Local SEO and SEO marketing strategies will come to nothing if you don’t figure out whether a Facebook local business page for your business has been claimed and SEO optimized. In fact, there are many local businesses out there that have to contend with unwanted and unmanaged Facebook business pages.
There is a myth that Facebook local business pages cannot be claimed or that it is virtually impossible to claim and gain control over a Facebook page that you don’t own. So, if you doing small business search engine optimization through Facebook, you will be pleased learn that there are ways to claim and recover businesses pages.
How Do Unmanaged Facebook Business Pages Crop Up?
Many times, it has been observed that things can go wrong when you have an existing Facebook local business page, causing you to lose control. Or, you may find another page that claims to represent your business, but you cannot manage it. Unmanaged Facebook business pages can spring up on their own if someone uses Facebook to check into your business location without you having a presence on this social networking site.
While this rarely happens, when it does, it can be annoying as it will adversely affect your local SEO optimization efforts.
Claiming Facebook Business Page
Before you stake a claim to a Facebook business page, it is important to find out whether the page is unmanaged. You can use your smartphone or desktop to check this fact.
Enter your business name into a Facebook search box. This will give you results. Click on the link to open the Facebook page. If you are using a mobile device, you will not be able to see tag Unofficial Page. However, you will be able to see the Is this your business? button if you click on the three dots on the right top corner of the page. The page will look something like the following:
As you can see the page clearly mentions Unofficial Page and has a question Is this your business? You will first have to confirm that the page is unofficial. Thereafter, use the following steps:
- Click Is this your business?
- After you click the link, you will see a popup that gives you the option of merging the Facebook local business page with your existing official page or you can claim and verify the page
If you already have an existing Facebook business page, it makes sense to merge the unofficial page with it. On the other hand, if you don’t have a Facebook business page, claim and verify it. This will give you complete control over the page. Click Continue after selecting the right option.
- Based on the option you have chosen, the page will automatically merge with the existing Facebook page.Otherwise, for claiming and verifying, you will need to furnish personal information to ensure you are in fact the right business owner.
After you have claimed the Facebook business page, it is time to focus on SEO. Make sure you use the right SEO strategy to optimize the page for local search, as Facebook is a potent marketing tool if you know how to use it to your advantage.