Apple Maps and Bing Places listings are the free business profiles behind Apple Maps, Siri and the iPhone on one side, and Bing Search, Bing Maps and Microsoft’s products on the other. Google gets the attention, but a customer with an iPhone who asks Siri for the nearest pharmacy sees your Apple listing, not your Google one.
What are these listings?
Apple Business is Apple’s platform for managing how your business appears in Apple Maps place cards. Apple announced it on 24 March 2026 and launched it on 14 April 2026. It took over the brand profiles, place cards and location insights of Apple Business Connect, which stopped being available at that launch. Apple says claimed locations and place card data moved over automatically, and that the service is free. Many guides and tools still use the old name.
Bing Places for Business is Microsoft’s free listing for Bing Search and Bing Maps. Bing describes it as a platform where businesses create and manage listings that appear in Bing search results and maps.
Why do they matter for local SEO?
They are separate data sources from Google, so each one needs its own claim. An unclaimed listing leaves you no control over what it shows, so a wrong phone number or an old address stays public. Claimed and accurate listings help customers reach you and give every map the same facts (see NAP citations).
The reach is real but smaller than Google’s in most markets. The effort is under an hour each. For the Microsoft side of AI search, see Bing and Copilot.
How do you claim and update them, step by step?
- Prepare your master details. Copy the exact name, address, phone, website and hours from your Google Business Profile.
- Claim your Apple Maps location. Go to Apple Business (business.apple.com), sign in with an Apple Account, find your place on Maps and claim it. Apple’s own page says you can control your logo, hours, images and main details. Expect verification, such as a code to the phone number on the listing. A new business with no existing listing may need documents.
- Complete the Apple place card. Add the logo, photos, hours, phone, website and a short description. Showcases, where offered, let you post news or offers on the card.
- Open Bing Places for Business. Sign in with the account Bing Places offers.
- Import from Google or add manually. Bing’s help page describes a sync with Google Business Profile: you sign in to Google, and Bing imports the listings it detects. You cannot hand-pick which ones. If the Google listing is already verified, Bing verifies the imported one automatically. Otherwise Bing asks you to verify, for some businesses with a PIN.
- Wait for publishing. Bing says publishing takes typically 7 to 12 days and the listing may show Pending Publish.
- Check for duplicates. Bing warns that a sync can create duplicates if a listing already exists. Claim or merge the old one.
- Know how edits flow. Bing says listings linked to a Google profile cannot be edited directly in Bing Places at present. Change them in Google and let the sync carry them over.
- Add your site to Bing Webmaster Tools too, so Bing knows your own pages.
- Recheck twice a year, and after any move, rename or change of hours.
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How do you measure the result?
- Apple Business: the location insights shown in the dashboard for your place card.
- Bing Places: the dashboard’s views and clicks for the listing.
- Your own analytics: GA4 referrals from Bing and Apple and UTM tags on the website link where each platform allows.
- Spot checks: search your business on an iPhone in Maps and on Bing, and compare name, address, phone and hours with your master record.
Judge these by whether the facts are right and the listing is claimed, since most local traffic still arrives through Google.
What mistakes should you avoid?
- Leaving the listing unclaimed. Wrong data stays public.
- Skipping verification. Unverified listings cannot be fully managed.
- Different details than on Google. Use identical name, address, phone and hours.
- Editing the Bing listing directly when it is linked to Google. The change gets overwritten or blocked.
- Searching for “Apple Business Connect” and landing on third-party tools that charge for what Apple gives free. Start at business.apple.com.
- Forgetting special hours on holidays.