Facebook has announced it will start verifying official Pages for Kiwi businesses.

This is the first time the social media giant will offer verified Pages to local businesses, starting in the US, Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand, before expanding globally in the coming months.

The offer is for now only open to businesses with a physical address, Facebook confirmed in a statement.

Verified businesses will have a publicly visible grey badge on their Page.

Facebook says it is offering the feature to give businesses a way to show that their Page is the authentic representation of their business on Facebook, and to give users a signal that they've found and are interacting with the authentic Page. 



The feature does not impact the existing criteria and experience for brands, celebrities, public figures, sports teams, media and entertainment that have a blue badge.

“We are expanding our Verified Pages programme to include local businesses for the first time,” says Kirsten Bury, product marketing manager for Facebook Pages. “Now, local businesses in New Zealand can add a badge to their Page that lets people know they're visiting that business's official Facebook presence.

Bury says Facebook plans to extend Verified Pages for local businesses to more countries soon.

Businesses can go to this Facebook page to learn more about how to verify their Page.