The Why and How of Facebook Domain Verification
Domain verification on Facebook is critical if you are tracking web events through Facebook, especially if you work with a third party, like Marketing 360®, that is tracking conversions or gathering data for re-targeting.
What is domain verification, and why is it important?
Domain verification is an important security measure that helps to protect the integrity of your content by limiting users who can edit the way your content is displayed on Facebook to only verified users.
In other words, domain verification helps you establish ownership of your domain in Facebook’s business manager. This gives you total control over editing your links and other content.
According to Facebook, domain verification is best practice for every business operating on Facebook. Here are a few key reasons why domain verification is important:
Third-party tracking
Not every small business prefers to handle their own Facebook marketing. If you work with a third party, like a Marketing 360® Success Manager, that tracks and monitors conversions and utilizes data for re-targeting, it’s critical that you verify your domain on Facebook.
By verifying your domain, you’ll be able to designate a partner within the Facebook Business Manager. This will give them the ability to manage your assets.
Domain verification is especially important if you want to track your own data and conversions by running a pixel alongside the third-party’s pixel on your website.
Ad link editing
Did you know that anyone who has a Facebook page can create an ad with a link to your domain? This includes the content associated with the link, like the title, image and description.
In most cases, ad link editing is beneficial, as it can be used to add supportive information and content to ads. But in the wrong hands, it can be used to spread misinformation about or misrepresent your brand.
Domain verification gives you more control over who can edit your ad links to your domain, including disabling access to certain pages and designating specific users who can edit links to your domain in their ads.
By verifying your domain, you can ensure that only your employees and partners are able to edit Facebook content and represent your brand.
Conversion events management
Apple’s latest update, iOS 14.4, included a major privacy update that requires users to opt into tracking on apps, like Facebook. This update impacts how conversion events can be tracked and monitored by tools, including the Facebook pixel.
The more Apple users opt out of tracking as a result of the latest update, the more limited performance and personalization reporting will be for app and web conversions. As a result, Facebook has limited the number of designated conversion events you can choose from to just eight.
By verifying your domain on Facebook, you can designate a Business Manager account to manage and prioritize your conversion events, giving you more control over which events are tracked and prioritized.
How to verify your domain on Facebook
If you’re working with a Marketing Success Manager, we’ve got you covered and will verify your domain for you. We’ll also protect your domain so bad actors can’t run fraudulent ads to it. But if you want to do it yourself, here’s how.
Add your domain to Facebook Business Manager, under Business Settings, Brand Safety and, finally, Domain. Once you click the Add button, a pop-up will appear where you can enter your domain.
From here, you have three options for verifying your domain:
- DNS verification – With this method, you’ll add a DNS txt record (provided by Facebook) to your DNS configuration to confirm ownership of your domain.
- HTML file upload – This method involves uploading an HTML verification file (provided by Facebook) to your web directory to confirm ownership of your domain.
- Meta tag – In this method, you’ll add the meta tag that contains your verification code (provided by Facebook) to thesection of the HTML on the domain’s homepage.
Domain verification has always been an important part of managing your business on Facebook, but with Apple’s latest privacy update, it’s even more important, especially if you partner with Marketing 360 or another third-party for Facebook marketing.
If you need help verifying your domain on Facebook, or with any aspect of marketing your business on Facebook or any other digital channel, the team at Marketing 360 is here to help. Learn about our plans and pricing.
