Changing a facebook page name/url to another name that I already have?

Hoping some facebook gurus can advise on this one for me please:

I am the admin for two facebook pages. The page names are both very close and I want to change the name of my “master” page to use the one of the other page. So the current page with all the content and likes = xyzname but wanting to move to page/url = name.

I am aware of the page merge option but unfortunately the name I want to use is not the one with the content I want to keep intact. Per facebook’s info on merging, it appears I would lose pretty much all the content from the master page if I merge it into the other page (which has the name/url I want to move to).

With that in mind I think the only solution is to change the page name on the current master page (I have the one name change available still). However I can’t do that currently as the name I want to change to is already in use by the second page. So it seems the only way forward would be to delete the page with the name I want to use and then make the name change request after that.

So my question is does anyone know how quickly a page name would become available after deleting the page?

Thanks for any suggestions/experience you can share on this one.
Jon

Here is a way you could do it:

  1. Change the name of the “other” page which is being replaced by the “master” page to anything at all, just not the name of the current page.

  2. Now change the “master” page name to the name which you previously wanted, and should now be available as the “other” page which had this name is now a different name.

  3. Change the “Other” pages name to the name of what the “master” page used to be.

So now you have the “other” page with the “master” pages name, and the “master” page with the “other” pages name.

Instantly in my experience.

Hope this helps!

Thanks, I appreciate the suggestion. I think that would work to at least get the master page to use the name I want but I think you can only change a page name once so then I would have to re-register the current/old page name if I wanted to continue to have it as well?

From quickly researching it appears you can only change a page name if it has under 200 likes, and if it has under 200 likes you can change it unlimited times. So would this apply to you?

Oh ok, I hadn’t realised that piece of the puzzle. The one I want to change it to only has three likes so I should be able to change it as much as I want. However, the master page has well over 200 likes so it sounds like I wont be able to change it at all then?

And as I look at this again, I realize I’m confused a bit in my terms. What I am trying to change is the url for the page not the name…

What I am actually trying to do is change the url for the master page: www.facebook.com/xyzname to be www.facebook.com/name (which is currently in use by the other page).

So that’s the one change limit that I had seen. Is a url change also an instant thing?

All of the facebook page settings are instant as they are updated automatically, it would just not be instant if you needed to do something which required a request sent to the facebook staff, so changing the URL should be instant.

Also, it turns out you may not be able to change the url multiple times. On the facebook help it seems to say so: https://www.facebook.com/help/203523569682738 “Keep in mind that if you or another admin has already changed your Page’s username, you won’t be able to change it again.”

Sorry, I got a bit confused and thought you meant the name of the page. It looks like your only option is to change the page with 3 likes to a completely new name, and have the master page take the new url.

1 Like

Thanks again for the help. I am going to wait for next week before trying this to minimize the impact if I screw it up as we’re in the middle of an event currently…

No problem, and that makes sense. Even if it doesn’t allow you to switch them round you can always try and send a request to facebook to switch them round.

So went to delete the page and discovered that Facebook gives a 14 day grace period after a deletion during which the page can be reenabled again… So I have gone ahead and done that but it seems I wont be able to change the url until that deletion takes effect. The saga continues :smile:

Atleast you can get it done eventually :smiley:

Thanks for this great discussion and my friends would you like to publish your own content to other website

Well in the end, it all worked out pretty simply. 14 days after the first delete request, I could go back in and delete the page I wanted to be using going forward. Then right away I could go to the previous page and make the link change to use the one I had just deleted. Then I re-registered the one I just changed from and put a redirect message there to the new page for the audience who might still access our page directly. That’s probably clear as mud but hope it helps someone else too.

Thanks. Feel free to email editor@sitepoint.com to request permission.

Hello Jonny Boy,
If you want to change the name of your Facebook url, then, according to Facebook’s new rules, there should be at least 25 likes on your page, if your page is newly created. But if your page is old and after that you want to change the name even after doing once, then you can’t change it. But if you are going to change it for the first time, then you can apply for it and remember after that one chance you wouldn’t be able to change it. So choose carefully this time, which you can keep for life time.

Thanks for replying, @localseohouston, but as you can see from post #14, jonny_boy has satisfactorily resolved his issue here, and is no longer in need of suggestions.

This topic is now closed. New replies are no longer allowed.