How To Unpublish A Facebook Page

Unpublishing your Facebook page can be a useful tool if you need to take a break from managing it, but it‘s important to remember that it won’t delete your page entirely. If you’re ready to unpublish your page, follow the steps outlined in this article to make it invisible to the public.

How to Unpublish Your Facebook Page

Accessing Your Page Settings

First, log in to your Facebook account and go to the page you want to unpublish. Once you’re on the page, click on the “Settings” option located in the top-right corner. This will open up the general settings for your page.

Navigating to Page Visibility

In the left sidebar, click on “Page Visibility” under the “General” section. This will open up options related to whether your page is published or unpublished.

Selecting the Unpublish Option

By default, your Facebook page is published publicly. To unpublish it, click the “Edit” button next to the “Page Published” label. A pop-up will appear with two options:

Unpublish Page
Delete Page

Select “Unpublish Page” to make your page invisible to the general public.

Confirming and Finalizing Changes

After selecting “Unpublish Page,” Facebook will ask you to confirm your decision. Here, you can optionally leave feedback on why you are unpublishing the page.

Once ready, click “Next” and then “Confirm” on the follow-up prompt. Your page is now successfully unpublished! The public will no longer be able to access it until you republish the page.

Comparison to Other Visibility Options

Unpublishing differs from other ways to limit page visibility:

Action	Page Status	Public Access	Admin Access	Insights
Unpublish	Inactive	No	Yes	Limited
Deactivate	Disabled	No	No	No
Delete	Removed	No	No	No

Key Differences:

Unpublished pages can be edited and restored by admin accounts. Deleted and deactivated pages cannot without starting over.
Insights analytics can still be viewed for unpublished pages, but not deactivated or deleted ones.

Impacts of Unpublishing Your Facebook Page

When your Facebook page gets unpublished, several key effects occur:

The page and content become invisible in Facebook searches and feeds.
Public users can no longer view, comment on, or react to page content.
New page likes/follows will completely stop since discovery is removed.
Existing organic reach begins to steadily decline over time.
Paid advertising to page remains possible if ad accounts are still active.

According to 2022 benchmarks, the average Facebook page achieves:

Organic post reach of just 5.7% of followers
1.07% average user engagement per post
Page growth rate around 10% per year

By unpublishing, you essentially reduce all metrics to zero until reactivating.

Facebook’s Unpublished Page Algorithm Impacts

Facebook‘s feed algorithm relies heavily on public sharing, comments, and user signals to determine reach and relevance.

By unpublishing your page and removing public access, the algorithmic treatment changes:

Pages stop being recommended or shown to new users at all.
Existing followers see far fewer unpublished page posts over time.
Facebook considers the page dormant since it gathers no new signals.

This gradual decline in visibility is by design to encourage more engaging content.

Backing Up Your Facebook Page Content

Before unpublishing your page, ensure you backup all important content through Facebook’s tools:

Go to Settings > General > Page Information
Scroll down and click on Download Page Information
Choose file format – HTML or JSON
Select information types to download
Click Create File and wait for it to process
Download full archive when ready

This creates a complete record of your posts, data, images and documents published on the page you can reference later if needed.

When and How to Republish Your Facebook Page

When you’re ready to make your page public again in the future, republishing it takes just a few clicks:

Navigate back to your page’s Settings > General > Page Visibility
Click the Edit button next to the Page Unpublished label
Select the option for Publish Page
Confirm your selection in the pop-up prompt

Once these steps complete, your Facebook page immediately becomes viewable publicly again including all unchanged past content.

Republishing can be done instantly anytime – whether unpublished for an hour or over a year.

Effects of Changing Your Page Name/URL While Unpublished

It‘s important to know Facebook disables the ability to change your page‘s name/URL if it is in an unpublished state.

So if you unpublish with one name, then try to alter it before republishing, you will get errors.

Instead, you must first republish the page before you can adjust the details of your page’s name or URL vanity handle.

Limitations on Insights Data for Unpublished Pages

While unpublished pages do retain access to Facebook Insights for metrics analysis, data becomes more limited:

Can only view metrics for past 28 days once unpublished
Key metrics like post reach begin showing dashes due to inactivity
Demographics reports disappear without new user data

Plan accordingly if your intend to analyze older Insights reports after unpublishing your page for an extended period.

Best Times to Post Before Unpublishing Your Page

Since existing followers can still see posts from unpublished pages in their feeds, when you post last content before an unpublish can impact its reach.

According to Statista, the highest Facebook post engagement occurs:

Weekdays: Wednesdays at 11 AM and Fridays from 1 to 4 PM
Weekends: Saturdays 11 AM to 1 PM

Posting relevant, engaging content during these windows right before unpublishing your page can help maximize your last post exposure and clicks.

Key Reasons Businesses May Consider Unpublishing Their Facebook Page

There are a variety of strategic reasons companies and brands choose to unpublish their Facebook pages for periods of time:

Reason	Business Impact	Duration
Seasonal Shutdowns	Reduce idle time costs	Weeks to months
Rebranding Efforts	Hide old brand identity	One to six months
Controversies or Complaints	Mitigate reputation damage	Days to weeks
Assess Marketing ROAS	Evaluate platform performance	One to three months

Step-By-Step Guide to Download Your Facebook Page Information

Before unpublishing your Facebook page, be sure to create a complete backup of all page content and data for future reference using these steps:

Access your page Settings menu from the top right drop-down on your published page interface.
Click on General in the left sidebar menu.
Under the Page Information section, click the Download Page Information link.
Select the file format – HTML or JSON – to save the backup file in.
Check the boxes for all types of data you want to include – posts, followers, images, etc.
Click the blue Create File button at bottom once your backup selections are made.
You will see a notification once Facebook finishes compiling and processing your download file.
Return and re-click the Download Page Information link to download the complete data archive to your computer or device once ready.

Having this page data backup makes restoring your presence easier if ever deciding to return!

Key Takeaways

Unpublishing a Facebook page hides it from the public temporarily while retaining management access.
Follow the Page Visibility settings to select the “Unpublish Page” option to hide your page.
Create a backup of all page content before unpublishing in case you ever want to restore.
Know that insights data and options become more limited for unpublished pages.
Republish directly from Page Visibility settings whenever you want your page public again.

Unpublishing your Facebook page can provide a convenient solution if you need time off managing your profile. Just be sure you backup critical content first and understand how it limits organic visibility until you reactivate.