Getting verified on X (formerly Twitter): 5 tips for businesses

X (formerly Twitter), like most social media platforms, uses verification badges to help cut through bots, trolls and impersonation.

Here's the important update if you haven't looked into this since before 2023: the entire verification system this article originally described is gone. The old free, manual-review process, where X judged whether your account was "notable" enough for a blue checkmark, ended on April 1, 2023, and it has not come back. Legacy blue checkmarks (including ones that had been active for years) were removed at that time. Today, every blue checkmark on X sits on top of a paid subscription.

X now has more than 586 million monthly active users globally, with roughly 105 million in the U.S.

There are now three distinct verification badges, and they mean different things:

For a business account specifically, the blue checkmark is available to your account the same way it is to anyone, a subscription and some basic eligibility checks, but the badge that actually signals "this is a real, verified business" to other users is the gold checkmark, through X's Verified Organizations program. That program still involves genuine vetting, unlike blue, which is essentially pay-to-play.

The following are five tips to help you approach verification on X the right way in its current form.

Decide which badge actually fits your goal

Before you spend money, get clear on what you're trying to signal. A blue checkmark on a business account today mostly tells other users that the account pays for X Premium, not that X has verified the business behind it. Because of that, plenty of savvy users have grown skeptical of blue checkmarks specifically.

If your goal is genuine business credibility and brand protection, the gold checkmark through Verified Organizations is the badge that still carries real weight, since it requires X to actually confirm your business is who it claims to be. If your goal is just the algorithmic and feature perks of Premium (longer posts, priority in replies, some ad reduction), blue may be enough on its own.

Complete your profile and verify your phone number

Eligibility for the blue checkmark is mostly hygiene now rather than notability. At a minimum, X expects:

• A complete profile with a display name and profile photo
• An account that's at least 90 days old
• A confirmed phone number
• Recent activity, generally within the last 30 days
• No signs of impersonation, spam, or manipulation

For Verified Organizations (gold), expect a more involved process that verifies your actual business details, similar in spirit to what banks or payment processors ask for during identity verification.

Keep your account details stable

Once you're verified, changing key profile details, such as your display name, profile photo, or handle, can trigger a re-review of your account and, in some cases, a temporary loss of your badge while X re-confirms everything checks out.

If you're planning a rebrand or handle change, expect some verification friction around it, and plan accordingly rather than being caught off guard.

Maintain an active, rule-following account

This part hasn't changed: a verification badge, blue or gold, can still be removed if your account violates X's rules or shows signs of spam, manipulation, or impersonation.

Beyond staying within the rules, an active account also gets more out of the badge itself. Verified accounts get priority placement in replies and search results, so posting consistently and engaging with others (not just broadcasting) is what actually makes that visibility boost worth something.

Consider using a real image or video to boost the quality of your own brand content. This is especially useful given that individual posts are still relatively short-form by default. Visuals can help communicate more, and you'll likely see higher engagement as well.

Double-check all copy in your posts before publishing. X does allow limited post editing within a short window after posting, but you shouldn't rely on it, especially as a brand.

See our eight expert tips to market your business better on X.

Budget realistically if you want the gold checkmark

This is the tip that didn't exist in the old free-application era: verification for a business now has a real, recurring cost attached, and it's not small. Verified Organizations pricing generally starts around $200 a month for a basic package and can run $1,000 or more a month for the full package with additional seats and features.

Factor that into your overall social media budget before committing, and weigh it against what the gold badge is actually likely to earn you in trust and engagement for your specific business and audience. For some brands it's an easy call. For others, a strong, well-optimized unverified presence plus a personal Premium subscription for key team members may make more sense.

Keep everything you post public

X gives users the option to make their posts private, but as a brand, you'll want to keep everything public.

Private posts limit your reach and engagement, and they undercut the entire point of building a public, verifiable business presence in the first place.

In conclusion

Verification on X is a very different decision than it used to be. It's no longer about proving you're notable enough. It's a budget and branding decision, weighing what a blue or gold checkmark is actually worth to your specific business against its ongoing cost.

Check out the 14 biggest mistakes businesses make on X to make sure the rest of your presence is working as hard as your badge is.

As you begin to optimize your X presence, consider leveling up your digital marketing process, which can include automation, audience segmentation and enhanced email marketing capabilities, to name a few. DailyStory can help. Schedule your free demo with us today.