Domain Verification for Facebook Advertising: A Step-by-Step Guide
In January of this year, Facebook introduced a domain verification requirement for using its advertising platform. Now, to manage ad campaigns and track conversions on Facebook, users must demonstrate a domain's connection to the company and verify its ownership. This step was a response to a change in Apple iOS 14, which impacted the ability to obtain and process user data used for advertising campaigns.
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What has changed?
Apple's changes affect requirements for App Store apps to request permission from iOS 14 users to track data, including through tools like the Facebook pixel. To accommodate these changes, Facebook will request permission to measure conversion events on iOS 14 devices through Apple's App Tracking Transparency framework. Opting out of tracking prevents the app from receiving data, personalizing ads, and limiting its ability to report on ad performance.
In response to these changes, Facebook introduced a domain verification requirement, the stated purpose of which was to enable effective advertising campaigns without violating user privacy.
Companies that have verified domains will be able to:
- determine which conversion events will be available for their domain;
- monitor conversion results;
- Manage permissions to edit your ads.
Each domain will have access to only 8 event types that can be used for optimization and reporting.
By completing domain verification, companies will be able to allow specific pages to edit their ads.
Pages associated with a Business Manager account but without edit permission won't be able to make changes to the account's ads.
What does it mean to "verify a domain"?
To verify means to declare ownership of the domain and the ability to operate it.
According to Facebook, in addition to its primary purpose, this measure will help protect social network users from the spread of false information and the use of domains for traffic arbitrage—buying traffic from one resource and redirecting it to another for an additional fee. It will also provide more opportunities to manage advertising on social networks and allow a person or company to claim ownership of the content used in advertising.
How to verify a domain?
There are three ways to verify a domain:
- using a meta tag;
- by adding an HTML file;
- by adding a DNS text record.
Domain verification requires Business Manager, as it can only be done from your business account dashboard. This creates some complications for those who advertise using third-party platforms like eLama.
A business account allows you to take advantage of all of Facebook's advertising features. And if you plan to run ads on both Facebook and Instagram, you can also connect your Instagram account. We've covered how to create a business account in detail in our article.publications.
So, to verify your domain, you need to do the following:
1. Find the current campaign settings in your Business Manager account. If you have multiple business accounts, select the one you want to work with.
2. Select Brand Safety – Domains – Add.
3. Click "Add Domain." Enter your domain name. Confirm your action by clicking "Add Domain."
4. Facebook offers three verification options:
- Meta-tag Verification;
- Upload HTML file;
- DNS confirmation.
Choose the one that suits you best.
Confirmation using a meta tag:
- Open the code of your website's home page;
- Add the meta tag to the <head> section of your HTML code;
- Verify that the meta tag is displayed by viewing the page's HTML source.
- Return to Business Manager and click Confirm.
Confirmation using HTML file:
- Upload HTML file;
- Add it to the root folder of the site - it is better to use the services of a programmer for this;
- Return to Business Manager and click "Confirm".
You may have to refresh the page a couple of times to see the result.
DNS confirmation:
- In your domain registrar's system, find the DNS settings page;
- Enter a new DNS record of type TXT;
- Enter the @ symbol in the Host field;
- In the content field, you can paste the verification TXT record provided in Business Manager;
- Return to Business Manager and click Confirm.
Please note that it may take up to 24 hours for DNS records to update.
Once you've verified your domain, you can launch Facebook ad campaigns with the new optimizations.
