How to Claim Facebook Places Pages

April 2, 2014
By   Jen McDonnell
Category   Social Media
Places pages Facebook

You may not have set up a Facebook page for your business, but chances are a Facebook Places page exists anyway. Places pages are very basic Facebook pages that can include information such as your business name, address and phone number. They allow customers to rate your business, check-in and even like the page. Typically, Places pages also show other businesses nearby, which can include your competitors.

Places pages can be created by anyone. In general, customers create them when they cannot find a local page for your business and they want to check into your location. If they search your business name and cannot find your Facebook page (or if they misspell it), they are given the option to add a new Places page.

create a Facebook Place page

 

This can result in people creating multiple Places pages for your business, sometimes with variations on the name, address and phone number. If you own a business with multiple branches or locations, the issue may be exacerbated as you could have several Places pages for every location, resulting in dozens or hundreds of pages.

Places pages, unlike brand-created business pages, are completely outside of your company’s control unless you go to the trouble of claiming them. This presents several challenges for business owners:

  • People can comment on and rate your business without you having any knowledge
  • A Places page by default highlights other nearby businesses, which often includes your direct competitors
  • People can like and check into unclaimed Places pages, but unlike Business pages you do not benefit from having access to analytics to analyze audience information. There is also no ability for the business to communicate with this audience. This is a lost opportunity to engage with customers (or potential customers) who have already expressed an affinity for your business.

However, as a business owner or store manager, you can address these concerns simply by claiming your Places page in order to gain admin access to them and automatically convert them to business pages, which you will then control. This is something all bricks-and-mortar businesses should consider, as claiming all of the Facebook Places pages that have been created for your business allows you to gain control of all pages representing your business, consolidate your Facebook presence, correct inaccuracies, and prevent other pages from racking up the likes, reviews and check-ins that you should be getting instead.

To get started, search your business name (as well as variations/common misspellings) on Facebook to determine if there are Places pages you need to claim. Once you follow the instructions below and claim any existing pages, the Places page will transform into a business page and you will be granted admin access. You can then merge that page with any other existing pages you may have (click here for merging instructions).

Step 1:
Before you begin claiming Facebook Places pages that represent your business, we suggest adding an email address to your personal profile that contains the business name in the domain (i.e. – [email protected]), as this is the quickest and easiest method to verify you’re a representative of the business. You do not have to set it as your primary address; it just needs to be part of your personal Facebook profile. If you don’t have a business email address, you’ll need to upload a document that shows your business name and address. Examples include a utility bill, business license, tax file, certificate of formation, or articles of incorporation. Facebook accepts JPG, PNG, PDF, and DOC files.

Step 2:
Visit the Places page you’d like to claim, click on the gear icon at the top right and select “Is this your business?”

Claim Facebook Places page instructions

 

Step 3:
A pop up window will guide you through the claiming process. You may see one of two popup windows. You may be asked if you want to “merge to another page” or just “claim” it. If you select merging into your official page, you’ll see the warning below. (See this post for more about merging duplicate pages):

merge facebook pages

Otherwise, you’ll get a pop up asking to to click the “I am an official representative” checkbox and continue.

Claiming Facebook page

 

Step 4:
Fill out the information about your business. Your business name and address must be similar to the Places page you’re trying to claim. Name, address, and job title are required fields.

Claim Facebook

 

Step 5:
The last step is proving that you are a representative of the business page you are trying to claim. If a business email is associated with your personal Facebook profile, you can select it from the dropdown menu. If you don’t have a business address, you must upload documentation that shows your company name and address (logos, business cards and website screengrabs will not be accepted).

Facebook claiming Pages

 

Facebook claim document

Once you hit “Submit,” you’ll see a popup window that reads “We’ve received your email request. We will send you an email when we are done processing your request.” Facebook notes it may take up to one week for them to respond, though in our experience it usually only takes 1-3 days.

Once the process is complete, you’ll get an email from Facebook, letting you know the Places page has now been converted to a business page, of which you are now an admin. All of the previous Places page’s likes, reviews and check-ins will be transferred to the new page.

If you now have multiple business pages, you can merge them into one. Click here for instructions on how to merge Facebook pages.

TAGS

check-in claim duplicate pages Facebook Facebook community Facebook Places merge

WRITTEN BY

Jen McDonnell

Jen is the Vice President of Content and Social Media at Reshift Media, where she manages a team responsible for the social strategies for several national and international brands. She has a strong content background, having previously worked in online journalism for 10 years. Her articles have been published in the National Post, the Ottawa Citizen, the Vancouver Province, the Calgary Herald, Flare, and more.

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Comments (96)

  1. Hi there! I have followed your steps and claimed the facebook page, but it is not showing up as a page I can manage or a page I can merge? I am not sure what to do now..

  2. Not able to merge two pages on facebook.. they are rejecting the request. I followed all the instructions suggested by Facebook and have read quite a few articles on internet.. checked for ‘places’ pages as well. Please guide

  3. Hi, I have a business page which i accidentally deleted myself as admin. I have been trying to restore the access but couldn’t. I don’t see any claiming options on the page.

    1. Hi there,

      Are there any other admins on that page? If so, it’s best to ask them to re-add you. You shouldn’t have been able to remove the only admin, as Facebook requires each page to have at least one.

  4. I just recently claimed my business page. All previous pics and posts people have made over the years have disappeared since I claimed it. Is there a way to recover those onto the page?

  5. Claim option is not available on the menu of the place. I cannot claim the place page.
    It confuses customers and Facebook is doing harm to our business showing irrelevant content.
    Theres no way to edit… and I wonder how on hell a responsible facebook client can be contacted to help on that… ?
    Facebook really sucks on that part and I wonder why they do not fix it for years now…

  6. Hi Jen,
    I followed the instuction how to Claim the unofficial FB page. I start the Claim Request(Claim Request, Case #392518354) on 16th of may, until now i send few more msg to FB team, but no answer. Until now we have only close group(https://www.facebook.com/groups/138226669540628/) and now we decided
    to make a page and we find its already exist Unofficial page(https://www.facebook.com/pages/Motocamp-Bulgaria/216520285039271). Any advice will be helpful. Thank you. Ivo Stefanov

  7. can you tell me
    I have no document for claim page than i need document”S can you ghuide me ? or give me documents

    1. Hi there,

      You can usually claim a page if you have an email address associated with the business attached to your Facebook profile. If you don’t, you’ll have to submit a document proving you own the business. This can be a utility bill, business license or tax documentation.

      Jen

  8. Hi Jen,

    I am trying to claim my business and there is no gear icon anywhere.
    Its just telling me to like the page, report it, block it or like it.
    Any suggestions?

  9. Hi Jen, What can I do if a competitor has claimed a page about my business in order to destroy it? There are no options to claim the page, because the competitor claimed it. Please help.

    1. Hi Vicki,

      You’ll have to contact Facebook support and provide documentation that you are a representative of the business.

      Good luck!
      Jen

  10. Hello do you know how to Uncluim a business. I did it for my boss because she didnt want to but now she wants to claim it herself. Can you please help me!!!

  11. Hi Jen!
    I am pretty Facebook Business savvy. But I can’t figure out why I am not able to click, “Merge this page” when I click, “Is this your business?”. I am presented with 2 options, like you mentioned. “Merge this page”, or “verify this page with docs” however, when I am logged into an account that manages all of my business pages, I cannot successfully click on “merge this page”. I have to opt to verify, which is slower. Any idea why that occurs? Thanks for your help, this article is great 🙂

  12. Dear Jen, Pls help
    for our business named vedanta farm there is a page on facebook. its an unofficial page on facebook. The owner company of this place Vedanta Farm is Shubham Events & all our documents are by the name of shubham events. The place owned by Shubham Events. When I send request to claim the page, i got the message from fb to upload the document. can i send the document of Shubham Events. As the Vedanta Farm is only the name of our place which is a wedding venue & the company Shubham Events is the owner. pls help in this regard. Thanks . ravi … [email protected]

    1. Hi there,

      You’ll have to deal with Facebook on this one. I would try to upload the documents required and see if they accept it.

      Thanks,
      Jen

  13. Dear Jen,

    Please can you advise where did you see is this your business link, as i do not see it. I could sent printscreen anywhere of you like, but there is no such link.

    Thank you.

  14. Hello,

    We had a official Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/HolidayInnSofia/?fref=ts.We do not show anymore in the search and check in section. There is a duplicated unofficial page (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Holiday-inn-Sof/470544049821907?fref=ts) that appears and all guests photos and check ins are there. There is no option is this your business or do you know the owner. In the report section there is no option for duplicated. I tried to contact facebook from several places, but they are showing errors or the buttons is not working. Please can you advise with the solution as this is very critical for us.

    Thank you.

  15. hi how do facebook page merged its /Pages Can’t Be Merged
    These Pages can’t be merged because the Page names aren’t similar./

    1. Hi,

      You must first change one of the page names so it is the same as the other.

      Thanks,
      Jen

  16. Hello, i wonder if you may be able to help. Two of the pages that sit under my business account have somehow reverted into unofficial, unclaimed pages meaning I am unable to manage them. I want to claim them back, but without losing any of the existing content that was on the pages. Am I able to do this? I’m not sure how/why this has happened as i was managing and editing the pages fine last week – the other 5 pages that sit under the business account are still working as normal too. Any advice appreciated.
    Thanks!

  17. Hi Jen
    Please help me also! My url link page lose and changed after merged success, can’t see anymore from url page, (It’s display…Sorry, this page isn’t available The link you followed may be broken, or the page may have been removed.) But I can access to manage page and my old page’s fans still see page and post. Any suggestions?

    Thanks
    Alex

  18. Hello,
    I am hoping someone can help me before I go nuts! Recently, I had a not so bright idea to combine a profile with a page. They both represent the same thing and we want our social network to grow so it made sense, I thought. After converting the profile to a page and jumping through one obstacle after another, the pages still cannot be merged. When I tried to merge them via the settings only one page appeared in the dropdown. When I tried to submit a request to merge I was able to select the appropriate pages but then got an error saying I was not the admin of the pages, which I am. At this point I have lost all patients with Facebook’s Business Manager and want the pages merged and out. Or out separately with some damage control advice on what to do with the “followers” that were “friends” on the profile turned page. Any suggestions will be MUCH appreciated!

    1. Hi Dominque,

      I’m not sure how to fix this one. Are you able to still find both pages separately through search? After you converted your profile to a page, did all of your friends become that page’s fans?

      Jen

  19. Hi Angela – sorry only just seeing this now – sad;y nothing has changed on my end – I have had no response from Facebook about merging or removing the ‘other’ site. Very frustrating.

  20. Hi Kerrin
    I am having the same problem as Scotch College. We have recently created a business page only to find that facebook has already created a places page. I do not have the gear icon on the places page so I am unable to merge the two sites. Unfortunately I am unable to promote our site at the moment as the places site is coming up before our business site and it is affecting our families searching for our site. Any suggestions?

    Thanks
    Ang

  21. Hi Jen
    I am wondering if you can help me also! There is a places page that I want to claim for our business and I cant seem to get access. When you talk about the process and the gear icon – I dont see this on the page does that mean its managed by someone?

    So the places page is Scotch College – https://www.facebook.com/pages/Scotch-College-Perth/109413982410174?fref=ts

    The business page that is the official one is – https://www.facebook.com/pages/Scotch-College-Perth-Western-Australia-Official/1603678316578034?fref=ts

    1. Hi Kerrin,

      That’s not actually a places page, it’s a business page. You’ll have to hit the “report” link and claim that it through the copyright/infringement process if you don’t have control of that page.

      Thanks,
      Jen

  22. Hi!

    I’m experiencing some problems with merging duplicate pages. I had my private profile that I changed into a business account Rockin’ Nails and Beauty Ann-Torill Rikstad Pfefferkorn. Then I tried to merge that business account with the one I want to showcase Rockin’ Nails and Beauty, but only got this message: These Pages cannot be merged because they’re part of different Business Manager.

    I’ve tried everything and nothing works…. I don’t want to delete the Rockin’ Nails and Beauty Ann-Torill Rikstad Pfefferkorn account, so afraid I wont get access to my main business account Rockin’ Nails and Beauty.

    Please help me!

  23. Hi Jen,
    I`m encountering a problem with claiming a Place Page for my business.
    Basically when I enter the place page from my personal FB profile I don`t get anything like ‘is this your business?’ or ‘do you know the owner?’. However when I enter using my Business page i get ‘is this your business?’. I click on it and select to use email and in the next box where is requests to select the email, there are no emails to be selected (i have added my business email to my FB profile). Then i go back and select documentation and try to upload a .pdf document 460 KB big and it does not upload. So im stuck and cant claim the Place page. Please advise. Thanks

  24. Hi Jen,

    I did many times claimed palaces a lot of bus.pages and i got them (maybe +500 different) but i see now there is another system that ”Waiting for your response” button. I am responsing that i have official e mail adress, document etc. But FB dosen’t give feedback more 4-5 weeks? What i must do? Thanks in advance..

    1. Hi Jen, FB has replied me by email and saying that they must need the following doc.. Since my intention is to notify them that Places Page using my company info., I request them to romove the info. to aviod a misleading page to confuse any client. And one thing, if we use computer to access that misledding page it will redirect to my own business page. That misledding page is not created by me and I never requested to merge it to my page. But use device to access, it would not redirect. I can’t provide any of these doc. of the misledding page.

      – A utility bill for your business or home
      – Local business license (issued by your city, county, state, etc.)
      – A tax filing
      – Certificate of Formation (for a partnership)
      – Articles of Incorporation (for a corporation)

      Best regards
      Olivia

  25. Hi Jen,

    This is Olivia from Hong Kong. I’m encounting a problem, hope you can give some advices. I found that there is a Place Page that contents my company info eg website, phone no., also our posted pic(that I posted in my own Page before). This Place Page is not created by me and the name is another shop name, we both are in same industry. I’m just thinking someone created this Place with mistake or bugs issues? Do you know how should I correct the data and remove those pic? My intention is just to avoid someone search their shop page but link to our info and pic. We tried to report this error to FB via the page but no reply.

    Thanks a lot.

    Best regards
    Olivia

  26. Will this work for personal pages? If an employee of a company created a personal page but was using it for business use, and they leave the company, how can I claim that page for the business?

  27. HI,

    I need to claim Facebook pages of my restaurant which were created by previous owners. I do not have the “gear” option on the pages so they shouldn`t be places pages. is there a way I can do this please ?/

    1. Hi William,

      You can only claim “places” pages. If it’s a business page, you need admin access. If you don’t already have that, you’ll have to report the page as a duplicate by clicking on the three dots next to the “message” box, or contact Facebook.

      Take care,
      Jen

  28. Hello,
    thanks for this post. I have a question does Facebook place work with pages that have Brands & Products category? or just local business ? if just local business then should I create another page for my business and claim the places ?

      1. Thank for answering the question, I found why people and me cannot claim. It written in Facebook help claim option are not available in your country .

  29. Hi, thanks for this post. I am really frustrates right know, after clicking the “do you know the owner” and putting my name there, i still haven’t received any email or message from fb. I tried using my brother’s account but still didn’t receive any prompt or instructions on how to claim the place. Maybe they disabled that feature already? Pls help me, i don’t know what to do anymore. Thanks

    1. Hi Josie,

      You should have gotten an email so maybe it didn’t go through? I would hit the “I am the owner” button again.

      Also, if possible it’s a good idea to add a corporate email address to your Facebook profile (it doesn’t have to be your primary email; it can be a secondary one). Still, it’s an indication that you’re an official representative of the business.

      Thanks,
      Jen

  30. Hi Jen, I’ve been trying to merge my page and place for days now. I don’t get any response from facebook how to claim the place. The ‘do you know the owner’ step went successfully but i am still waiting for the email from facebook to take further steps. Does it take really that long? My emailadress doesn’t contain the business name but i am the admin of the page’s site.

    1. Hi Josie,

      When you hit the ‘do you know the owner’ or ‘are you the owner’ link, did you get an email from Facebook? Usually there is a link to proceed in that email.

      Thanks,
      Jen

  31. So the properties don’t have specific trademarks…so I’m not sure how to proceed going that route. Also, the logging in issues form just ends up redirecting me to a place where I can submit a complaint but they don’t always reply to everyone’s requests. How can I gain admin access to these accounts?!

    1. Hi Lauren,

      It’s ok if the form isn’t exactly what you need — it should allow you to submit a ticket and then someone from Facebook will contact you. Dealing with Facebook is your best route.

      Take care,
      Jen

  32. Thank you Jen! However that link doesn’t bring me to options of forms to fill out. Do you know the exact URL of the link that would bring me to such form? And how would I go about contacting my FB rep? I reported a problem but their response was ‘we can’t reply individually to people’, therefore my problem will most likely go unresolved…Please help, thank you so much!

  33. Hi Jen! I’ve been following this thread and still haven’t been able to solve my problem. I sent an email to the [email protected] but was hoping to hear back as soon as possible. I’m consulting for a property management company and need admin access to a handful of their properties which the login/password information has been lost. I am not seeing any option whatsoever to claim the pages. How can I go about claiming the page and ultimately having admin access?! Your help is much appreciated. -Lauren

  34. Hi Jen, Great explanation! What happens to the reviews that the Places have after we merge them with our main page? In this case, since we have several locations the main page does not have a street address listed and thus no reviews come in through it. We would like to keep it that way for the time being. And question #2: Where do people go to check in after we merge those places with the main page? Will they be able to keep creating places? Thanks in advance!

    1. Hi Luis,

      Unfortunately, I don’t believe reviews will be preserved when you merge pages. Page likes and checkins are the only thing that will carry over.

      In terms of checkins, people can still create places pages but they shouldn’t have to, since your page will now be easier to find in Facebook search.

      Take care,
      Jen

        1. Hi Jen,
          After merging about a dozen pages I have noticed a few things.
          Yes, the Reviews do carry over to the main page. They are also merged and accounted for in Facebook’s rating star system. But they are no longer public, they will only be available to the person that created them and their friends.
          And the star rating will be available when searching for my business and clicking on the Likes link directly from the results. They are not reflected when I graph search my business in general as a page.
          Also, if I make a graph search like this: “Places named “my company” -the result that displays my company info will not only have the stars but also the first line from my About section and a line from one of the merged reviews will be visible. But there is no way to access that review or know who made it. If I activate reviews on my page, will I be able to see them? Don’t know. I’m guessing that yes, but for now I have instructions not to do so.
          Any comments will be welcome.
          Thanks again. Your post has been invaluable.
          Luis

          1. Hi Luis,

            I believe that as soon as you enable reviews by adding an address to your page, the reviews will become public again.

            Thanks,
            Jen

    1. Hi there,

      Unfortunately, if the Facebook URL has already been claimed it’s no longer available. However, if the Facebook page is representing your business you can report it as your intellectual property. Please visit Facebook Help for more info.

      Thanks,
      Jen

  35. Hi Jen, I am so happy to have found your page. You did a great job of explaining this process, better than most. I just wanted to thank you for your help and your thoroughness.

  36. Hi Jen, this is my business page of which i was the admin.However, i lost the admin right to the page and seince there were no other admins, i believe, the page is lying naked.I would like to claim the page as my own. I tried following your steps mentioned, but i can’t see the options-is this your business or are you the owner.

    Please help.

    1. Hi there,

      The process outlined in the blog is for places pages, but yours looks like a business page. For business pages, if you have access to the email address that was being used to log into Facebook, you can try this: http://websavvymarketers.com/2013/09/help-for-lost-access-to-facebook-page/

      Otherwise, if you’re an advertiser you should see a “Contact Us” button in the middle of this page: https://www.facebook.com/business/resources#help You can email Facebook using that form. (If you don’t see it, you’ll have to set up Ads Manager).

      Take care,
      Jen

  37. Jen,
    Thanks again for the help. That link doesn’t send me to an email form. It gives me a few options like going into the help center and contacting someone about advertising, etc. I clicked the link to the restaurant and that one gives me an option to claim as my own page. But still the page I’m trying to claim doesn’t show that option. How could these pages and our facebook layouts be so different? Is there a way I could send you photos or anything of what I see? This is crazy! haha.

    1. Strange, on that link I see a list of options with an “email support” button below them. Feel free to email me a screenshot of what you see at [email protected].

      Also, what country are you in? Perhaps that’s why we’re seeing different things?

  38. Jen,
    Thanks again for the help. I did get to the help center through that link. There are a few inquiries of the same issue that I’m having, but there doesn’t seem to be a solution. Did facebook change their layout recently and drop this option? All of the inquires on the help center are within the last month. Are there any other avenues? I have reported the place as a duplicate and had the other admins of the page do the same. Still no response yet. Would it help my cause if my followers did the same, or would that just hinder the process? The more I dive into the issue, the more I want it resolved quickly. haha. Especially now that our fans can’t check in to my facility. Thanks again!

    1. Hi Kevin,

      Did this link (https://www.facebook.com/business/contact-us) get you to an email form? That should get you an answer from Facebook, rather than the Help community. Facebook recently redesigned the business pages, but the places pages still look the same for me. For example, I’m still seeing the “Is this your business?” link on pages like this: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Trattoria-Di-Mikes/266965533358744
      So strange! Hopefully you can use the link above to send them an email. They’re usually pretty responsive.

      Jen

  39. Jen,
    When going to that link I didn’t see anything labeled page features of requests. Quick additional question. In your experience, when dealing with pages and places before you merge them, have you experienced issues with check-ins? I’ve followed all the steps to make sure check-ins are available, but I’m standing at the location of our page now and the only place available to check in is the duplicate place we’d like to merge.

    1. Hi Kevin,

      That link should have “We’re here to help” at the top and then “What is your question below” with a list of options. What do you see?

      In terms of checkins, the page that shows up when you search for your business tends to be the one with the most engagement/likes/checkins, etc. So if your duplicate page has more of that, it will probably rank higher in search.

      Good luck!
      Jen

  40. Hi Jen,
    I’ve only been trying it on my personal profile. I just tried it through my page, but no different success. I was doing some research in the past few hours on facebook’s help page and saw that within the last month, there’s a few others with the same issue. I’ve reported the page as a duplicate. I’ve had the other administators of our page try to do the same, but our page doesn’t even show up. This is terribly frustrating! I appreciate all the help.

  41. Hi Jen,
    Thanks for the reply. The options are Like as your page, write a review, create a page, share, report page, privacy and terms.

    1. Hi Hafiz,

      Is it a places page? What options do you see in the dropdown list when you click on the gear icon?

      Jen

      1. Hi Jen,

        Im having the same issue, it has options of, like as your page, write a review, crete a page, shere, report, privacy and terms.
        Please check you email too, i have noted further problem in it. Thank you

  42. Jen,
    What if the gear doesn’t provide either option (Is this your business, or do you know the business owner)?

    1. Hi Kevin,

      That’s strange. What are the options visible when you click on the gear icon?

      Jen

      1. Hi Jen , in India usually we lease out the place and the business name and documents have different company name in this case how do we claim duplicate pages created by random used

  43. I already have a page and people can check in but if you search for my business in places it doesnt exist whih is what Im trying to figure out.

    1. Hi Amanda,

      You shouldn’t create a places page if one doesn’t already exist. Instead, create a business page where people can check in, since it offers much more control and flexibility. Click the “create a page” button here: https://www.facebook.com/pages

      Thanks,
      Jen

  44. Hello,
    Thank you for your time in explaining in details all of this BUT when you click on the gear, the choice “is this your business?” does not show… Despite what facebook also claims… By any chance have you tried lately?…

    1. Hi there,

      If the “Is this your business?” option is not showing up, you can also select “Do you know the business owner?” This will prompt you to enter an email address. Enter your own, and Facebook will email you the link to begin the claiming process.

      Take care,
      Jen

      1. Hi Jen,
        I have the same issue that the “Is this your business?” option does not exist and I selected “Do you know the business owner”, Facebook email me the link but the option still doesn’t show. Thanks for your help.

        1. Hi Colly,

          When Facebook emails you, does it contain a link you can click on to begin the claim process?

          Jen

          1. Hi Jen. I have the same problem as people above. I have received an email from facebook to claim the page, although when I click on the option “claim” in the email, it just directs me to the page in facebook and nothing else. No process starts, nothing else is happening.
            Could you please advice me?
            Thank you.

            Best,
            Stan.

          2. Hi Stan,

            I’m sorry — I’m unable to replicate your issue. When I click on the claim link in an email from Facebook, it takes me to the correct page. You might have to reach out to Facebook for help.

            Thanks,
            Jen