Discover How to Get Your URL Unblocked by These PROVEN Surprisingly Simple Steps
Recently one of WPSTAIRS clients, Beth Elkassih, Creator of ‘Made You Smile Back’ found themselves in what is commonly known as an ‘urban legend’, albeit absolutely true, Facebook Jail.
This is her enlightening story of how she navigated through it with the technical assistance from the creator of WP STAIRS, Muhammad Umair Qureshi.
Yes, Facebook Jail is REAL… TOO REAL…How I Landed In Facebook Jail… Twice!!!
By Beth Elkassih, Creator of ‘Made You Smile Back’ Blog
Yes, my friends, I KNOW exactly how you feel right now if you just got that annoying and albeit, a distressing message appearing in your Facebook Notifications:
“Your content couldn’t be shared due to this link going against our ‘Community Standards’… etc.”
AND… I also KNOW what you’re thinking right now… ‘But I DIDN’T do anything wrong! I was following the rules…
I haven’t been spamming;
I don’t post offensive or abusive content.’
Why me?
Well, let me tell you the possible reasons…
What Can Land You in ‘Facebook Jail’
First, probably more than any other reason, you are the victim of the annoying, auto-bots that are mere ‘software program apps’ that ‘crawl’ through all the Facebook posts and based upon security systems procedures and resulting algorithms inputted on a very ‘sterile, non-human technical basis’, they see your multiple posts as a potential spam threat…
And not only that, it rears its ugly, annoying head more frequently when recent Facebook updates get released.
Second, it’s simply an ugly world out there with people who have nothing better to do than to randomly (or intentionally) report to Facebook that your post is abusive or offensive.
The reality is that there is simply not enough ‘manpower’ for all those individual reports to keep track of.
There is a Solution…
But there is a solution! And you don’t have to wait forever to get a response… IF…
And this is the big IF… you follow the RIGHT guidelines in contacting a REAL LIVE FACEBOOK CUSTOMER REPRESENTATIVE to help you.
WAIT, JUST TELL ME WHAT TO DO!
Sure, you can go through the process of ‘challenging’ your ban from Facebook doing a report that gets filed away with the standard robotic template answer of ‘Thank you for your response’.
Let me tell you, during my first offense in finding myself in Facebook jail, I tried this approach.
I waited… and I waited… and I sent duplicate ‘challenges’ daily with the same response or even no response at all…
I even had my trusted web developer go into the Facebook Debugger and he too submitted a report explaining that my URL was far from being considered ‘spam’!
Enough was Enough! I Needed my URL Unblocked!
Enough was enough!
I decided to take things in my own hands!
It was interesting to me that I was able to spend money to have one of my Facebook Posts ‘boosted’ but I wasn’t able to place any Facebook Ads because that involved my main URL only…
Now that’s ironic, isn’t it???!!!!
Facebook didn’t have any qualms about taking my money for my regular boosted ads, but because of my main URL being blocked, I couldn’t even TRY to create a ‘paid Facebook ad’ without getting that annoying message.
So…I figured this is the avenue to take. With the wise guidance and instruction from my web developer, Umair Qureshi of WPStairs, I decided to reach out to the online Facebook Marketing portal and by doing so I landed in the Business Section where one can initiate a ‘chat’ with a customer support person.
Bingo! I was now able to ‘chat’ with a LIVE person!
I quickly conveyed my problem and this 2nd time around, with the help of ‘Chris’, (who ended up calling me on my cell), he contacted the Facebook Technical Development Team and in less than 5 minutes while on the call with me, my URL was unblocked!
Dealing With Autobots — Facebook’s Security Soldiers!
Evidently, with the latest round of Facebook Security updates, the Autobots have been working literally ‘overtime’ is crawling over everybody’s posts, and based upon whatever new criteria Facebook programmed in, they were flagging anything remotely that could be considered content going against the Facebook ‘Community Standards’.
And guess what, it was conveyed to me that it appears that ‘bloggers’ were the bulk of the main pages/posts that were getting caught over the radar more than ever.
I get it.
Facebook’s intent is to target genuine, abusive posters from questionable ‘used- car-salesman’ type of marketing.
But in so doing, bloggers were caught up in the process.
Hopefully, Facebook will continue to ‘debug’ their own updated software and get this issue resolved as soon as possible.
But in the meantime… for those of you who inadvertently landed in ‘Facebook Jail’, take advantage of these PRECISE steps and get back to posting.
Step by Step Process to Get Your URL Unblocked (As of March 2020)
First, validate that your URL is indeed blocked.
A simple way to find out is simply by going to your Facebook Business page and try entering a post with your main URL link. When you try to post, a Facebook Error screen will pop-up like the following:
You will see that you do have the opportunity to dispute the ban, by clicking on the ‘let us know’… but good luck with that.
You will receive an automated response saying thank you for your feedback and Facebook shall be reviewing your post. And there it shall sit in Facebook limbo…
But… if you want to be proactive and get out as quickly as you can… then follow
THESE HARDLY KNOWN SUCCESSFUL STEPS TO GET YOUR URL IMMEDIATELY UNBLOCKED!
First…
GO TO THIS LINK (As shown in this screenprint):
https://www.facebook.com/business/help/support
— Click the ‘Get Started’ Button.
— Click on ‘Ads’.
IMPORTANT STEP YOU CANNOT OVERLOOK!
— I know it seems counter-intuitive, but trust me… scroll down to the
Bottom of the screenprint which is shown above and CLICK ‘EMAIL OUR SUPPORT TEAM’….
(Be patient… there’s a reason you’re taking this action – and no one else on the internet is going to tell you but WPSTAIRS…)
— Complete the Contact Support form out completely. And don’t forget to include your cell/mobile number and email address.
Scroll further down
— Be sure to select ‘Pages’ under ‘What is Your Question About?’
— Be sure to put “Why were my Posts Blocked or ‘Why was my URL Blocked?’
— Finally, be sure to include the referenced URL and/or post links in question and simply state your reasons WHY your URL was not in any violation of the Community Standards (especially spam)…
— Continue…
— Include any attachments/screenshots, URLs, etc you wish to strengthen your case.
— When finished, click on the ‘Request Support’ CTA Button.
THEN… a ‘chatbox via Messenger’ will pop up and tell you approximately how long the wait shall be for a ‘live’ customer support representative to come online. (For me, I only had to wait 2 minutes…) but STAY ON THE SCREEN!
— Once the Facebook Representative is available you will get their ‘Hi _______, my name is ___________________, how can I assist you…
BINGO! You’re in where hardly anyone knows about going to…
Important Tips:
Now is not the time to go on a rant about how you’re so upset etc. BE PROFESSIONAL AND POLITE, EXPLAIN YOUR SITUATION AND RESPECTFULLY REQUEST YOUR URL TO GET UNBLOCKED.
For me, we had some technical issues, and the FB representative actually called me via my cell and we continued our conversation.
In less than 5 minutes, while online with him, my URL was unblocked!
The Silver Lining of Being Temporarily Banned in Facebook Jail
Believe it or not, there actually is a ‘silver lining’ in being caught in Facebook Jail.
Think about it.
Facebook is just one of many social media platforms that one can use to promote one’s business or in my case, blog.
But at any given day, Facebook could go away.
Now is the time to utilize other social media that you may have not been putting enough attention to.
If you’ve been relying a little too much on Facebook to get traffic to your website, you should do yourself a favor and consider re-evaluating this strategy.
Why?
Because you should never put all your eggs in one basket so to speak.
Do you also use Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, Linked In, Tic Top to drive traffic?
Perhaps you can use this time away from Facebook and learn to master another social media platform to be part of a diversified strategy in gaining traffic to your website.
But most importantly, are you paying close attention to your SEO and keyword habits?
Google is KING
Because the bottom line is this… GOOGLE is king. |
If you have great SEO built into your websites, you’re way ahead of the game.
Your content shall be known as ‘evergreen’.
So… if in the future, you find yourself again in Facebook Jail or in one of the other social media platforms ‘dungeons’ (they also do exist by the way), by mastering and utilizing excellent SEO strategies, it won’t matter.
You will still thrive.
For more information about Facebook Community Standards, please check out this link: https://www.facebook.com/communitystandards/
About Beth Elkassih, Author and Professional Blogger
Beth is a mental health awareness advocate and offers thought-provoking, inspirational content via her blog, Made You Smile Back, about positivity and happiness.
She also created the popular Facebook Community Group, Achieving Happiness, where members can engage on a daily basis.
Beth Elkassih also is the author of ‘The Power of Unexpected Miracles’, a true story of blessings in disguise which is available on Amazon.
And lately, she is a collaborating author with Umair Qureshi of Zulzan LLC in the creation of several journals, also available on Amazon.
For more information, visit https://madeyousmileback.com/journals
6 comments
DeShena@ExtravagantlyBroke
Good to know! I’ve seen that pop up occasionally but it usually just does it for one random group. So I’ll just bypass that group for that day and keep moving and typically I can still post in other groups. But, I’m definitely saving this post so that if I need help getting out of FB jail, I’ll know just where to come find it!
Inspiroblog
Very helpful article. I was having a trouble figuring this thing out. Thanks a lot!
Fredrick Adehe
I have been in that situation once, when I couldn’t share my blog posts on Facebook anymore. I don’t remember how I got out because it was a while ago but should that happen again i guess I know what to do thanks to this post.
POOVANESH PATHER
Such a thorough post. I have had my links deleted for no reason by the FB bots so I can understand how devastated you were to be denied access to your groups. I like the ‘silver lining idea’ and have recently trimmed my interaction in FB groups as well. Like you, I believe SEO both Google and Pinterest is the way to go.
Amira
Such a helpful post and you are right, more and more people are in FB jail nowadays and thank you for sharing everything in detail including the screenshots!!
Elizabeth Elkassih
Thank you Umair for asking me to be a guest blogger for WPSTAIRS. I feel it is so important to get the ‘word out’ to as many fellow Facebook users who may be facing this challenge. As you know, it seems like day to day, there’s always something new with Facebook in its algorithms and policies and its hard to navigate at times. Again, thanks for sharing.