Having a Facebook business page allows you to establish an online presence, connect with customers, and promote your products or services. However, there may be times when you want to temporarily hide your Facebook business page from public view.
Why would I want to hide my Facebook business page temporarily?
There are a few reasons why you may want to temporarily hide your Facebook business page:
- You are doing maintenance on the page or website and don’t want visitors to see an unfinished page.
- You are experiencing a crisis or reputational issue and want to limit visibility of negative comments.
- Your business is closed temporarily for renovations, seasonal closure, or other reasons.
- You want to pause paid advertising campaigns and organic reach.
- You are assessing whether to continue using the page or not.
Temporarily hiding your page can give you time to address any issues without worrying about how it looks to visitors and customers.
How can I hide my Facebook business page?
Here are the steps to temporarily hide your Facebook business page from public view:
- Go to your Facebook business page and click on Settings at the bottom of the left menu.
- On the General tab, find the Page Visibility section.
- Click on the toggle next to “Page Unpublished” to hide your page.
- Confirm that you want to hide your page by clicking “Unpublish Page” on the pop-up window.
Once you unpublish your page, it will no longer show up in search results or be accessible to visitors who do not already have the direct URL. Anyone who goes directly to the URL will see a message that the page is unavailable.
What happens when my Facebook page is hidden?
Here’s what happens when you hide your Facebook business page:
- The page will not be visible to the public in searches or on your profile/other pages.
- People will not be able to view your page content, posts, photos, events, etc.
- Any ads running on the page will stop delivering.
- You will stop accumulating new page likes or followers.
- Existing followers will remain, but not receive updates.
- You can still access page analytics and respond to existing messages.
Essentially, hiding your page pauses all public visibility and engagement, while retaining the content and followers for when you unhide it.
Can I still access my hidden Facebook page?
Yes, you will still have full access to your hidden Facebook page through your account. You can:
- View and manage all page content, posts, photos, videos, etc.
- Respond to and manage any messages or notifications.
- Check page insights and analytics.
- Add information and make changes for when you unhide the page.
You just won’t be able to publish new posts, advertise, or have anyone else view the page publicly while it is hidden.
How long can I keep my Facebook page hidden?
You can keep your Facebook business page unpublished for as long as you need. There is no time limit on how long you can hide your page for.
Leaving it unpublished for an extended period, however, means losing out on building an audience and generating engagement in the meantime. Most businesses only hide their page temporarily to deal with a specific issue.
Can I schedule my page to be hidden and then be visible again?
Unfortunately, you cannot schedule a Facebook business page to unpublish or republish on certain dates. You will have to manually hide and unhide your page when desired.
You can, however, schedule posts to publish when your page is visible again so you don’t lose momentum. Use a social media scheduling tool to queue up posts in advance.
How do I make my Facebook page public again?
When you are ready to make your Facebook page public again, simply reverse the steps:
- Go to your page and click Settings.
- Under Page Visibility, click the toggle next to Page Unpublished to switch it off.
- Confirm you want to republish your page on the pop-up.
Your page will then become visible again to the public. Keep in mind it may take a bit of time to reindex with search engines if it has been unpublished for an extended time.
What happens to my page when I make it public again?
Here is what happens when you republish your Facebook page after having it unpublished:
- Your page will be visible again to the public.
- People will be able to search for and access your page content again.
- Followers will start receiving your page updates again.
- You can resume paid advertising campaigns.
- You will start accumulating new page likes and followers again.
- Analytics will resume tracking public visibility and engagement.
Essentially, all normal page functionality is restored. Visitors won’t even notice your page was briefly hidden unless you mention it.
Are there any downsides to hiding my Facebook page?
There are a few potential downsides to be aware of when temporarily hiding your Facebook business page:
- Loss of momentum – Taking a break means losing any growth and engagement you had.
- Search impact – Your page may be crawled less if hidden for a long time.
- Customer confusion – Frequent visitors may be confused by the missing page.
- Cost of restarting – It takes extra effort to rebuild an audience once republished.
That being said, the benefits often outweigh the costs for short-term hiatuses. Just be strategic about when and why you unpublished your page.
Should I delete my page instead of hiding it?
Deleting your Facebook page permanently removes it, while unpublished simply hides it temporarily. Here are some things to consider:
- If there is a chance you may use the page again in future, unpublished is better than deleting.
- If the page has important information followers may need access to, unpublished allows this.
- If you want a clean slate, deleting may be better than unpublished.
- Deleting is permanent and more difficult to undo.
In most cases, unpublished is the safest option for temporarily pausing your page. Only delete your page if you are absolutely certain you’ll no longer need it.
Can I hide or delete just parts of my Facebook page?
Unfortunately you cannot hide or delete specific parts of a Facebook business page. You can only unpublish the entire page or delete the entire page.
You can, however, delete individual posts, photos, videos, events, etc. This will remove them from public view but they will still be accessible in your page history if you need to restore them later.
If there is particular content you don’t want shown when your page is public again, be sure to remove it before unpublishing.
Key Takeaways
- You can temporarily hide your Facebook business page through the “Unpublish Page” option in Settings.
- Hidden pages cannot be viewed publicly but you still have access to manage content.
- You can keep your page unpublished for as long as needed before making it public again.
- Be mindful of losing momentum when your page is hidden for an extended time.
- Deleting your page is permanent, while unpublishing is temporary and reversible.
Conclusion
Temporarily hiding your Facebook business page can be a useful tactic when dealing with issues like maintenance, reputational crises, or seasonal closures. While it means losing some visibility in the short term, unpublished pages allow you to retain your content and followers for when you are ready to resume normal operations. Just be strategic in weighing the pros and cons of going unpublished before making your page invisible to the public.