Wondering how to change your Facebook Page URL?
It’s pretty simple, though Facebook once said you can’t.
I checked all of the Pages I admin, and the option to change the Page URL was readily available. Here’s how.
UPDATED February 2021! Yes, this article is actually correct, unlike those others.
We will cover:
- Rules for your Facebook Page username.
- Best practices and cautions when changing your URL.
- Exactly how to change your Facebook URL in 2021.
- Plus a video walkthrough of changing your Page and profile URLs.
NOTE: Here are the instructions if you need to change your Facebook Page NAME, instead of URL.
What’s my Facebook Page URL?
Your Facebook Page URL is the part of your web address after the https://www.facebook.com/. So in the case of my Fan Page, we’re talking about the LouiseMcom.
Facebook calls this your username. It’s also often referred to as your vanity URL.
Important rules for your Facebook Page URL aka username
Not surprisingly, Facebook has a host of rules about usernames.
- You can only have one username for your Page or profile.
- You can’t claim a username someone else is already using.
- Usernames can only contain alphanumeric characters (A-Z, 0-9) or a period (“.”).
- They can’t contain generic terms or extensions (.com, .net). However I was able to append “com” with no problem.
- Periods (“.”) and capitalization don’t count as a part of a username. For example, johnsmith55, John.Smith55 and john.smith.55 are all considered the same username.
- Usernames must be at least 5 characters long.
- Your username must adhere to Facebook’s Terms. source
Keep in mind that you must be an admin to create or change the username for a Page.
You may not be able to immediately create a username for a new Page if you’ve recently created several new Pages.
Can I reserve a Facebook Page username for later?
Don’t rely on “reserving” a Facebook URL and username!
A Page’s username can also be removed because of inactivity. YES, this happened to me! I set a URL and didn’t use the Page.
Now that URL belongs to someone else!
So if you want to hold a Facebook Page URL for later, post on the Page – or Facebook may release your username for someone else to snatch up.
More Facebook Page username best practices
In addition to FB’s rules, here are my suggestions to get the best Facebook username:
Choose a username you’ll be happy with for the long term. It may or may not be changeable in the future!
Keep your username as short and memorable as possible, yet…
Make it as close as possible to your true name or the name of the business or person your Page represents (ex: John.Smith, Facebook).
Regarding periods and capitalization, decide how you want it to look in the address bar, because users can type it in with or without periods and capitals.
This also means you can’t claim a URL someone else is using by adding periods or caps.
I did see one article claiming that periods between words makes your URL more SEO friendly, as Google likes delimiters between words. I decided to forgo periods to be more user-friendly.
If the username you want isn’t available, you’ll need to pick a new one that’s not taken yet. A username may be unavailable if it’s already claimed, even if the Page or profile it’s associated with isn’t published or used yet.
However, the username may be released if the Page remains inactive (see note above).
Cautions on changing a Facebook Page URL that’s already set
Maybe you’ve decided your URL is too long, or you want to make it match your Page Name.
Changing your Page URL won’t change your Page name – the title that appears under your cover photo. However, be aware that once you’ve set a vanity URL, changing it will mean that any links to your Page will no longer work.
If you don’t search out and change the old links, when clicked, they’ll lead to this cute message:
Not so cute when it means people searching for you won’t find you!
I have some suggestions to help Google stop sending traffic to your old URL, but there is no such thing as a Facebook Page that redirects from one URL to another.
See the “Timeline for changing” section below to avoid the missing Page problem.
Also be aware: previously, Facebook allowed to change your Page URL only one time.
So don’t make a change lightly – you’re might have to live with this one, or start a new Fan Page.
When it comes to social media, there are no guarantees that what works today will work tomorrow!
What you MUST do before changing your Facebook Page username
If you’ve had your Facebook business Page for any length of time, and you’re active in promoting it, you’ve got that link posted in a lot of places.
I ran a search of my blog posts for my then-current “howtographics” username and was surprised to find over a dozen links.
You’ve probably linked your FB Page in at least one sidebar, header, or footer widget (I had three).
If you’ve guest posted, consider whether you left links there, and how you can access them to make the change. The last thing you want is to impress your reader, then send them to a dead page!
If you’ve linked to your Facebook Fan Page from other social accounts, you’ll need to update those too.
You may have saved a Pin on Pinterest with a link to your Facebook Business Page. You can change the URL on a Pin that you yourself pinned (but it won’t populate to repins). And if you have an Instagram account, you might have dropped a link there. Or on your Twitter profile. Find ’em all!
Check your email signature, as well as any printed materials – business cards, brochures, anything else? These will need to be addressed first 😉
As far as search engines like Google, you can ask them to deindex your old Facebook Page URL. They should eventually notice regardless. The length of time probably depends on how big or active your page is/was.
If people search for your Facebook page outside Facebook, a search engine such as Google will send people to a broken Facebook Page link for some amount of time – even if you request they remove the obsolete URL.
For me, I was doubtful many people were searching for my FB page on Google. If you feel that’s true for you, try not to worry about it ?
Work on the ones things you can control – read on for the timeline.
Timeline for Changing Your Facebook URL
Now that you’ve figured out where you’ve placed your old username, it’s time to prepare.
Before investing time or money in the following steps, ensure that you have the option to change your username! Then proceed.
Most steps are optional and some may not apply to you. Use your best judgement. These are suggestions only.
- Printed materials? Get ready to order new ones ASAP.
- Post a heads-up on your FB Page that you’ll be changing your username. Explain why.
- Reach out to blogs where you’ve guest posted and ask if they will make the URL change for you, if you don’t have admin privileges to do it yourself.
- Prepare an image or video to post on Facebook when you complete the name change.
- Set aside one to several hours (depending on how much you need to change) to do steps 6 to 9 in quick succession.
- Open all the blog posts, widgets, and social media accounts that you need to change in separate tabs. Enter the change, but don’t save/update yet.
- Go into your Facebook Fan Page and make the change following the steps below.
- Got a new username secured? NOW complete everything from steps 1, 3, 4 and 6.
- Change your email signature.
- If needed, change your Facebook Page NAME to match the new username.
- If needed, rebrand your FB Page graphics (more info on this towards the end of this article).
- If desired, inform followers on your other social accounts, blog, and email list of your change.
- Apply to Google for removal of the obsolete URL: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/removals
- If needed, request assistance from Facebook. Go to your Page> Assistance> dig up to find the item “Need more help? Contact support.” I can’t give you a link for this page because it doesn’t exist, it’s a form that appears inside https://www.facebook.com/business/help
Thanks to reader Marco for the last 2 pointers.
How to change a Facebook Page username that’s already set
Follow these 4 steps with screenshots. We will also recap on video in the next section.
1 | Log into Facebook as the personal profile that’s an Admin of the Page you wish to change. Please do so on a computer.
Click About on the left side of your Page.
Or you might have this format, where you jump directly to “Edit Page info”:
2 | Either way, your next step is to click Edit to the right of your current Page username.
3 | Enter a new username.
4 | If it’s available, meets the guidelines, and you’re SURE you want to make the change, click Create Username.
You’re done!
How to change a Facebook Page URL: video
This 2 1/2 minute video will walk you through how to change your Page username (first 2 minutes) and after that, changing your personal profile URL.
Prefer to read? The text walkthrough with screenshots is directly above.
Yes, it is still accurate in 2021 even though it says 2019.
Why can’t I change my Facebook Page URL?
My readers keep me on my toes! Just after updating this article, Jaz commented:
I had originally been able to change it but I did not click “Request Change” since I was still deciding what I wanted the new name to be.
Now when I click to Edit the Page Name, a pop-up comes up that says “You can’t change your Page name.”
I could not find anything definitive about NOT being able to change usernames except that you must be an admin. Nonetheless, here are some things to check:
1 | Are you logged into a FB account that has full admin privileges?
2 | Have you changed your URL recently? Wait at least 3 days before trying again.
3 | Have you engaged in spammy behavior? Start over with a new Page if you can commit to NO spam!
4 | Have you ever used the Page? Inactivity could prevent you from making this URL change.
5 | Do you have hardly any, or a ton of, Page Likes? Once again, a possibility.
If you still don’t have the option to change your URL/username, try this Facebook Page problem report.
However, if you’ve run ads and have an ad manager, contact them as they should be eager to help.
Next steps for your Facebook Fan Page
Does your FB Page cover photo match your new brand?
Facebook’s cover photos are a bit tricky to size correctly to look good across devices!
Use my template in the article below! Or try the fast and easy way to optimized cover photos for every major social network. Design one, and optimize for another use in a couple clicks.
If you need to update your profile picture, this article is full of great tips. It mentions Instagram, but the tips are universal to all profile images – which should match everywhere your business appears online!
This article covers just about every Facebook Page image and video size known to mankind, even down to “Our Story” and job postings. It’s all here!
Plan to run ads to promote your rebranded page? Great idea! Make sure they work for you so you don’t waste money.
I have loads more, but that should keep you busy for awhile!
Will You Change Your Facebook Page URL in 2021?
We covered:
- Rules for your Facebook Page username.
- Best practices and cautions when changing your URL.
- Exactly how to change your Facebook URL in 2021.
What do you think? Is it worth the hassle?
I deliberated for quite some time before deciding it was a necessity for me.
Let me know if you will change your Facebook Page URL!
Toni Nelson says
I’ve been able to change my url but I can’t change my page name. That’s what I needed to change. I have more than 200 likes and can’t do it. Now I’m going to have to delete the page and then put it back up. FB said it’ll take 14 days to delete.
Louise Myers says
Ooh, I hope you didn’t delete your Page! Facebook certainly likes to discourage us from making these changes, but I was able to change my Page name with over 600 fans. Here’s how:
https://louisem.com/2981/change-facebook-page-name
Lynne says
Still thinking about changing mine. I would like to but I might activate or deactivate something that isn’t supposed to be. Not good at these things.
Louise Myers says
The main thing is losing any links your have to your Page! It’s a bit scary for sure 🙂
Corinne Cline says
Hi Louise:
I’m having a problem with receiving the broken link message. I changed my vanity url and the name of the page without problems. However, when I go to search for my page in the bar at the top of the screen and I click on it when the page pops up, it directs me to the old url. I get the broken link message, but not from external links – I’m having this problem only with Facebook. Any thoughts? Thanks!
Corinne
Louise Myers says
Try clearing your cache or using a different browser. It’s working for me.
If it persists and others have the same problem finding your page (ask a couple friends to try), then you should contact Facebook and have them look into it. But I’m hoping it’s just your cache!
Brad says
Hi, thanks so much for the reply, I have a similar issue- how do you clear you cache? The URL changed fine, but when I search my page from the top search bar in facebook it still brings me to the old link which is broken. THANK YOU!!!
-Brad
Louise Myers says
It would vary by your browser, but a quick search of “clear cache [browser name]” should turn up the answer!
Karen Worrall says
I too have an issue with receiving the broken link message. I changed my url and name of my fb page without any problems (I re-branded). However, when I go to search for my page in Google search bar it directs me to the old pages url. I get the broken link message.. I’ve reported a problem with fb but to no avail! It’s so frustrating! I have cleared any cache and still the problem remains. Any advice would be much appreciated! Thank you.
Louise Myers says
This is to be expected. I called this out as a caution in the article. Unfortunately, FB does not forward changed URLs.
Chris says
Should one try first to change the name or the url?
I would say first try the name, if it works, than go with the url?
Louise Myers says
Your suggestion would be the normal way to do it. I chose to change the URL first as I thought FB would be more likely to change my name to match my URL.
But your guess is as good as mine 😉
Linea says
Hi Louise,
You say: choose Edit page and then Update info. Mine says: Update Public info…. ?
And I do not have an existing url… How do I make a username for my businesspage?
I get this info: To access this page, you’ll need to switch from using Facebook as your page to using Facebook as yourself.
Appreciate your help 🙂
Thanks a lot!
/Linea
Sweden
Louise Myers says
Hi Linea,
Yes, I see it’s been changed to say “Update Public Info.” Same thing, silly change 😉
If you haven’t yet set a username for your page, go to the URL in the paragraph ABOVE the “Important Rules” headline. You can set it there.
And if you’d like more details, I wrote a post that will be published tomorrow: https://louisem.com/3474/facebook-page-url-vanity-url
I was able to set the username signed in as myself or signed in as the Page, but you can switch via the gear icon at the far right of the top blue bar on Facebook, if needed.
Good luck!
Betty says
I can’t change URL for eligible fan page, the confirmation window opens empty and clicking “Confirm” doesn’t do anything.
Any advice on how to fix this?
Thanks.
Louise Myers says
Sorry, this isn’t something I’ve come across. I’d wait and try a few more times, then contact FB thru their help page. Hope it works!
anon says
Dear Louise,
Need your professional advice, I have changed the url/username of my facebook page and after that I no longer able to search my page in google now.
Previously it worked…
Kindly advise,
Thanks!
Louise Myers says
Perhaps it will take some time for Google to discover it again. I’m not familiar with this issue, but I appreciate your bringing it up.
Slow says
i can’t change my facebook page url , i go to https://www.facebook.com/username
i try all names but just they say : this name is not possible
PS: i make a lot of page and i delet them , and i change one time page url
please i need help !
Louise Myers says
Sorry, I don’t have any other ideas for you. Try to find someone who specializes in this; if they can help you, there may be a fee.
You could try socialidentities.com or just-ask-kim.com to see if they can help.
Warren says
This Guide is not working anymore, do you have any other guide the latest one to change my Facebook Page URL?
Louise Myers says
Hi Warren,
I’ve found some new info and will try to check it out and update my post accordingly next week.
Warren says
Still not working, the Facebook Page Username Change isn’t working, if you have set your Facebook Page Username already, you can’t change it. If you found any trick to change it please let me know.
Thanks.
Louise Myers says
Not sure why it isn’t working for you. It works for me on a page with a set username. You should be able to change a set username one time. Perhaps it only works with US ISPs?
Carly says
Hi Louise,
I am so pleased to find your post! I would be so grateful if you could help me.
Following a rebrand of my business, I recently requested a name change for my business facebook page, which Facebook organised (I had to email the necessary documentation proving our name change). However, as a precaution in case the name change was not possible (and to prevent someone else taking it), I set up a separate ‘back-up’ facebook account with the new rebranded name. A few moments ago, I followed the instructions on the Facebook ‘help’ pages to change the Vanity URL and by mistake I changed the Vanity URL for the ‘back-up’ facebook page!! How do I rectify this, so that the Vanity URL can be applied to the correct account with the 1,850 followers? Do I need to delete the ‘back-up’ account and then the vanity url will become free again?
I would be so grateful for your help. I am extremely scared of getting this wrong and being unable to have the correct url for my business page.
Many thanks in advance for your help!
Carly
Louise Myers says
Hi Carly,
I’m sorry to say, my post is based on my personal experience. I do read a lot about Facebook, and I believe they release deleted page URLs to be reclaimed, but I have no idea how soon you’d see it.
You can try to get help from Facebook. I’m not certain how responsive they are.
Think about a variation of your name – shorter, abbreviated, with the name of the service you provided added to it, or something to make it work in case Facebook doesn’t help you with this.
I’m sorry Good luck!
Alex says
Hi Louise,
It seems a number of people have had the problem of being able to change it after the one time URL change has passed or by renaming by mistake. I’ve recently written a post on our website, if you’d like me to post it at all?
Louise Myers says
Sure Alex, I’d be interested in reading it.
Alex says
Wonderful to hear (:
Heres the link for you: http://www.merchandise.co.uk/blog/change-facebook-business-page-url.html
Alex says
Please feel free to add it to your post as a resource (:
jawwad says
hey,in my page there is no option of Change the webadress. what’ll i do?
Louise Myers says
I’m sorry Jawwad, but if you don’t have the option, I don’t know of anything you can do.
Mak Raiaan says
Hi Louise
Thank you really so very much for the post. I did it and it works. But I have a problem, I changed my username two times and I tried it again , now i can’t do anything. Facebook don’t allow to change it again! What can I do now? Do you have any solution?
If you don’t have any solution please give me a link or email address which I can contact with facebook authority directly?
Thank you
Louise Myers says
Mak, I am sorry, I don’t know of anything you can do.
Check this page which lists ALL the Facebook support contacts. Hope you find something that helps!
http://www.postplanner.com/how-to-contact-facebook-to-get-support
Jimmy says
Hello,
Thank you for your article,
I’m just wondering if the old URL will be available for other to take? or will it always be taken?
Because some guy took my business name and he want to change it to something else, so I can take over his old url?
Do you know if this would work?
Thank you,
Louise Myers says
Hey Jimmy,
If someone took your business name, you should contact Facebook. They’ll get the URL released to you. Otherwise, I’m not sure what will happen.
Best of luck!
Quita says
Hi I have changed my facebook web address once but I’m desperate to change it again to match my page name what can I do?
Louise Myers says
You could try contacting Facebook and hope for the best! I’m sorry but I don’t think there’s any way around their rule.
marie says
Hi Louse, Someone has been messing with my facebook name and sending messages to an ex .My proper facebook page has my name in the adress bar but the phoney one has a different name is that person real and can i seek him out. its strange when i tried sending a message to the fake marie casey and it sent it to my real page and when i click home on the fake page it goes to my real page . when i have done enough investigating i will shut my facebook down its causing too much trouble . Thanks please help. Marie
Louise Myers says
Marie, I am so sorry this is happening to you!
I don’t have experience with this, but there is a way to report an impostor account. Go here:
https://www.facebook.com/help/174210519303259
Best of luck!
don martinez says
facebook has posted a WRONG NAME as my username. Icannot post any ISO photos because it will not recognize MY password. PLease help I have tried to change the username but get noware. Can you help ?
Louise Myers says
Hi Don,
Not sure what you’re experiencing. if you can’t log in because your password isn’t recognized, this is the form you need to get help:
https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/357439354283890
Best of luck!
b kovachev says
I can not change my facebook page url … Sport Info I’d like to change it as Sportinfo.bg any help please ….
Louise Myers says
I’m sorry, I don’t have any info beyond what’s in the post.
Mithun says
please check my screenshot. I want to change the link name (facebook/username), i have 4 pages, i can see the changing field for 3 pages, but cant see the changing option for a page, why this is happening..? how this name changing option comes? what to do?
http://awesomescreenshot.com/0014b2dg2b
Louise Myers says
I’m sorry, I don’t know why it’s happening, unless you’ve already changed the username on this page once. You can only change once.
What happens if you click the link at the top right that says Edit Username?
Milly says
I was able to change my page name but I don’t have the option to change the url to match it and I have never changed it before so not sure why I cant now. Is there a way to change it? Thanks.
Louise Myers says
Hi Milly,
I’m sorry if you’re unable to change it with the tips in this article. I don’t have any other tips fpr you.
Tina says
You don’t know if there’s a way to do this for a Facebook group, do you? I think I may be screwed since I already picked a vanity url for my group…but I need to change the name now. Only 16 people on the group, and I don’t care about breaking links because it’s a private group that I only add people to myself. I just need to change the URL.
Louise Myers says
Hi Tina,
I found some advice saying “go to ‘Edit Group Settings'” and others saying it can’t be changed once set.
Another idea, since your group is so small, would be to start over. Or, you could purchase a domain name and have it forward to the group URL.
Best of luck!
HarishST says
The New Interface Of Facebook, changes this option to “About” Tab.
I Was Searching For that. I was redirected from Page Info to About And Found The Option.
Any Way Nice Post 😀
Louise Myers says
FB is always changing, right? Thanks for the update, Harish.
Pooja Yadav says
Nice article. This is awesome and simple trick.
Louise Myers says
Glad you liked it, Pooja!
Sydney says
I’m going crazy. I made a FB page for my blog Small Talk With Syd & the URL was facebook.com/smalltalkwithsyd which I loved. I had to delete the page for another reason & when I attempted to recreate the page the URL was different. I don’t like how it’s it’s clean and simple anymore. I actually got frustrated and deleted that page too so you can’t even find it. Anyway I really need help getting back my old URL! Thank you!
Louise Myers says
So sorry your having problems, Sydney! Unfortunately I don’t have any other info or help beyond what’s in this article. Maybe you can straighten it out directly with Facebook? Best of luck!
Mahesh Dandyala says
Hello Sydney ! After deleting your page you can gain the same url to your newly created page , if it not works contact support team Facebook in help center.
Louise Myers says
You might want to read this before you take a chance: https://www.facebook.com/help/community/question/?id=10153048180516660
aliarshad says
Hello
I have a question i have a my facebook business page, almost 1000 like in my page, I want change my url. When I am going page setting i dn`t found page info, maybe facebook update recantly please help me how i change my facebook page Url? i am waiting your reply
thank you
Louise Myers says
Hi aliarashad, the Page Info is now found via the About button under your cover photo. I’ll update the post in a few days.
Karrin says
For some reason when I click edit on the URL, it does not give me any option to change my URL name. Do you know why this might be? Very frustrating 🙁
Louise Myers says
Hi Karrin,
The only answer I’ve heard is that the option disappears when you’ve already changed it once.
If this isn’t the case, I’m sorry to say I don’t know how to help!
Best of luck,
Louise
mmn says
thanks…………..
Louise Myers says
Glad you found it helpful!
Alexandra K. says
Hello and nice article.
I had a facebook page I merged with a newer one (keeping the newer) and now I want to change my page url to have the url of the older page that has been deleted 3,5 months now but it says the url (of my old deleted page) is not available.
Any ideas?
Louise Myers says
Hi Alexandra,
I don’t think Facebook releases those previously used URLs. You can try contacting them using this link:
https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/164405897002583
I wouldn’t hold out a lot of hope, but it’s worth a try!
Kawinwarong says
Hi, Louise
I have a problem when I need to change page Facebook URL it always not allow me to change that and shown message as below
“You’re not eligible to set a web address for this Page right now because you’ve recently added or changed the Facebook web addresses for your Pages too many times.”
I created new page and never change URL why I cannot changed.
Please help me,
Thank you.
Louise Myers says
I’m sorry this is happening, but I don’t have any further info on this. It does sound like you might be able to change if you wait for a while. Or you can contact Facebook directly via the form at this link: https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/164405897002583
Best of luck!
Vera says
Hey Louise,
Perhaps you know the reason for the error I’m having.
I have created two pages for an organization, for the first one I reserved a web page url successfully, but for the second I got the error message “You’re not eligible to set a web address for this Page right now because you’ve recently added or changed the Facebook web addresses for your Pages too many times.”. Perhaps you know – how often is this too many times? Shall I wait for a day/week/month?.. And may be there’re some other restrictions I shall look at?
Thanks in advance!
Best regards, Vera
Louise Myers says
Hi Vera,
I’ve only heard of this happening very recently. Unfortunately, I don’t know if there’s a set restriction. Likely there’s some incomprehensible algorithm!
I hope it works for you soon. Would love to know if you find out anything!
Carlo VOlti says
I have a question about something else on your site. On the page for the “Free Report Reveals the Best Design Apps” (https://louisem.com/best-design-apps), I was wondering if you had any contact information for the model on the cover (and the webpage). I have seen her in numerous layouts over the last 5 years (very few of them are even remotely related to one another), and was trying to either find her agency, or other information about her.
I appreciate your help. Thank you.
Louise Myers says
Hey Carlo,
That model seems to pose a lot for stock photography, so she’s probably seen all over the place. Maybe you could get more info from one of the photographers?
Here’s a page I found on Shutterstock. I don’t know if there’s a way to contact the photog there.
http://www.shutterstock.com/g/maridavphoto
Good luck!
Elizabeth says
I am the admin of my nonprofits fb page. We are going through a rebranding.
Right now, both our url user name and page name are the same.
If I just change the page name, will I get the best of both worlds？Will our old fans still be able to search for us by our old name, hence the old name that is in the url, and our new fans by the page name, hence the newly named page.
Will changing the page name cause us to lose likes?
We have 213 likes.
Louise Myers says
Hi Elizabeth,
I don’t know that a FB search by words in your URL would net you results. I don’t want to sway you one way or the other on this, as it is an important decision that can’t be reversed. But while you’re weighing the pros and cons, here’s what’s in favor of completing your rebrand with both your page name and URL:
you’d gain consistency
if you don’t have inbound links to your page (say, some big website had linked to you – you wouldn’t want to lose that)
fans rarely search for specific pages
your fan base is still small
Good luck with your decision!
Iana Crampy says
I have a page that has 6K likes and I want to change it’s URL once more since I’m not contented with the one I’m using now. Facebook won’t let me change it since I already did long ago. Is it possible to change the URL more than once?
Louise Myers says
Hi Iana,
Facebook seems to keep a tight lid on the one-change limit. I don’t know of any workaround other than starting a new page – if you really hate the URL! But I hope it isn’t that bad.
Neil farmiloe says
Hi Louise,
I am having the same problem as one of your other contributors. I set up a new page and then went to set a web address. The name I chose was acceptable but when I tried to confirm it I was told I had changed my address to often which was untrue. As you mention this could be a problem with the algorithm but how do I contact Facebook to ask them to fix the problem?
Louise Myers says
Hi Neil,
You may need to have a base number of fans before you can set a URL for the first time. It used to be 25 but may be more now.
If that’s not the issue, this is the form you would fill out for a fan page issue
https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/164405897002583
Best of luck!
Amar Ilindra says
I misspelled one letter while changing URL. How can i request Facebook to change it again.
Waiting for your help
Thanks
Louise Myers says
This is the form you would fill out for a fan page issue
https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/164405897002583
I hope you get assistance, but honestly I wouldn’t count on it. They’re pretty strict with the 1-change rule.
Roelof says
Hi. Is there absolutely NO way to circumvent the restriction of changing my Page’s URL more than once.
Louise Myers says
I am not aware of any. It’s a pretty strict rule.
Dhiraj Raj says
taking example: at first time my facebook page name was “star” then at that time i set my Facebook web address as “https://www.facebook.com/star” . But now i changed my fb page name as “bigstar” and wants to change my Facebook web address again as “https://www.facebook.com/bigstar”. IS IT POSSIBLE ?? If yes, then please give me instruction.
Thanks.
Louise Myers says
Hello Dhiraj,
If you see the option to “Edit” when you hover “Facebook Web Address” as shown on the screen shot above, then you can. If you don’t see the option, I don’t know of any other way to pursue a change.
mike says
Thanks a lot i’m able to change my url. pls post more helpful stuffs
Louise Myers says
Happy to oblige!
Kamaria says
Hi Louise!
Just wondering if you can help! I have recently changed my business name for the first time on FB – the link they sent me only directs me to change my username/url for my personal page and not my business page – do you know of any way that I can change my business FB url?
Louise Myers says
Hi Kamaria,
I’m not sure what you mean by “the link they sent me.” Do you see the link to edit your web address on your Page’s About section / Page Info, as shown in the large screen shot in the article?
Shayla Litster says
I am wanting to change my name. I set this up several months ago and I feel I would do better with a more positive and upbeat identification. I have metastatic breast cancer and I am currently on an expiration date of next year. Its just that even though I felt it was appropriate at the time, I would like something more empowering to draw people to. I want people to remember that I am trying to live. Anyway, without really trying to hard I was able to get around 228 likes in one post and other pictures say there is over 800 people that saw it…or over 600 that saw it. Is there a difference in that and likes? Is it a big deal if I make a new page or should I just change the name “The Metastatic Mama”. I started to make a new page and now I see it on my profile as having this new page so I am probably already stuck, but I thought I would ask anyway. Thanks in advance!!
Louise Myers says
I suggest changing the name, unless you have very few fans so far. Just because you created another page doesn’t mean you have to switch. But it’s up to you – if you don’t mind starting from scratch.
When you, as the Page Admin, see the “people reached” numbers, that just means that Facebook put the post in that many news feeds. It doesn’t mean the people interacted with it, or even looked at it.
My best to you! May you survive and thrive!
Desmond says
Hi,
My company FB Fan Page was deleted by my Ex-Admin without informing us. Now MY FB page is gone. How do I reclaim it back or it is possible to recover ? If not, Can I start a new FB page using the same name and same URL ? Kindly advice. TQ
Louise Myers says
Hi Desmond,
I suggest you contact Facebook to see if they can recover your page. I don’t hold out a lot of hope for that, however.
Try this form: https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/164405897002583
You can create a new page using the same name, as far as I know. But the URL may not be made available for some time – if ever. That’s from Facebook support, here: https://www.facebook.com/help/community/question/?id=10153048180516660
Best of luck!
Suzy Sheppard says
I have never changed my url before, am the admin of the page and my business name has changed. It won’t let me change it. I have been directed back to the same page every time and it just doesn’t give me the option. What is the fix?
Louise Myers says
Hi Suzy,
I’m sorry to say, I don’t have a fix for that. Some people seem to be blocked from it. Sometimes it’s due to where your ISP is located, but just taking a wild guess by your name, that’s not your case.
You can try contacting Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/164405897002583
Em says
Hey louisem!! I don’t have any Edit button in my page.
Louise Myers says
Does your page show up when you go to https://www.facebook.com/username?
Your other option is to contact FB at https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/164405897002583
This function may be restricted by country. Hope you can get it sorted.
Manjorul says
I am trying a lot but can’t to change it as per my expectation. The preferable page url can’t be setup and I really disappointed about.
Louise Myers says
Please stop posting on this page with your clipping path URLs. I’ve deleted every one. Future comments will be marked spam.
subhash verma says
i got a big problem now…
i have transfer my facebook username to my fanpage now when i tried to set a new username on my facebook account it says “There was an error while setting your username: Username has already been modified too many times.
what i do now?? i lost my old username 🙁
Louise Myers says
Check this page which lists ALL the Facebook support contacts. Hope you find something that helps!
http://www.postplanner.com/how-to-contact-facebook-to-get-support
Christian says
I have already change my page name. I have a doubt before changing the url. What about Google and other search engines? I have been using my old vanity name for years and I guess lots of my clients and prospects are going to search with the old username. What will happen with these attempts to get to the page when I have the new username and they try to get me by the old one?
Thank you in advance.
Louise Myers says
Hi Christian,
If people have you bookmarked with a former URL, they’ll get the broken link page I showed above.
As far as search engines, they’ll probably weigh your page name and other text more than your URL.
I wish there was a definitive answer, but there’s not. You have to decide how many people might actually try these two methods to find you – as opposed to maybe just googling your name. That’s what I would expect, unless you have a really compelling FB page that would make them look for you there first.
You could also run Facebook ads to a very targeted list to let people know of the change. Or just email them if you have their contact info.
Best of luck!
Jacek says
Trick to Change Facebook Fan Page Name second time after 200+.
Facebook doesn’t allows to change the fan page name twice. If you are facing the same problem then this slideshare give you useful tip how to manage even after getting 200+ likes on it. My new Facebook trick you can do easily. Do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
http://www.slideshare.net/JacekJanicki1/how-to-change-second-time-pages-name-on-facebook-54830632
Louise Myers says
I added your SlideShare to the appropriate page: How to change your FB Page NAME
Nauman says
hi how can i change my facebook page URL . below msg showing to me
You can now direct people to http://www.facebook.com/nomi.malik.studio.
You have already changed your web address, click here for more information.
Louise Myers says
You can only change your URL once. Unfortunately, if you’re unable to change it with the tips in this article, I don’t have any other advice other than contacting FB.
Clare says
Hi Louise
I’ve been trying to change the website Facebook details ever since I changed my username to Clare’s Beautiful Nails. I went into edit loads of time in the web page section of about, but I still can’t do it even though I know how to type over a word but it’s not letting me edit from Beautiful Nails by Clare Hanson to Clare’s Beautiful Nails. I can’t drag the new username to change it doesn’t work nothing hight lights for me to change it. I don’t you if you can help me at all. I initially didn’t set the page up my husband did for me one night whilst I was at college, he’s removed himself as admin but not sure if this is anything to do with it.
Thanks, Clare
Louise Myers says
Hi Clare,
If you’re an admin and you don’t see the edit pencil, then the option isn’t available to you. Sorry about that.
Maverick says
Page Not Found.
I have a bad situation here, my page recently block by Facebook and apply for appeal. The appeal was success but page is not found.
Not found in my facebook manager app or even pc. Report had been done so far it is not improve.
My page url is http://www.facebook.com/jaydenentertainment
Do you have any Idea to solve this issue?
Louise Myers says
Thia aounds like something only Facebook can resolve. I hope they help you out.
Berbagi Inspirasi says
It works for my one page, but didn’t work with others.. Why?
Louise Myers says
Could be the name has already been changed, or perhaps it’s not allowed in that country.
Nadeem says
Hi Louise,
I want to change the url but the problem is I am not able to get what I want.
It says its not available. We represent the brand and we have to have the said url only but facebook is not allowing us to get it.
Kindly Help!
Nadeem Sayed
Louise Myers says
If the URL has been used before, it can’t be used again. Also, some words aren’t allowed.
If it’s your own registered trademark, you can try appealing to Facebook for copyright infringement.
“Usernames may be unavailable for many reasons, even if it seems like they aren’t being used. For example, a username could be taken by a Page that isn’t published yet. Also, we prevent certain words from being included in usernames. Make sure the username you’re trying to claim follows our guidelines for custom usernames. If the username you want is already taken or not approved, you’ll need to pick a different one.”
Sinisa Rukavinas says
Hi, I have question about your statement
“If the URL has been used before, it can’t be used again. Also, some words aren’t allowed.”
I just have case that URL I wanted to use for page was taken by personal account. After I changed URL on that account it was immediately available to use for page. And I changed page URL successfully.
So now I have a case to do same with 2 pages. One should change username (if it already wasn’t changed) and other should use that username after first one change it.
What is your opinion on this? Should it work?
Chris says
Hi
When you change your page url do you lose your likes on the page.
Thanks
Louise Myers says
Hi Chris,
I did not lose any likes.
vinod says
I created an account with facebook using my company name abccompany. so the url of the profile is facebook.com/abccompany. Now is it possible to create a new page having url facebook.com/abccompany. In short i no longer require the profile url and instead want my business page to have the url of my profile . So next time some one types facebook.com/abccompany he is directed to the businesspage and not profile
Louise Myers says
Hi,
Once a username/URL is taken, it can’t be moved to another page, even if the original page / profile is deleted or changes its URL.
There might be a possibility of turning your profile into a business page, or merging the two. I have only heard about that and have NO idea on how that might work, but you could look into it.
Cheers,
Louise
Sadie says
This was extremely helpful. Now my page matches my website: http://www.herandherdogs.com and facebook.com/herandherdogs
I’ve been wanting to make this change for AGES but kept putting it off. Previous research had me feeling a bit overwhelmed. I appreciate the tutorial.
Thank you,
Sadie
Louise Myers says
So glad it helped, Sadie!
Sandi says
Hey.
And if I had already changed i can’t do again ? ( What options? )
Tnx Sandi
Louise Myers says
No, there’s no way to change again. I’m in the same boat and wish I could. There’s a possibility of creating a new page and merging the two pages. You’d have to look up how that works, as I’m uncertain.
Genc says
I had a fan page of a footballer, (Hamdi Salihu) and than I changed the name of my fan page and I merge with my another fan page that is a business fan page (Lg Elecro Group). The problem is that I can’t change the username! When I try at facebook web adress now it gives me this:
You can now direct people to facebook.com/HamdiSalihi.
You have already changed your web address, click here for more information.
What I must to do? How to change the username, now :/ ?!
Louise Myers says
If Facebook says you can’t change your username, I don’t think there’s any way around it.
Genc says
Its very important to change this username! So definitly it wasn’t any way :/ ?
Louise Myers says
If you find of anything, let me know!
Genc says
Ok
kada says
Thanks to a friend
sunny says
i transfer my username to page but
when i save my new facebook
profile username i cn’t it save
change a error were display. There
was an error while setting your
username: username has already been modified too many times.
Please help me how to i fix it :'(
Louise Myers says
Facebook has strict rules – you can only change your name one time.
Genc says
We know Facebook rules. We just need help under those rules.
Mia says
Hi. So I just changed my FB business name to a more general name since I wanted to cover more topics on it. I have one more chance to change the username so I have a question regarding the change. My FB business name is my first & last name (with an apostrophe s) & the words “Healthy Essentials.” I was wondering if I should use those exact words for the username or change it up to something like, “EssentialsToBeingHealthy.” I guess I just don’t know whether having my full name in a username is ideal or not. Thanks for any input you may have to offer!
Louise Myers says
Hi Mia,
I went to look for your page the other day, and got distracted!
I’m not sure if there’s a definitive answer to your question. I do believe that keywords in your URL help SEO, but as far as Facebook search, I think it’s only based on your page name, not the URL.
My feeling would be to keep the URL shorter, but you could try a web search to see if you can find more info on this issue.
HeckingO Boss says
Hi Louis,
How much can I buy this site, please contact me.
Louise Myers says
If you’re interested in purchasing my site, send me a serious offer and I’ll respond.
HeckingO Boss says
please how can I contact you?
Louise Myers says
You may use the contact form.
RecarroJames says
Here’s a recent video that will walk persons through the steps.
Take a look >>> youtu.be/ucoMriPBzeM
Louise Myers says
This is interesting, but my article deals with changing a Facebook PAGE name, not a personal profile, as on your video. If this worked for pages, it’d be great!
MAFIOS says
hey help !
my fan page URL don’t changed. AFTER LIMIT don’t change?
my FB: FaceBook.com/Logic.Make/
my PAGE: FaceBook.com/PerfectHD.Photos/
i need URL change PerfectHD.Photos help me … My country: Mongolia
Louise Myers says
Sorry, I don’t have any other tips in cases where it’s not working. Could be the country, if you haven’t already changed it once.
Purushothaman says
recently i changed my page’s URL.
Now my page is not at all visible..getting an error “SORRY THIS PAGE ISNT AVAILABLE”
I have also forgot the new URL set. How can i recover my page..
Louise Myers says
If it’s just because you forgot the new URL, you should be able to find your page from your profile’s home feed. Or search for it by name.
If the page with new URL disappeared, you’ll have to contact Facebook. I haven’t heard of this before.
Hamna says
I tried all these steps !After the availability check it generate errors that the username is specifies to many times!What to do now as I loss my previous username too!
Louise Myers says
If you changed your username once, you can’t do it again. Never heard of anyone getting around that rule.
If you lost your name in the process of trying to change it, that’s not right. I don’t think that’s what you meant, but if so, contact Facebook. I’ve never heard of this happening, and not sure how it could.
Thiru says
Hi When i request to change my page url to fb/tagphotography it was available but still its not approved by FB. Will they take longer than month to approve? or what to do get approved from them?
Any help appreciated.
Louise Myers says
Hi Thiru,
Unfortunately I don’t know of any tips or tricks other than what I’ve outlined here. For me, the change was immediate. Not sure why you have to go through approval.
Brendan says
Hi.
I recently changed my Facebook business page name and also the url so it all matches… Google can not fit find my new page name at all however if you search for it in Facebook it finds it no problem… Facebook said all changes were available and so permitted them.
Do you have any thoughts as to how I could get this Google to find my new page name
Kind regards
Louise Myers says
Hi Brendan,
A lot of activity on the page will get Google to index it faster. Best of luck!
Louise
Niz says
Hello Louise ,
I’ve tried creating a URL for my Facebook Page multiple times. I had 3 options… When i check the availability, it said “xyz is avialable”. When i hit on “confirm”, FB said “xyz is taken. Please choose another Facebook web address.”
xyz is just an example… Do you know why this is happening? Is it because i’ve already exceeded a certain number of likes on my page? I heard if there are more than 100 likes i can’t change the URL. So i removed some people from “liking” the page and now I have less than 100 likes. Still not able to change!
Can you please advise what i can do? I haven’t changed the URL before, so this is the first time.
Thank you!
Louise Myers says
Hi Niz,
At one time there was a 200-likes ceiling, but now you can change with approval if you have over 200 likes.
This sounds like a glitch to me. But other possibilities might be that your location is blocked from URL changes, that you’re a local business, that the name is too short (must be over 5 characters), or that it’s a generic term (not allowed).
I hope it works out for you! Please let me know if you figure it out.
Morhad says
Thank you but do you know how long we have to wait to change a url again as we did it already but dont like it 🙂
Louise Myers says
Sorry, but it’s only once – ever. If you really hate the URL, your options are to start a new page, or look into merging pages. I’ve never done it, so I can’t advise.
Mark says
So will you be able to keep your likes and followers if you merge your pages? Then you will be able to change the URL to
Louise Myers says
I don’t have experience with merging pages, so I wouldn’t want to advise on it.
Ali Khan says
Bro How can i change the Facebook page name if facebook is allowing me that name,,,any tricks ?
Louise Myers says
Nope, I don’t have any tricks.
Kiron says
Helpful post. Can i change url for two time?
Louise Myers says
No, you can’t.
SB says
Please help me……
I canKt set my facebook username with the ‘show at the top of profile’ option………
Whenever I check the box and click save…
A blank page appears with nothing and sometimes when I am browsing with opera mini, it says ‘error connecting to the server/the link has been removed or changed’
plz help
Louise Myers says
Sorry, haven’t heard of the option ‘show at the top of profile.’
Carrie says
Louise, do you think the URL can influence the visibility of a business page in the fb search results? It should not have prority to the content quality, right? We have a restaurant with almost 2000 likes and over 1200 people who “were there”. Still, when you want to check-in as a guest and type our name, the much weaker competitor (300 likes) comes up as first! I thought the reason for it can be that both in my name and the url there is the word “restaurant” first and there comes the name and in the case of the other place there is the name only. Still, the other site is much weaker and they dont really provide much and regular content.. What would you suggest?
Louise Myers says
Facebook search is not a good tool, unfortunately. I don’t have any data on how your URL might affect the results, but what you’ve found may be a clue.
mario says
help please
i cant change my facebook page’s name .. and this is the first time !
thank u
Louise Myers says
Sorry, all the tips I have are in the article. The feature may not be available in some locations.
vitesh says
I have changed once want to change for the final time no showing the option “CHANGE WEB ADDRESS”??
“You have already changed your web address, click here for more information.”
Any possibility please let me know.
Louise Myers says
I’m sorry Vitesh, I have never found a way around this rule. If you do, please let me know!
Gayatri Mantra says
Hi
I want to know “when you change your page url do you lose your likes on the page”
Thanks
Louise Myers says
You do not lose your fans. However, Facebook being Facebook, nothing is guaranteed!
Gurjant Singh says
Hi.. my username is not shown with the cover of my page. It should be shown under my name on my page but it is not shown over there.. wha is reason for that?
Louise Myers says
Hello Gurjant,
Username (URL) isn’t shown on the cover of the page, only what you’ve set as the page name as well as the category.
W P says
so useful..
thanks Louise 🙂
Luboš Nehyba says
Good day here,
I would like to ask a question about page URL.
We are running a FB Business page for a client of a very short name: Koli
The FB pagename is: fb.com/limonadyKoli
But the client is not happy saying they can not see their page when search “Koli” on FB.
Any way to help it by changing the URL? fb.com/Koli woudl be great, but the rules say at least 5 characters. (obviously they do not apply to big brands like KIA)
Any tips? Woud changing the url to fb.com/Kolilimonady help?
Thanks a lot.
Luboš
Louise Myers says
I can’t say for certain, but I doubt it. It looks like Koli is just too common of a word and will be hard to rank for.
If there’s something else people would be likely to search for when wanting to find your client, I’d go with that. Like “Koli soda” or whatever you think most likely for your own customers.
Heidi says
Hi Louise,
I am trying to create a url to match my biz name & fb page name which is jumpstartyoursuccess. FB tells me I can’t have this name bc it is taken. I have tried jump.start.your.success and each variation of this but can’t get it either for the same reason. I suppose I could add a number to the end of it but this seems weird to have a number for no reason. Any thoughts on what is best for visual and SEO purposes when this challenge arises?
Thanks so much
Heidi
Louise Myers says
Hi Heidi,
Using dots doesn’t change the username. Facebook considers it the same, as I explained in the article.
As to what you can do now, how about adding “com” or “au” at the end? I don’t believe you’re allowed to add an actual “.com” but one of my friends has spelled out “dotcom.”
Add your name or location? (if not simply au).
Or, maybe take out a word? Possibly “jumpstartsuccess”? I hesitate to suggest “jumpstartursuccess” as I think it may be confusing to type in. “JSYsuccess”? I do like short…
I would be more concerned about consistency with your site and ease of use than SEO. I suspect you have to have a really active FB page to rank with Google for general terms.
Jay says
I am trying to change the name of my page (it is for a musician) and it says the name is available but when I click confirm I just see the Loading… screen and nothing else happens. I have tried reloading and restarting and logging out and in. I disabled ad blockers. I was going to try using a different computer but I thought I would ask you since you are so great at responding to people.
Louise Myers says
Thanks Jay, unfortunately that’s not an issue I can help with as I haven’t experienced it. I would say yes to trying a different computer, browser, or internet connection.
Sinisa Rukavinas says
Check if you have at least 100 – 50 – 25 likes minimum needed for username to change
Louise Myers says
Good point, Sinsa. Sometime FB enforces this rule and other times not. But it is a possibility!
Leblung says
Thank you for the details, spend couple minutes to search the Page Info menu and I give up, but u saved my time with this. Thanks a lot 🙂
Louise Myers says
Glad it helped!
C.J says
Hope you can help me. I’m trying to create a username as well as change my URL. FB says the name isn’t available, but I inadvertently formed 2 FB pages for my company. I’m pretty sure the user name isn’t available because it was on the page I deleted. They both were done thru my personal account. I haven’t opened my store yet and have a few followers at this point. I’m happy to delete the page I have and go back to the other one, as it’s important for me to get this user name. Any help or advise you can offer is so appreciated.
Louise Myers says
I don’t know if you can rescue a deleted page, but you’re right that that username will not be made available again. You might look into “merging FB pages.”
Patricia says
I wanted to find out more about what you meant by ” any links to your Page will no longer work”. It seems that this might ripple out, and I want to understand how before I do this.
Do you just mean that the old url won’t forward to the new one? i.e. that anyone trying to enter the page at the main level won’t be able to? (facebook.com/username)
And does it also mean that any links on my page that someone else might’ve shared won’t work for them any more?
If so, are the links I posted directly (not forwarded) still on the history of my page?
If so, does that mean that all links for the posts I have made get updated with the new url?
Thanks so much!
Louise Myers says
Old links to your FB page will no longer work. (facebook.com/username)
Links posted on your page would still work. Such as if I posted, “Check out my portfolio! It’s at https://louisem.com/my-portfolio” that would still work – in the off chance anyone finds it! 🙂
I don’t know what you mean by “not forwarded” links.
FB posts have numerical URLs that don’t include a username. I would guess these don’t change, but am not certain. It seems pretty rare that people would have links to your FB posts (unless you’ve embedded a lot of posts).
Yamyu says
Hi Louise,
When I try to change my facebook Page’s URL, it said “This Page isn’t eligible to have a username.”
What does that mean? Why is my Page not eligible to have a username?
Does it have to do with the amount of Likes I need?
Thank you,
Yamyu
Louise Myers says
That is likely, Yamyu. I’ve found that if it’s my only page with less than 30 likes, I can set a username. But this may not work for everyone. Facebook can be temperamental!
AKINDUNBI AJADI says
Please can you help me to my facebook URL I changed it once and I want to cchange it now I can’t find the option. Please help! My URL is atthywordcic and want to change to iam4shalom. Thanks.
Louise Myers says
Keep checking, as it reappeared for me, after not being available for years. Now it appears we can change freely. However it is restricted by location. FB does not say which.
Anna Kopets says
So I just made a new Facebook account so that I could create a business page and I have gotten 26 likes already on that business page but when I go to edit the username it says I am not eligible to make username and I didn’t have the option to even get one in the beginning when I made the page… Am I doing something wrong???
Louise Myers says
Probably not, Anna. Facebook varies who is eligible. It can vary by country and also sometimes they insist you have 30 likes.
I’ve never seen an explanation for this! Good luck.
Pretty Evers says
Hi there
I have a dilemma here, I have changed my page user name and confirmsd but some how it never show or appeard in my page@username! Iam stressed I need help please and thank you.
pretty E.
Louise Myers says
Sorry, I don’t have any way to help. If the change didn’t happen, perhaps you could try again?
Munayem says
hey
I will change my url already.
can I change again?
Louise Myers says
Munayem,
I was recently able to change for the second time. This may vary by your location, but I suggest you give it a try!
Dr Hanumant Bansal says
Hi
I have recently launched website on the domain owned previously by someone else. I want to create a facebook page with the name as of my website, like xyz for xyz.com. But problem is that it is with the previous guy and my website is still being displaying on that page. One more thing that there is no activity on that page since 2014. Can I claim that page from facebook. Please reply soon, it’s urgent. Thanks…
Louise Myers says
As far as I know, it’s against Facebook rules to transfer ownership of pages. In any event, you would have to take this up with Facebook, and they’re not known for being responsive. But if you want the page, you’ll have to go through them.
Imti says
Hi,
I had merged two pages i.e. xyz into abc, in the event I lost abc username and retain xyz
Now I am trying to change username to abc but its not allowing says its not available
But, on doing search with abc I land in xyz page only.
Is their any way I get my old name back
Louise Myers says
Once a page has been deleted, FB does not make the name available again.
Sinisa Rukavinas says
Just wanted to tell I did testing. I successfully switched names from 2 pages, changed name on first page and then used same name for second one. It worked immediately so I can say it is possible to claim URL that is already on another page if that page hasn’t change name once already.
Louise Myers says
Thank Sinsa for trying it and reporting back!
Facebook seems to have relaxed the rules around URL changes when they started using the @username handle.
mike says
very detailed, but please l tried it , its not working on my own, is it doable from a mobile device or a computer? because l tried it from my mobile device, then how do one know which country that’s not allowed to do this?
Louise Myers says
I’ve only tried it on desktop. See if that works for you. Facebook isn’t very open about their policies… unfortunately if it doesn’t work for you, I can’t help.
Reid says
I’m trying to shorten https://www.facebook.com/Xerpro-570641003122275/?fref=ts
to /Xerpro only. I’ve done that before but cannot find the right link to do it.
do you know here it is?
Tks.
Louise Myers says
Just go to your About tab. You’ll see it there.
Jack says
Hi – I’ve spent hours today trying to resolve this and you’re my last hope…
I’ve created many Pages on Facebook in the past with no problems, including a month or to ago. However now when I create a new page Facebook appends a long string of numbers to the end, so my url looks like facebook.com/mycompany-3249324900089087
I simply can’t find any way to edit this url to remove the numbers. Facebook gives these instructions, which are also mentioned on many other sites:
Click About on the left side of your Page
Click Page Info
Click to edit the Username section
Enter a new username
If the username is available, click Create Username
However there is NO Username section on my Page Info. I’ve spent most of the afternoon clicking everywhere but there is no spot where I can edit – or request to edit – the url.
I tried creating a couple more pages as a test, and with each one Facebook added a bunch of numbers to the end. I found this same question asked many times on Facebook, but no answers. (Answers from 6 months or 2 years ago don’t work)
I recently started using Facebooks Business Manager, so perhaps it’s related to this?
Any ideas??
Louise Myers says
I’ve yet to hear of not having a username section. It’s the 4th item from the top. I also have a business account.
Sometimes you have to wait til you have 25 fans to request a “vanity” URL. Maybe that’s why it’s missing.
If you start to run a lot of ads, talk to your Ads Manager. Otherwise,
“Keep in mind that new Pages may not immediately be able to create a username” source: FB Help
Sherad says
Just like your last two posters, I have my first page with vanity no problem. My next page for my business which i created yesterday looks like facebook.com/mycompany-3249324900089087. Maybe facebook changed something because sure enough, there is no change username section. Thoughts?
Sherad says
I just wanted to add, my first ‘Page’ has 1 like and the username option is there. It is not there for the second ‘Page’ just a heads up to let you know that Facebook is up to something without telling users which from what I’m hearing is the norm. I’m ma new user to facebook.
Louise Myers says
This is not uncommon. I’ve found that you can have ONE page with a username and less than 25 likes, but not add a second.
amer laurie says
It wont give me the option to change the id , i get a string of numbers, this is the third business social media set up that i have done, I have been able to change both of them but for this current one i cant seem to have access to change it. it dosn’t even give me the option to change after the @ under the profile picture. This is the first time that this has happened , i am on my third business page that i am creating and now it wont let me add it. my client dosnt want the numbers i the search bar.
Louise Myers says
Hi,
Does the page have 25 likes yet? Usually Facebook makes you have 25 likes before setting a username. Not always on your first page, but often after.
A workaround for that is to appoint an admin without another FB Page to set the username.
Evelyn says
I recently added a facebook page for my business. Havent done anything with it yet except add my address/email/web. I have a very long url. When I try to find it though to edit – as per your instructions it does not show. Should I delete the whole site and recreate and then change the URL?
Evelyn
Louise Myers says
Hi Evelyn,
Some people are experiencing that a new page with few likes doesn’t have the option to set or change the username.
It’s up to you, but you may experience the same problem if you start over.
Leon Sheed says
This guild is helpful but seems outdated due to Facebook’s new changes.
Looking forward to seeing it updated. 🙂
Louise Myers says
Hi Leon,
Other than the layout changing, have you found the info to be inaccurate? I’d appreciate knowing. It’s tough for me to keep up 😉
GPROBI says
Thanks Louise for sharing this awesome and great article. After reading your article, I able to change my Facebook page username.
Louise Myers says
Good to hear!
Simone Tellgar says
Really helpful and you explained it in detail!!
David Dumonde says
Louise, thanks for the helpful article, but even more so, thanks for responding to the comments here. I’ve been trying to solve a puzzle and I think the comments from your users and your responses have helped shed some light on it.
A month or so ago I created two Fb pages, pageA and pageB, one right after the other. I was given an opportunity to create a username in the page creation wizard when I created pageA, and that was automatically set as my url. When I set up pageB shortly afterwards, I was not given the same opportunity to create a username, and About > Page Info does not have an option to edit the Facebook Web Address as you show in your article (but pageA does have this option).
The comments and your replies posted here lead me to believe that Fb lets you set up one page with a username, but if you create an additional page, you will need to meet some other requirement to be able to create a username for the second page – most likely a certain number of likes. I’m sure Fb does this to prevent people from “squatting” usernames.
I’ve actually spent a lot of time over several weeks looking for a specific answer to this issue, and I’ve only found hints here and there, but no clearly stated policy. Fb is not known for its transparency, but it would be really helpful if they included these details in their help documentation.
Thanks again for helping me clarify this puzzle.
Louise Myers says
You’re welcome, David, and thanks for taking the time to share your experience!
I believe, though never seen it stated explicitly, that you can have only ONE page at a time with a username and less than 25 (maybe 30) Likes. It would be great if FB clarified this!
One way around this may be to have another FB user (whom you trust) become an admin and set the username. This should work if they don’t admin another page with a username and less than 25 Likes.
Cheers!
Becky says
Hi David,
I’d just like to say thanks for posting this info. I recently created 3 new pages (1 for each of my company’s store locations) and could only change the info on one of them. I have now added someone else as admin and have managed to change the usernames. You’ve saved me a lot of hassle.
Thanks again.
Zumvo says
Hello Zumvo Here. I changed my Page Url Once and Now need some Minor changes as some other people are ranking with my same name but my Page have not written Official Anywhere can i Change it with the same method above or not ?
Secondly my Page do not show Up in Google when I search for it or any of my friend. How to Submit it to google like our website so that google may index it ?
Louise Myers says
You’ll have to check and see if you can change it. Normally, you can only change once.
Re Google Search: Make sure you have no restrictions on your Preferred Page Audience. Then, you need to create links to your page. There’s no way to submit it directly to Google.
Be patient. It can take time for Google to index your page.
Ti says
Thanks for the info. Is this working only on business type pages for Facebook? I was unable to find the Facebook URL or a section for “Page Info” on my personal page. I’d like to change my personal page’s URL to something a bit more generic to maintain some sort of privacy.
Louise Myers says
Click on “About” under your cover photo. Then “Contact and Basic Info.” That’s where you can edit the URL.
Jen says
I’ve been searching for ways to change my personal profile URL after unsuccessfully trying to rid myself of a cyber stalker that I’ve had for 3 years now. I have my contact info page open as you suggest here, but I do not see an option to edit URL. Am I missing something?
Louise Myers says
This is written for business pages, personal profiles may be different.
Anthony B. says
Hi Louise,
I’ve recently changed my business name and URL on my Facebook page, but now when I go in and edit some basic information It is not saved and I get a URL error message
Margarete Eller says
Dear Luise M.
I really appreciate your detailed instructions. Still, I’m stuck:
When I open my page and go to ABOUT, it simply doesn’t look like what you show on the screenshot above. I don’t see PAGE INFO on the left side, instead, under OVERVIEW, it says WORK AND EDUCATION, PLACES YOU’VE LIVED, and so on.
Can it be that what I have is a different kink of fb page? This is my page URL: facebook.com/profile.php?id=100015433182548
and I’d like to have it be shorter to put it on my business card (like facebook.com/OhashiatsuAustria)
Thank you very much for you help!
Margarete
Louise Myers says
Yes. This isn’t a business page, it’s a personal profile. It’s against Facebook’s rules to use this for business purposes.
To create a page–> https://www.facebook.com/pages/create/
Margarete Eller says
oh sorry – I think I sent you the wrong link. Here is the page facebook.com/Ohashiatsu-in-Austria-125767250877111/
Would you be so kind to check again for me?
Thank you very much.
Margarete
Louise Myers says
Hi Margarete,
The layout of this tab has changed. Their should be a “general” section where you can change your username/URL. On mine it’s the first section on the About tab: Category, Name, Username.
John V Denley says
personal page URLs can be changed at http://www.facebook.com/username
Louise Myers says
Yes, you can.
Evita says
Hi Louise
Thanks so much for putting this together. I wonder if you have any insight into the following case scenario:
I am operating as my real name for business purposes and just used Facebook’s convert “profile to page” feature. Having read as much info as I could find about this process, I was under the impression that my Page would assume the name of my Profile in all ways, and my profile would need to be renamed. But while my page got my name, it did not get my username/URL. It is asking me to create a username for that page now, and if I try with my name, of course it says it is take and cannot be the same as my profile. To operate my business properly I need to have the page have the proper name credentials, and would like to rename my profile.
I am researching for answers, and have tried contacting Facebook to no avail, and am thinking if I modify my profile username/URL, would that allow me to give my proper name to my page? I am hesitant to do this though, as I read elsewhere that if you give up your username it becomes locked and not possible to use. But is that for others, or for me included, or would it then free up that username for my business page? I appreciate any advice or help you can offer about this case scenario.
Louise Myers says
Hi Evita,
I’m so sorry but I don’t have an answer for this. I might add that even if you find a “definitive” answer online, it may be outdated. Facebook changes things all the time.
Best suggestion is to come up with some derivative of your name. Such as “LouiseMyersBiz” or “LouiseMyersPage.”
Best of luck.
Evita says
Thanks for your reply Louise.
Toni says
Hello Louise Myers,
Quick question. My friend logged out of Facebook and when trying to log back in, the section where he needs to put his email or phone number has a generic number starting with 10000….
He was wondering if he had been bugged or if there is some problems with his Facebook account. I was trying to load the picture but was unable to.
Thanks in advance.
Louise Myers says
Sorry, never heard of this.
Kristina Mendoza says
Very handy information to have! Thanks for sharing Louise!
Peter Ebuka says
Hello. Good Day. Please I wanna change my fb page the 2nd time now. my fb page has 59k likes. This is because I change the name of my website. I try changing it after writing the new name, ill submit. but it won’t change automatically. what can I do? i really need to change my page name to match with what I do.
chris says
Hi louise,
been reading through the forum trying to get an answer for my problem.
Basically i have a Facebook fan page, and recently for the first time i wanted to change the name of the page and my user name (URL).
i changed it by just removing the middle name to make me more searchable on line as no one knows me by my full name that was originally on there.
i did this successfully and the page names have changed and it has even come up in the google search results.
but when i click on the link from the google search results it basically show the sign you posted above, (sorry this page is not available, the link may have been broken or been removed)
as i say the page is still up and running but i really want to try a figure out step by step guide how to sort this? no where else online is helpful.
thanks,
chris
Louise Myers says
I haven’t heard of this, but it could possibly be a caching issue… maybe try another browser, have a friend try on their computer, or clear your cache.
Other than that, it may just take some time for Google to crawl the page again and update its records.
Vincent Candito says
How to change a location area on a Facebook page
Raj says
Hello,
I have used a name (Say ‘http://facebook.com/MyURL’) which lands to my particular account page. Now i need to have that URL or username to my particular FB Page.
Is it possible to change the URL name for my account and use it to my page?
Pls suggest.
Thanks
Louise Myers says
I don’t know. Social media platforms change their mind on whether a name is released once someone stops using it – or permanently archived. No way to be sure what would happen.
Jodi says
Good Morning,
I have 2 pages for my business Page A has the name and URL I want but only 6 followers. Page B is the one I want to change the name and URL and it has 525 followers. Is there a way to do this? Can I somehow merge the pages?
Thank you for your time!
Louise Myers says
Hi, there once was a way to merge pages, I don’t know if it still exists or how it works. Search for it and see what you find!
Carl Smith says
Barbara’s quite.. stunning … 😉
Pinoy tambayan says
I really appreciate your detailed instructions. Still, I’m stuck:
When I open my page and go to ABOUT, it simply doesn’t look like what you show on the screenshot above
Louise Myers says
It changes all the time. Scroll to the bottom of the popup window and click “see all” then you can edit the URL.
Solowayne says
Louise thanks very much for sharing this price worthy info. I almost scratched off my wig trying to figure out how to do this LOL. Thanks alot!!!.
Louise Myers says
Glad I saved you that embarrassment! 😉
Catherine Finch says
Hi Louise, I changed the URL of my FB business page, but when I google my FB name, the old URL appears and says the link is broken. How do I remove the old URL? The new one appears on my page not the old one, but the old links are still on google. I don’t know how to remove these. Please help 🙂
Louise Myers says
I don’t believe there’s any way to “remove” things from Google. I suppose eventually it’ll realize there’s nothing there. I don’t know how long that would take. You probably need someone who knows Google crawl tactics intimately to answer that!
jacke says
Ya i got it and it works well with me
Athul says
Sir,
Really helped me a lot.
I have cleared doubt related facebook page Url to make any changes.
thanks.
Ann says
hi Louise, thank you for this–I am a bit panicked about changing our business FB URL and name, but we have changed the name of our business and it needs to happen. One question that I don’t see asked above, do you know of an easy or at least thorough way to find all the places there are links to a FB page? I thought there was a way to do it and I’ve tried a few Google searches but no luck. Thank you for any ideas, or even a “no it can’t be done” answer will be helpful bc then I can stop looking and start trying to remember! 😉
Louise Myers says
I don’t know of any way to do this. A quick search only brought up results for finding links to your own verified website.
Peter says
Hi
I setup a web page for a group. I setup the custom url for thr group om my profile page not the group page. How do I change the page the custom url points to? How do change some lower case letters to upper case letters in the url?
Louise Myers says
As far as I know, there’s no way to switch URLs. Group URLs always have /groups/ in them so it may be possible to use the same words you used in your personal profile URL.
URLs on FB work whether you type cap or lower case. If you want it to look a particular way in the browser bar, you have to set it up that way. It can’t be changed.
Kylee says
I set up a facebook profile a while back and the URL “shortcut”, I have recently set up a facebook page and now when I try to pick the username for my page EX.)
facebook.com/xxxxxxxxx for the URL shortcut it will not let me and is saying its already taken. I have tried changing the shortcut to something completely different and saving it, but when I type facebook.com/xxxxx the page is still coming up. I have also tried deactivating my account and then searching for the page and it says page not found. But when I go to update the user for my current page its still saying the username is taken. Let me know if that makes sense. If I delete the old profile will that lock the pages shortcut and nobody will be able to use it, or will it open it up to be used?
Thanks
Louise Myers says
No way for me to know or predict this.
Amanda says
Hi. Great info. I think I have changed my URL before. Hence why I can’t do it again. My URL on my fb and in my ph settings don’t match. My password is correct. But if I want to say, use fb contacts to play games with, I can’t do it as the username or password is wrong. I can’t change the URL name in my ph settings?? Any thoughts?
Louise Myers says
Never heard of this problem…
Awogor Matthew says
Detailed review but I was looking for how to edit personal profile url not for a fan page.
Thanks though
Lisa says
Hi Louise,
Thank you for your post. My question is probably quite primitive so excuse my ignorance! I was wondering how people who have liked my current page would be redirected (if at all) to my new page once the URL is changed? I don’t want to lose any of my followers but I need to change the URL to reflect my current business roles. Thank you.
Louise Myers says
They will not be redirected, hence the “broken link” page. You won’t lose followers. It would be extremely unlikely that they’d seek out your page by typing in the URL though. This would only come into play if they came across a link to your old page elsewhere online.
jim ferris says
Hi Louise
thanks for this information.
Id like to know how to know if a fb page is not a clone or a phishing site.
what would be the reason for receiving this message on fb…..
….this message has been temporarily removed because the senders account requires verification….
I have this happen many times when communicating on Messenger with people promoting BTC Trading and Mining.
Youre insights would be appreciated.
Regards
Jim
Louise Myers says
Hey Jim, unfortunately this is beyond my expertise. Sounds like a FB security measure in a possibly “phishy” niche.
sue says
HI
Do you know if it is possible to unlink business facebook page from instagram through facebook? My insta account has been hacked and blocked and I can not get response on how to fix it…
I want to link a new insta account to my business fb page, but it is saying the fb business page is still linked to the hacked insta page… I cant unlink it from insta as the account is blocked…
If you have nay ideas, please let me know
Will changing my fb username unlink the page from insta?
Thanks Sue
Louise Myers says
Sorry, Sue, I don’t know. Doubtful that changing the name will unlink them though. Seems like there must be a way but I haven’t come across it.
marc says
Louise,
I wish I had seen this article before changing the username yesteday. I’ve been caught in the same trap you mentioned:
“However, be aware that once you’ve set a vanity URL, changing it will mean that any links to your Page will no longer work. If you don’t search out and change the old links, when clicked, they’ll lead to this cute message: Sorry, this page isn’t available etc”
Exactly how do you change old links? I’m especially concerned that the message shows when I try to open the page directly from a Google search listing.
Louise Myers says
Hey Marc,
As far as searching out and changing links you can control, check this article on what to do before changing your Instagram username.
I don’t believe there’s a way to ask Google to reindex a page on a domain you don’t own. They should eventually notice though. The length of time probably depends on how big or active your page is/was.
For me, I was doubtful many people were searching for my FB page on Google. If you feel that’s true for you, try not to worry about it 🙂 Work on the ones you can fix.
Jaz says
Hi Louise,
I’ve been scouring the internet to see if I can find out a way to change my Facebook Business Page name. Thanks for putting this together!
I had originally been able to change it but I did not click “Request Change” since I was still deciding what I wanted the new name to be. Also, I am required to comply to my real estate boards advertising guidelines, which is why I need to make the change.
Now when I click to Edit the Page Name, a pop-up comes up that says “You can’t change your Page name”
Is there a way to change it? Or any way of contacting Facebook to allow me to change it?
Any help would be appreciated.
Louise Myers says
I’ve not heard of this happening in the past few years since FB has loosened their policy. Ideas:
Are you the page admin that has full privileges?
Have you changed it recently?
Do you have only a few, or perhaps many thousands, of fans on the page?
I’m not sure 2 and 3 are relevant, but it’s possible.
As far as contacting someone, I believe this is only possible if you’ve run enough ads to have an ad manager. BUT you can try this FB Page problem report.
I too have been scouring the internet so would really appreciate if you report back on what worked or didn’t!
Janna says
Hi Louise,
Great information, thanks! I think this was asked before but wanted a bit more clarification. If I change the URL of my business page (and the name) will my current followers remain intact? In other words, will it be seamless for them? Thanks!
Louise Myers says
As far as I know, you won’t lose any followers, and they will get notification that you changed you page name. Everything with FB is subject to change 🙂
Anonymous says
This was far too long and made it extremely difficult to find the actual information. There was too much introductory and off-topic discussion, I really struggled to find the answer to what I googled, which was “How do you change your Facebook page URL?” I would highly recommend that 1) you split all this up to 2 or even 3 separate posts, and 2) give us the answer much higher on the page.
And when I finally get to the answer after endless paragraphs, it’s a video. This is extremely inconvenient if someone is unable to watch a video. I clicked on an article to read the answer, if I wanted a video I would’ve searched Youtube. At the very least, follow up the video link with a text explanation.
I give this constructive critique because your actual post is well-written and this is one of the top results when searching for this question, so I think it’s important you make this easier to browse.
Louise Myers says
I’m sorry you didn’t find it useful. I appreciate you taking the time to critique.
I do believe the cautions are important before making this change. I don’t want people saying, you told me to do X and now look what happened! Believe me, this happens, even with cautions.
Not clear on what you found off-topic as everything is about the username / URL.
The text explanation is right above the video with screenshots to make it as clear as possible.The section heading says “How to change a Facebook Page username that’s already set” and walks you through 4 steps.
The video is just an “extra” as some people do appreciate seeing it on video.
I hope you resolved your URL change and have a nice weekend!
Ron Rivero says
Thank you thank you!
Warren says
Hi Louise,
I have a personal facebook account, and manage a few business accounts that are linked to my personal facebook account. One of my newly created business pages has a long random number following the business name. I would like to get rid of it. How do I go about doing this? I’ve watched so many videos, and all seem to show the option to only edit my personal URL, and not a place to manage/edit the url of the business accounts. Can you help?
I am administrator for all of them, and they are all linked to my personal FB profile, and I’m currently logged is as said admin/user.
Louise Myers says
I’m confused. Did you read this article? There’s both a text explanation with screenshots and a video. Everything here is about business pages.
Warren says
Sorry, also in the above examples, you don’t show how to change a business url, only your own personal URL. What if you (/louisemcom) wanted to change the URL of one of your business accounts (/abcholdings)? How would you do it?
Louise Myers says
This article is only about FB business accounts, also called “Pages” or “Fan Pages.” Nothing here about personal profiles at all.
mehdi khabbazzadeh says
i changed my profile url but when changed it for second ,and backed to first one,not available please help me thanks
Louise Myers says
Sorry, no. way to help. Keep checking as the name may become available again.
Rob Sanders says
Hey Louise, great article and exactly what I was looking for.
One question, if the URL is changed/updated, does that make the old URL available to use?
Example, I have an existing page that has content suited to another country, could I change that to /businessnameUS but still be able to access the old URL – /businessname – and set up a new page using it?
Regards
Rob
Louise Myers says
Hi Rob, unfortunately there’s no way to predict whether or when Facebook might release a previously used URL.
Jacob Grant says
So what do I do when it says, “This username isn’t available. Please enter a username that isn’t already taken.” But it’s NOT taken?! When I go to that business username there is nothing there. How do I complain to Facebook?
Louise Myers says
Some names are simply not available, particularly if an account was deleted by FB. Even if you could complain, they won’t release certain names.
Steven says
Hi
I wanted to ask if I’ve got two pages and they are under different username name but I want one of them just swapped places what if amend one that is the username I want to get by adding any letter from an alphabet just to have it different username and then after saving I type to another username the one i just added a radom letter so that i can get the username which i want swapped. Would that work by any chance? Thank you
Louise Myers says
There’s no way to swap usernames. Sometimes names that are given up are released to be used by another account, but there’s no saying when or if this would happen.
alpay says
Hi Mate
I changed my business url page and deleted the page and opened one more page and i cant get the same short url name again. I know somebody didnt take it but i cant get too.
Please help me about this problem. How can i get the same url name to show clients my facebook page easily?
Best Regards
Louise Myers says
Sorry, there’s no way to ensure FB will release previously used URLs.
Moltres Rider says
This information is incorrect. There is no “username” option under the “about” tab when I go to it
Louise Myers says
Please be sure you are signed in as an admin on a computer. It is there, near the top, it’s the 3rd line under “General.”
Baggy says
Finally after hours of searching on the internet, at last somebody, possibly the only person on the internet,who can explain why my page suddenly isn’t available.
Louise Myers says
Glad it helped 🙂
Justino Zoppe says
Hi I am looking for help and hopefully I came to the right area..
I currently have two different dan pages for my Magic Shows
one with just me (my one man show) and one with my larger show with full cast.
im now realizing that was a bad idea.. because its too confusing.
I want to not only combine both pages to one.. but also maybe change the name to sort of represent both shows..
can somebody help me with this?
Louise Myers says
To merge your Pages:
Go to facebook.com/pages/merge.
Select 2 Pages you want to merge and click Continue.
Click Request Merge.
If you’re unable to merge your Pages, it means that your Pages aren’t eligible to be merged. If you see the option to request to merge your Pages, Facebook will review your request.
If it’s approved then you can attempt the name change.
Keimart says
Hi,
I’ve changed my Facebook page username to a new one but unfortunately the new username was unable to search. And also, I’ve change the Facebook page name but it didn’t accept the new page name that I wanted to be my Facebook page name that to be pattern in my new username.
Seeking for you assistance to fix my issue.
Thank you,
Louise Myers says
It may take time to appear in search. I don’t think there’s a fix for a rejected page name.
Michelle says
I have recently become an amazon associate, and have to share my public business page with Amazon. I have share what I think the link is to the page, but I get a replay from Amazon that they cannot access my page. I don’t know if there is a different way to obtain the link than what I am to make sure I am getting a public link they can access without being on facebook? Do you have any advice?
Any guidance is appreciated!
Louise Myers says
If your Page has age or country restrictions, you won’t be able to see it when you’re logged out of Facebook. You must also turn off Moderation and Profanity blacklist.
KINGA says
Hi! Facebook doesn’t accept URL to my shop on my fan page , others that I know don’t have that problem. Have there been some ad policy changes? Thank you very much
Louise Myers says
Yes, we’re seeing blocked links a lot on Instagram. I haven’t heard as much about FB but it may be similar.
If you’re running ads, you might get some response. Talk to your rep if you have one.
Wendy says
Hi. Several months ago I opened a FB account for a business and used a specific username. I did not go back to the account until recently and it now says FB has disabled the account.
Apparently I opened it as a personal account instead of business. How do I get FB to release that account so I can open a proper business one and regain that usernameWendy? I’ve looked thru their help section and found I need to submit ID which is fine however, I opened the account under the business name so my ID won’t verify anything. Need help please!!! Thanks!
Louise Myers says
Unfortunately I don’t know that there’s anything you can do. FB doesn’t always release usernames. In addition, if you set up a page that was intended for business as a personal page, that would be in violation of their terms of service, so I doubt they would release that name.
HOWEVER another reader said she was able to get FB on chat by doing this:
Go to the facebook business support (facebook.com/business/help). When you get there click on “get assistance”. Fill all the info they ask and in click on the box to explain your issue further. It will lead you to a facebook chat with a real person and they will help you to resolve your issue.
Good luck!
Wendy says
Thank you so much! But there is no “get assistance” on that page. Any other advise???
Cindy says
Louise, this post is very helpful. I just finished switching to a new domain name and therefore want my FB page to be renamed.
In my attempt to change my FB page name, I added one word at the end of the original name. It was accepted.
I changed my username to the new name and it was accepted.
However, when I was debugging my blog site, I found that I had to change my open graph image. I made that change in Yoast>Social and it was here that I discovered that the FB ID was invalid.
After reading your post, I decided to change my FB username back to the original name and then the Page ID was valid again.
My concern is, if the Page ID is based on the Username, then I cannot change my username to the new preferred name. How do I get around this without creating a brand new page? Any ideas?
Louise Myers says
I’ve never heard of that happening! I would have to research it, but due to the holiday this week it’ll be awhile before I can get to it.
Brenda says
This is more of a marketing question, but do most people use the same business page name as the username? Or is there a strategy to them being different? Can people search on either name and still find the page?
Louise Myers says
I would suggest they be the same. Searching on Facebook doesn’t rely on exact match, but popularity as well as matched words are taken into account.
Vikki Baptie says
Cheers Louise, I’d been searching all over! fb/landlordchecklist is sorted boom! 🙂
Jay says
You’re an effin lifesaver!!! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!
Eduardo says
Thank you very much you saved me , i’ve been searching for this solution for hours
michelle says
HELP! I have searched high and low and can’t get an answer. In anticipation of a business rebrand I went ahead and made a business page with the new name so I would own it and now one else could take it. I am now ready to execute the rebrand launch and want to transfer the new name to my old business page (we have over 2k followers). How do I go about doing this??? Thank you in advance!
Louise Myers says
You can’t switch / transfer page names. You can look up about merging pages though, not sure that’s still an option or what the requirements may be.
Marco Panichi says
“Google will send people to a broken Facebook Page link”
How to solve (indirectly) the problem:
1) Make sure the old url disappears from the web; update it on your website, in other social channels and if it is present in third party channels (yellow pages, various portals, etc.) ask for the update of the url
2) Apply to Google for the removal of obsolete url: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/removals
3) Request assistance from Facebook; go to your page> Assistance> dig up to find the item “Need more help? Contact support”; I can’t give you a link for this page because it doesn’t exist, it’s a form that appears inside https://www.facebook.com/business/help
Hope this helps!
Marco
Louise Myers says
Fantastic, Marco! This article was slated for update today so I incorporated your points 2 & 3.
Louise Cornelissen says
THANK YOU !! The other articles were too old and the information was wrong. Great article, so simple to change a “username” for my page !
Link says
Hi there. Thanks for the article.! My questions are:
1. If I change my FB page name from say YYYY to YYY, will people who have liked my page and follow me still get notifications from my page?
2. And if they type in YYYY as the URL will it automatically redirect to my new page at YYY.?
I’m guessing #1 is yes and #2 is no but I’d like to confirm first!
Cheers,
Link.
Louise Myers says
#1 should be yes, but with Facebook I don’t guarantee anything 🙂 It’s been my experience though.
#2 is unfortunately no.
Link says
Thanks for verifying!
Sofi says
So easy and I wasn’t able to find it 😀 Thank you!
Issac says
How can hide or remove my fb username url ?
Louise Myers says
You can’t hide a FB business page as they are public.
If you want to hide a personal profile, you might want to google privacy settings.
RD says
If I share my facebook link, via email signature or another method, what’s the point if the person isn’t on facebook?
That would mean they must log in to see page, or create a fb account to see ‘page’.
While not logged into fb, i’ve bee able to see other pages via their link, yet, people cannot see mine at all. 404 page.
What can I do about this?
Thanks
Louise Myers says
To see your Page when you’re logged out, you’ll need to remove all age and country restrictions in the Page settings.
Dave says
Hello there!!
I started a FB account back around 2010, but by mistake called myself “My Business” instead of “My Name”. A little later, I started a FB page for My Business, and it was given the URL /mybusiness-1723423424542.
I now have over 40 likes for the page, and was hoping that the URL would change to /mybusiness. However, this has not happened, presumably because my personal page has the URL /my.business. If you type into the address bar /mybusiness, the page reverts to /my.business (my personal page).
How can I get around this problem?
Many thanks for any help.
Louise Myers says
Unfortunately, you’ve already used the URL you now want on your business page. With or without periods, it’s the same URL to FB.
And the URL wouldn’t change automatically anyway, you have to request the change (unless they changed something, as they are wont to do!).
I don’t know what the name is, but it’s against FB ToS to use a personal account for business, so you might want to change that to your real name.
Whether or when that business name might become available for your page is a huge unknown though.
Dave says
Hi Louise, and thankyou for your advice.
I changed the account to my real name, then immediately I was able to change the business page to /mybusiness.
So all is now good – many thanks.
Louise Myers says
Fantastic! Thanks for circling back, good to hear.
Paolo says
I hate HATE articles like this. Keyword stuffing to get to the top of search results and reason to post more ads while not giving useful information upfront.
Louise Myers says
To each their own. I get more comments from people who love it the wealth of information.
Rebecca says
Hi there,
I have just converted a profile to a page. I have changed the username of the profile, as I need the username for the page. But facebook won’t allow me to change the page’s username, saying it is not available.
Do you have any idea how long it takes for the username to become available again?
Cheers,
Rebecca
Louise Myers says
Unfortunately Facebook changes the way they handle this, or has secret rules about releasing usernames. Sometimes they become available immediately, sometimes it takes a while, and sometimes they never do. Hope you can grab it again soon!
Goshreenath Nayak says
Dear,
I have already changed my user name from krshngeeth to krshngeeth999.
I would like to use old username of krshngeeth only.
But it’s now saying not available. What’s fb policy in its regards? Why I’m not able to change to previous old url again?
Louise Myers says
There’s no published policy on this. I’ve found that sometimes they release previously used names, and sometimes they don’t.
Ndubuisi says
This was so helpful.
Thank you very much Louise.
Chantal says
Thanks for the article, however the interface on my page is totally different. There is nothing about a username anywhere… I’ve even done a search for it. My username has a string of numbers on the end of it which makes sharing it a nighmare. Any idea where I can change it now? I really wish they woud slow down with their changes.
Louise Myers says
You may have switched to “New Facebook” because mine is the same. I recommend you switch back to Classic. Other marketers are telling me the New version makes it impossible to manage anything.
erica aitken says
Could you please help me? I have had a page for a long time. I created a new Facebook page for a political organization and tried to friend my friends by clicking on their names. This created a new page for me (no pic, no nothing) I can see my old page as a person who is a friend (I’m a friend of this new me) How can I get back to my old self?
Louise Myers says
Sorry but I’ve never heard of anything like this. FB doesn’t even allow one person to have 2 personal profiles so I have no idea how this was created.
Laura Tucker says
Hi, great article! Do you happen to know if you can immediately claim a username that you removed from your page? The change I want to make is a bit of a domino scenario. I want to switch the username from my personal profile to my business page #1, and then use the original username from business page #1 on business page #2.
Convoluted, I know, but it would make things more consistent!
Louise Myers says
Sorry to say that how IG handles released names varies. Sometimes you can claim them right away, sometimes they don’t show up for varying periods of time (so you have to keep checking), and I’ve also seen some cases where they don’t get released. That may only be in cases of questionable use of the account, but it’s hard to say anything for certain.
Unfortunately it’s a crapshoot.
Cheryl Congrove says
Laura Tucker, I have a similar situation. I am curious about your outcome. Did you change your page name, and did the “old name” become available for you to repurpose as a new business page?
Darko says
Hi there,
I had a Facebook URL (e.g.com). I then accidentally changed it, and when I tried to get it back, it said it was unavailable. Is there some limit on how many times you can change it, a time factor/limit e.g, (“You change it again in 3 days”), or has someone taken it in the meantime. Please help. There is absolute no way of contacting Facebook , phone, email, billing address, live chat, even fax number for god sake. Absolutely nothing, you are my only hope.
Louise Myers says
You can’t change more than once in 7 days, but there’s no saying when or if FB will release your previous name. Just keep checking.
Also try without the . in there as they may disallow names that include .com. (For example, mine is LouiseMcom, no dot).
David says
Dear All,
I have the similar issue like you all have above. All I wanted to swap my usernames between my business page and my personal account on Facebook. However a second later I changed my username / URL it said that the “Username is not available”. Do you think if I delete both my personal profile and my business page (I wouldn’t even “care / mind” to lose all my followers and friends…) and re-register them, then I could claim my previous username?
Louise Myers says
Maybe someone has tried this lately and can weigh in, but in my experience, it’s impossible to predict what FB will do with usernames on any particular day or account. Sometimes the names are released after some period of time, and other times never. I’d at least keep checking for awhile before doing anything drastic.
David says
Thank you so much for your quick response. I was hoping that by deleting my profiles and opening a new one will increase my chances to get back my username that used for 9 years. But I just wait then. I keep checking it in the morning and in the evening. Fingers crossed.
Laura says
Hi Louise,
I have a business page and changed the username on Friday. Since I changed it, it has came up that the page is unavailable and that the link may be broken. i have tried reporting the problem to facebook but nothing has been fixed and trying to find another way to contact them is proving to be impossible.
Is there a solution to this as it has very frustrating now?
Thanks
Louise Myers says
I’m not sure which URL is coming up as broken, but if it’s the new one, I guess it could take time. Have you tried clearing your browser cache or using a different device to check?
Reporting *definitely* takes time.
Hope you get it worked out.
Laura says
Hi Louise,
I changed my business facebook page username on Friday and ever since it is saying that the page isn’t unavailable and that the link may be broken.
I have reported the problem several times but nothing has happened and trying to find another way to contact facebook is impossible.
Can you offer a solution to the problem?
Thanks
Louise Myers says
2 suggestions, neither may help if you can’t access the page at all. But do try on different browsers and devices (like mobile) before giving up.
*Sometimes* there’s a chat link in the business page ad manager.
Perhaps you can change back?
Hope it resolves itself soon!
Ariane Cooley says
Hey Louise,
I am a VA and do a ton of social media for my clients. I recently came across an issue where a client had me change his group name from “Accelerated Group” to “Engagement Group” (not the full name, but just for simplicity sake). Then he had me create a new group called “Accelerated Group”. I created it, but it told me that the url was already taken. So I made it slightly different. Now, when I type in “Accelerated Group” I get redirected to the “Engagement Group”. I am utterly baffled, because everything I read says that FB does not do redirects. My client is pissed because his “Accelerated Group” is a paid group and the “Engagement Group” is not, and he is worried people who paid are going to land in the free group. Right now though, I have nothing for him to resolve the situation. He wants me to try to get FB to release the redirect, but its like, officially they don’t do that so… I am stuck. Do you have any thoughts on this?
Louise Myers says
Sorry this is happening. I honestly don’t know about redirects for groups as I’ve never changed a group name / URL.
FB changes their policies all the time, so there’s that too.
If you have a way to get in touch with FB, ask! Then please let me know how it goes.
Best of luck.
Rick says
I have been through at least 5+_case IDs with Facebook support regarding changing or SWAP ing our current Facebook profile username to our new Business Page.
Does anyone have any idea if you change your personal profile username.
Does that username release it immediately for claiming on a business page?
Thank you