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Home » Facebook Tips » How to Remove Suggested for You on Facebook (2022)

How to Remove Suggested for You on Facebook (2022)

Updated on: December 14, 2022 by Louise Myers 40 Comments

Want to disable Suggested for You on Facebook?

This is a common complaint.

A separate issue among Facebook Page owners is Similar Page Suggestions sending new fans right to their competitors!

We’ll cover removing Suggested Groups, Friends, and Pages for personal accounts.

Then we’ll address business Page admins (where suggestions actually can be turned off completely).

This article has been checked and updated as of August 2022.

Want to disable Facebook similar page suggestions on your Page? Participation in Page Suggestions is voluntary. Here's how to turn it off.

Why Do I Have Suggested Friends, Pages & Groups?

Suggestions on Facebook are coming from FB itself, not from other users.

Facebook has one agenda: To keep you on Facebook longer, so you will see more ads, so they will make more money.

To this end, Suggested Pages in the Facebook News Feed can’t be completely eliminated – without a third party app.

But we can try to temper them.

Can I Remove Facebook Suggested Pages?

For personal profiles, the short answer appears to be “No.”

Suggested Pages get a few users to click around and maybe even share some Facebook Likes. So FB’s mission is accomplished.

Once upon a time we could disable Suggested Pages, but it appears this setting has been removed.

Just in case it returns at some point:

  1. In the top bar, click the down arrow to the right of the help ? icon.
  2. Click on Settings. I also tried News Feed Preferences…
  3. Click on Privacy in the left sidebar. I also tried Apps and Websites. None brought up the needed setting, which is…
  4. In the “Instant Personalization” section, uncheck the “Enable instant personalization on partner websites” check box.

As I noted above, I can no longer find this setting anywhere, so consider this…

Can I Edit Which Pages Are Suggested?

If Facebook is going to give us these regardless, then perhaps we can help guide them to at least show us relevant Pages.

They certainly haven’t told us how to do that, but I would start with your Ad Topics and edit your interests.

Note: These settings may or may not be part of the Facebook Page Suggestions algorithm – but they should!

To adjust ad settings from a desktop browser:

  1. Click your profile pic at top right and select Settings and Privacy.
  2. Choose Settings.
  3. Next click on Ads, then Ad Topics in the left sidebar.
  4. Search for topics you want to see less of.
  5. Click See Less.

If Facebook is smart, they will pay attention to your stated interests when suggesting Pages.

where to click see less of facebook ad topic.

You can also click on Ad Settings and adjust which categories advertisers can use to show you targeted ads.

I can’t guarantee you’ll see fewer Suggested Pages in these niches, but it sure would make sense.

To adjust ad settings from the Facebook mobile app:

  1. Tap your Facebook profile pic at bottom right.
  2. Tap Settings & privacy.
  3. Now tap Settings.
  4. Scroll down to Ads and tap Ad Preferences.
  5. Adjust Ad Topics and Ad Settings as desired.

A reader also had these suggestions:

Currently it is not possible to get rid of the “suggested pages” but it is possible to direct the topics shown…

My personal feeling is that there are some hidden things on FB. They somehow find out how long a post on a timeline is actively on your screen, and based on that sort of preference a multiplier is generated. You don’t have to like it, it’s just the time you watch something.

If you think the “suggested pages” show something where e.g. the girlfriend gets jealous, then click on “show all” and scroll down… and like some pages with a certain preference. That changes the “direction”… e.g. a guy likes high heels, and somehow FB then only suggests pages with heels and then he thinks his GF should not see that.

To change that choose, 10 or 15 pages with something completely different but with the same different topic. e.g. cars… for sure the next 10 or 20 suggestions are about car pages only. I believe (but I don’t know yet) that needs some likes here and there to keep showing car pages…

Try one or both of these, and let me know if the Suggested Pages become more suited to your interests.

How Do I Remove Suggested Groups on Facebook?

Facebook is also suggesting posts from public groups, and groups you may wish to join.

These seem to be based on similar groups you’re a member of, or groups that friends are in.

If you don’t want to see these, do not like or comment! You can choose to hide the Suggested Post and you won’t see any more from that group.

where to hide suggested post.

If you see Suggested Groups, click See more and X out ones you don’t want to see again.

I bet Facebook will still suggest groups to you – just not these ones.

where to X out groups you don't want to see suggested again.

Can I Remove Suggested Friends on Facebook?

Another Suggested for You feature is for friends.

Facebook has become very good at figuring out potential connections between people and now offers suggestions.

These may be people with mutual friends, shared education history, or who are in a network you are in.

Some people suspect they may even be from other apps, but officially, this isn’t the case.

And sometimes, there’s just no clear reason why the algorithm suggests the person!

The good news is that you can simply ignore it if you don’t want to add more friends.

Plus if you happen to block someone for any reason, they won’t ever make an appearance on your list.

Trouble adding the people you actually want to friend? Learn how to add friends on Facebook.

Can I Remove Similar Page Suggestions on my Page?

Surprisingly here, the answer is YES.

Are you a Facebook business Page admin or owner?

When a new fan “Likes” your Page, they’ll be served a series of suggested Pages they may also wish to “Like.”

These recommendations aren’t paid placements. Facebook bases suggestions on location, category, and other pages “Liked” by fans of your page.

Fans can hover over a suggested Page’s thumbnail to “Like” it right away, or click on it to go check out the Page. Or, they can click “See All” to be taken to the full “Like Your Favorite Pages” browser.

It’s cool that the suggested Pages are based on fans’ interests, rather than what’s most popular. But it is a distraction from spending more time on your Page, which they just “Liked.” Suggested Pages might tempt them to click away quickly.

Participation in Page Suggestions is voluntary. But if you opt out of having suggestions shown to your new fans, then your Page won’t be suggested to new fans of other Pages. It’s a tradeoff.

I’ve been asked for this info by a reader who found the suggestions totally irrelevant to her Page.

Others may not want their new fans being steered to competitors. See the screenshot below. If I worked for Crate and Barrel, I would not like this lineup!

It’s your call.

Facebook Similar Page Suggestions may lead new fans to your competitors.
Facebook Similar Page Suggestions may lead new fans to your competitors.

 

How to Turn Off Similar Page Suggestions on Fan Pages

Login to Facebook on your personal account that’s an admin of the Page.

  1. From the left sidebar of your Page, click Settings.
  2. From General, click Similar Page Suggestions.
  3. Click to uncheck the box next to Include [Page name] when recommending similar Pages people might like on a Page timeline.
  4. Click Save Changes. source

The screenshot below is of New Facebook in 2021.

turn off Facebook Similar Page Suggestions screenshot.

Still seeing “People Also Like” on your Facebook Page?

This post was originally published August 2013. I believe the “People Also Like” section is no longer shown on the Page.

If you still see it, try this:

  1. Hover the top bar of the section and click the Edit pencil.
  2. Click Manage Sections.
  3. Click the”People Also Like”  bar and drag it to the bottom of the list.
It seems we can't get rid of "People Also Like" in the Facebook Page sidebar. But you can drag it to the very bottom via "Manage Sections."
It seems we can’t get rid of “People Also Like” in the Facebook Page sidebar. But you can drag it to the very bottom via “Manage Sections.”

 

Now, at least it will be below all other sections – and probably never noticed.

Conclusion

If you dare to try it, a third party app that might help you control FB suggestions is called F.B. Purity. The F.B. allegedly stands for “Fluff Busting” and is in no way endorsed by Facebook.

I haven’t used it nor am I recommending it. Do your due diligence before trying it out.

If you have any other tips, tricks, or updates, please leave a comment to help others with Suggested for You on Facebook!

Filed Under: Facebook Tips Tagged With: Facebook Business Pages, Facebook Fan Page Timeline, Facebook news feed, troubleshooting

About Louise Myers

Louise Myers is a graphic design expert whose designs have been featured by Disney, Macy's, WalMart and more. Her straightforward writing style empowers small business owners to make their own graphics for social media success!

Comments

  1. Patrick Henry says

    October 19, 2022 at 9:15 AM

    I would “Report” all suggested posts as “Harassment”.

    This fits FB’s definition of “Harassment” and thus FB is violation of their own policy.

    If enough people do it, they’ll shut it off.

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      October 19, 2022 at 9:31 AM

      Great idea 🙂

      Reply
  2. Keith says

    August 4, 2021 at 3:19 AM

    I’ve resorted to reporting every single one I get as “Something Else” and then choosing stuff like “Terrorism” “Sexual Activity” “Child Abuse” etc. so it forces a real person to review it. After flooding them with over 100 of these this week, I’ve yet to hear back.

    If 1000 people can send in 100 per week doing this, maybe FB will get the idea we don’t want this feature and remove it.

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      August 4, 2021 at 8:29 AM

      I can’t recommend this, and the bottom line is there’s no reason for FB to remove this feature if it benefits THEM.

      Reply
  3. Barry Jenkins says

    June 3, 2021 at 9:44 AM

    Everything on here is out of date and no longer applies. Thanks for completely wasting my time. Please delete this page.

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      June 3, 2021 at 11:07 AM

      Interesting. It’s certainly not “everything” as I checked and the section for business pages is still accurate.

      As far as the section for personal profiles, I started that off by saying the short answer is you can’t. I offered some suggestions for people to try to edit what they do, and will, get shown.

      It’s Facebook, and this is a feature that’s not going away.

      If you’d like to tell me what you found to “no longer apply” I would be happy to update or delete that section.

      Reply
  4. marc says

    October 18, 2020 at 8:02 AM

    this way of dumping suggetion pages not working nymore any suggestions???(LOL)

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      October 18, 2020 at 8:32 AM

      Unfortunately there hasn’t been a way to get rid of Suggested Pages on personal profiles for quite some time. Sorry!

      The first part of the article deals with disabling them for business pages and is still valid.

      Reply
  5. JAY says

    May 4, 2020 at 12:56 PM

    Completely useless post and outdated. First of all, her FB page is for business as she has pages she manages. This is USELESS. Complete rubish. What knowledge does she even has? Made a crap post only for advertising.

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      May 5, 2020 at 11:16 AM

      Facebook “Pages” are, by FB’s definition, for business.

      As I pointed out at the very beginning of the article, I added a section about “Suggested Pages” in your personal Facebook news feed.

      Sorry you didn’t find anything useful here. I do update my posts yearly and Facebook changes their mind about every other day, but I do believe this info is still correct.

      Reply
  6. Scott Schulte says

    November 25, 2019 at 1:14 PM

    Well unfortunately none of that long list of items are available under the general tab there are only 6 items there; name, user name, contact, add account contact, memorilization settings and identity confirmation. I am not sure why you would make up a bogus list of settings that do not exist.

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      November 26, 2019 at 8:00 AM

      That’s interesting because I have 23 items listed on mine. Just checked now.

      This article is only about business aka “fan” pages though, it won’t apply to personal profiles, groups, events, etc.

      Reply
  7. Derek says

    July 22, 2019 at 11:21 AM

    The only way I have found to get rid of the suggested pages that work is to log out of facebook for about 1 hour then log back in again. That worked for me on my Samsung 8 anderoid.

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      July 23, 2019 at 9:04 AM

      Great! Thanks for the tip.

      Reply
  8. Paul says

    July 16, 2019 at 2:26 AM

    i have suggested groups opn my page how do i get rid off that

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      July 16, 2019 at 7:24 AM

      I don’t believe there’s an option for this, sorry.

      Reply
  9. Guy Lazarus says

    June 4, 2019 at 9:30 AM

    Where do you get these screenshots? Where do you get this information? It does not match my Facebook account at all. How old is this information? This article is worthless.

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      June 5, 2019 at 8:38 AM

      1. Most of these screenshots were taken in March 2019 from my own FB account.

      2. There’s a link in my article to the Help article on FB if you wish to verify.

      3. Note that I’m showing both FB business pages and FB personal profiles. Be sure you’re looking in the correct section because they do look different.

      4. March 2019. It says so right at the top.

      5. Sorry you didn’t find it useful.

      Reply
  10. Karen says

    April 29, 2019 at 8:56 AM

    This article is useless. Deceptive title as there is not an option to “…Turn Off Facebook Similar Page Suggestions.”

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      April 30, 2019 at 8:35 AM

      Actually, there is. This is an option for business Page Admins, who don’t want “Similar Pages” suggested to their fans. That’s what this article covers.

      “Suggested Pages” in the news feed of users is different. Perhaps this is the point of confusion? I tried to explain clearly but am open to suggestions to improve the clarity.

      Reply
  11. ~E~ says

    April 27, 2019 at 12:53 PM

    You could try using a free safe browser extension to customize your Facebook.

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      April 29, 2019 at 8:38 AM

      Sure, there are a few available.

      Reply
  12. Deepa Vats says

    April 14, 2019 at 11:12 PM

    Not found on my personal page. Here lot of ads are shown on my profile while i unchecked all categories and customized my News Feed. But Still problem is same.

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      April 15, 2019 at 8:10 AM

      Yep, you can’t turn off Facebook ads.

      Reply
  13. Anthea says

    April 6, 2019 at 8:19 AM

    My settings in Facebook does note show general in order for me today get rid of similar pages you’ve interacted with. I don’t like getting these videos,please help

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      April 6, 2019 at 10:39 AM

      There is no setting to get rid of these. Reread the section titled “Can I get rid of Facebook Suggested Pages? [for personal profiles].” You can direct the topics, but not remove them.

      Reply
  14. Joe says

    March 13, 2019 at 6:04 AM

    I don’t have a group or business page. I have a personal FB page and want to stop getting notified about “new page suggestions for you”. The option settings you point out are not there! Any ideas on how to do this?

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      March 13, 2019 at 10:35 AM

      OK, for a profile you have to go into your privacy settings. I will update the article today.

      Reply
  15. Erwin says

    March 10, 2019 at 5:53 AM

    currently it is not possible to get rid of the “suggested pages” but it is possible to direct the topics shown… my personal feeling is that there are some hidden things on FB they somehow find out how long a post on a time line is actively on screen, and based on that sort of preferency multiplier is generated. And you don’t have to like it any more, it’s just the time you watch something. If you think the “suggeted pages” show something where e.g. the girlfriend gets jealous, then click on “show all” and scroll down… and like some pages with a certain preference. That changes the “direction”… e.g. a guy likes high heels, and somehow FB then only suggest pages with heels and then he thinks his GF should not see that. To change that choose 10 or 15 pages with something completely different but with the same differnet topic. e.g. cars… for sure the next 10 or 20 suggestions are about car pages only. I believe (but I don’t know yet) that needs some likes here and there to keep showing car pages …

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      March 10, 2019 at 8:05 AM

      Makes sense, Erwin. Thanks for the update.

      Reply
  16. simone says

    March 20, 2018 at 9:18 AM

    This post comes up for how to stop suggested VIDEOS on facebook and it talks about pages – anyone know how to stop suggested videos showing at the end of your video post??

    Reply
  17. Jim says

    March 18, 2017 at 10:18 AM

    Everyone should know that if you choose “MANAGE SELECTIONS and move PEOPLE ALSO LIKE to the bottom, that might be a mistake to do. Doing this makes it the primary section to see as visitors scroll down the page.

    I think Facebook wants businesses to either just hate them, or leave. Why else would they take away control to keep your competitors off your own business page?

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      March 20, 2017 at 7:58 AM

      I can’t disagree with that!

      Reply
  18. طراحی سایت says

    April 27, 2016 at 3:42 AM

    amazing thank you for share

    Reply
  19. Anthony says

    April 23, 2016 at 11:02 AM

    I’ve followed your instructions, however it still shows “”people also like”on the left side of my page. How do I remove it?

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      April 25, 2016 at 9:50 AM

      Since these are the instructions directly from Facebook, I can only guess that this feature either no longer works, is temporarily disabled, or has a “Facebug.”

      Reply
  20. Jessica says

    August 19, 2013 at 10:15 AM

    I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but when you uncheck these settings, you are also removing yourself from the ability to be listed in the “similar pages”. So, yes, you keep those few fans but you may not gain new ones from these listings in the future.

    Reply
    • Louise Myers says

      August 20, 2013 at 11:15 AM

      Yep, absolutely. I did mention that in the post. It’s a tradeoff, each page owner needs to decide for themselves.

      Thanks for underlining this important point!

      Reply
      • Gene Wright says

        April 1, 2014 at 4:27 PM

        The above does not work. There is no Edit Page listed

        Reply
        • Louise Myers says

          April 2, 2014 at 9:19 PM

          It’s at the very top of your Admin Panel, approximately in the center. As long as you’re logged in as an Admin of the page, you should see it.

          Reply

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