Want to disable similar page suggestions on your Facebook Page?
Updated March 2019! We will also cover how to deal with Suggested Pages in your personal Facebook news feed.
This will be addressed below the info for business Page admins below.
How do I turn similar Page suggestions on or off for my Facebook Fan Page?
When a new fan “Likes” your Page, they get 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 screenshot below). It’s your call!
How to turn off Facebook Similar Page Suggestions [for business pages]
Login to Facebook on your personal account that’s s admin of the Page.
- From the top of your Page, click Settings.
- From General, click Similar Page Suggestions.
- Click to uncheck the box next to Include [Page name] when recommending similar Pages people might like on a Page timeline.
- Click Save Changes. source
NOTE 4/26/2016: According to a reader’s comment, this fix doesn’t remove the “People Also Like” in the left sidebar. Since these instructions come directly from Facebook, I can only guess that this feature either no longer works, is temporarily disabled, or has a “Facebug.”
(This post was originally published August 2013 and updated April 2016 and March 2019).
If the “People Also Like” section is still showing in your left sidebar, the best suggestion I can offer is:
- Hover the top bar of the section and click the Edit pencil.
- Click Manage Sections.
- Click the”People Also Like” bar and drag it to the bottom of the list.
Now, at least it will be below all other sections – and probably never noticed.
Can I get rid of Facebook Suggested Pages? [for personal profiles]
As of March 2019, the short answer appears to be “No.”
I found instructions online to disable Suggested Pages, but it appears this setting has been removed.
Just in case it returns at some point:
- In the top bar, click the down arrow to the right of the help ? icon.
- Click on Settings. I also tried News Feed Preferences…
- Click on Privacy in the left sidebar. I also tried Apps and Websites. None brought up the needed setting, which is…
- 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…
How can I adjust Suggested Pages?
I believe Facebook is going to give us these regardless. As an online business, one of their goals is to keep us on their site as long as possible.
Perhaps we can help guide Facebook to at least show us relevant Pages.
They certainly haven’t told us how to do that, but I would start in Your Ads Preferences and edit Your interests.
- To do this, access Settings from the down arrow in the top bar.
- Then click on Ads in the left sidebar.
- Next you’ll see the screen below, and can edit as you prefer.
If Facebook is smart, they will pay attention to your stated interests when suggesting Pages.
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.
Facebook Similar Page Suggestions & Suggested Pages: Conclusion
I hope you found these tips helpful! If you have any other tips, tricks, or updates, please leave a comment to help others out.
So what do you think? Facebook similar page suggestions – yay or nay?
Jessica says
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.
Louise Myers says
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!
Gene Wright says
The above does not work. There is no Edit Page listed
Louise Myers says
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.
Anthony says
I’ve followed your instructions, however it still shows “”people also like”on the left side of my page. How do I remove it?
Louise Myers says
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.”
طراحی سایت says
amazing thank you for share
Jim says
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?
Louise Myers says
I can’t disagree with that!
simone says
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??
Erwin says
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 …
Louise Myers says
Makes sense, Erwin. Thanks for the update.
Joe says
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?
Louise Myers says
OK, for a profile you have to go into your privacy settings. I will update the article today.
Anthea says
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
Louise Myers says
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.
Deepa Vats says
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.
Louise Myers says
Yep, you can’t turn off Facebook ads.
~E~ says
You could try using a free safe browser extension to customize your Facebook.
Louise Myers says
Sure, there are a few available.
Karen says
This article is useless. Deceptive title as there is not an option to “…Turn Off Facebook Similar Page Suggestions.”
Louise Myers says
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.