Time to read: 4 minutes
This blog post was originally posted in 2021 and has been updated to reflect workflow and platform name changes.
Step aside, Google Business Profiles! There is another local listing site that is just as important to local SEO, and it’s called Bing Maps.
Regardless of your industry, it is essential to ensure that you have your bases covered so that you can be found by customers of all ages and types. This is why it’s important not to forget about Bing! Not to mention, various AI platforms use Bing’s data instead of Google, so as AI continues to grow in popularity, you’ll need to have your bases covered.
Let’s go through the steps of signing up. As an obvious first step, join by going to bing.com/forbusiness and click “Get Started.”
1. Decide Whether to Import or Start from Scratch
If you already have your business locations listed on Google, you’re in luck! You can connect to your Google account to import your existing listings and information.
If you don’t have a Google Business Profile, that’s ok! You can also choose to enter your business information manually for Bing.
This guide will start with a listing from scratch.
2. Search for an Existing Listing
Before you make a brand-new listing, Bing needs to verify that you are not making a duplicate. They will ask for your business type, region, and then either your phone number or business name and address.
This allows Bing to see if a listing for your business already exists. If they cannot find an existing listing, you can then continue to add your business. Otherwise, you can select the listing and modify the information.
3. Enter All You Business Information
You will now enter a variety of information about your business, such as:
- Name
- Phone number
- Website
- Categories
- Description
- Contact details
- Photos
- Hours
If you chose to import a listing from Google Business Profiles, or you selected an existing listing, you will also be able to alter these facts.
4. Verify Your Businesses Existence
Similar to Google Business Profiles, you will have to enter your address to receive a postcard with a verification code to claim your listing and enable it to go live.
However, imported businesses from GBP can skip this step if they have already been verified through that platform.
5. Check and Verify Information
Once your listing is up and running, you will be able to log into your dashboard and see metrics on how much traffic you are gaining from your listing!
Be sure to also analyze data in Google Analytics to see the overall traffic you get from Bing, not only from Maps, but also in search.
3 Tips for Helping Your Local SEO
- Get links from local businesses – If you are a member of any local clubs, organizations, chambers of commerce, or anything similar, check to see if you are mentioned on their site and that they link to yours! For instance, if you run a dental practice in Cincinnati, get links from local directories and city guides!
- Check your other listings – Are you on Angi, Yelp, or Foursquare? These types of sites that help customers rate businesses are a crucial aspect of local SEO. Be sure to sign up if you are not on there already.
- Create city pages – If you are a franchise, you likely already have location pages on your site that detail the information for each of your stores or buildings in different cities. Optimizing those pages with target keywords you wish to rank for is one of the best ways to improve your local rankings.
