message that you can reply back to? If so, try replying back and ask what other information they need. Or, just keep trying — when I got my verification the first time, I had to send in the same information multiple times before someone finally approved it.

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