How to set up Bing Places for Business, from sign-in to publish

Why bother with Bing Places?

Bing is a smaller search engine than Google, but your listing there is what shows in Bing search results and on Bing Maps. Microsoft's Bing Places help center describes it as a free service that lets businesses claim existing listings or add new ones and control what customers see. If you skip it, Bing builds a listing for you anyway from other sources, and you won't control whether the phone number is current.

The setup is short, especially if your Google Business Profile is already in good shape. Plan on half an hour of work, then a week or two of waiting.

What you'll need

• An account to sign in with. Bing's help lists four: Facebook, Google, a Microsoft account, or a work account. Listings you claim are tied to the email you sign in with, so use a company address you'll keep.
• Your business details, matching your Google profile and website exactly: name, address, phone, website, hours and categories.
• A real business address. Bing's data quality guidelines say an address is required, and that a mailing address you don't operate from can't be used. Service businesses can hide it from search results.
• A list of the cities or ZIP codes you serve, if you'll hide your address.
• A few good photos. Bing allows up to 100, at least 480 by 360 pixels each.

Import from Google, or set it up yourself?

Bing gives you two ways in. Bing's Google sync help page explains the trade-offs:

How to import from Google Business Profile

1. Go to bing.com/forbusiness and sign in.
2. In your account, select Import from your Google Business Profile.
3. Choose how often to sync: weekly, biweekly or monthly.
4. Sign in to the Google Account that manages your Business Profile.
5. Import the listings Bing detects. Bing notes you can't hand-pick which listings it imports; it detects eligible ones from the Google account.
6. Wait for publishing. Bing says imported listings from a verified Google profile are verified automatically, then go through the standard publishing process, which typically takes 7 to 12 days. The dashboard may show Pending Publish during that time.

Bing's help is direct about one limit: direct editing isn't currently available in the dashboard for listings linked to a Google Business Profile. To change your hours, change them in Google and let the sync carry them over. To stop syncing, open the menu in the upper-right corner, select Google Business Profile sync, and clear the sync option. Turning off sync stops future updates without unlinking the profile.

How to claim or create a listing yourself

From Bing's create your listing help page:

1. Sign in to Bing Places for Business.
2. Search Bing to see whether your business is already listed. Select the correct country, enter your business name and location, and search.
3. If several results appear, choose the one that matches your address. Report any duplicates.
4. If the listing exists and is unclaimed, claim it to start verification. If it's claimed by someone else, use Bing's request-access process. If nothing is found, select Create a new business.
5. Fill in the basic details: name, address, phone, website, hours, category and status. Bing lets you pick up to 10 categories, one primary plus up to nine more.
6. Add photos, services and links to your social pages.
7. Select Save to start publishing, then verify (next section). Bing says updates only go live after the listing is verified.

If your business has moved, Bing recommends creating a new listing at the new address and marking the old one closed, rather than editing the old listing's address.

How to verify with a PIN

Bing sends a PIN by phone, mail, email or text, though it says some options won't be available to everyone. Its rules for each:

• Phone: offered only if the existing listing already has the business phone number and it hasn't been edited.
• Postcard: typically 5 to 6 business days to arrive in the United States. Bing recommends waiting at least 12 days from your request before contacting support.
• Email: make sure the email on your account is one you can open. You can change it in Basic details.

The PIN is six digits. It must be entered from the same account that requested it. If a marketing vendor or a previous manager started verification under their own login, the PIN they triggered won't work in yours. In that case, request a fresh PIN from your own account rather than chasing the old one.

How to hide your address and add service areas

For businesses that travel to customers, Bing's steps are:

1. Sign in, select your listing and click Edit.
2. Enter your complete, accurate address and make sure a category is selected. Both are required before you can hide the address.
3. Turn on the option to hide your address. Bing's page for businesses without a physical store describes the question as whether customers are expected to visit your address, with the choice to show the full address or just your city and ZIP code.
4. Go to Service areas and add cities, regions or ZIP codes, pressing Enter after each one. Bing allows up to 20.
5. Save.

Bing says you can only hide your address once you've provided service areas. Keep the list consistent with the service areas on your Google profile.

Bing's data rules that trip up contractors

Bing's data quality guidelines say violations can lead to suspension. The ones that matter most for service businesses:

• Name: use the name customers know you by. Don't add words like "best" or "cheap" unless they're legally part of the name. Bing also says it rejects keyword stuffing in business names.
• Phone: a working number that reaches you, not a reseller's or partner's number.
• Website: your own site. Bing says social profiles shouldn't be used as the primary website; add them in the social section. Leave the field blank if you don't have a site.
• Freshness: Bing says other data sources may take priority if your Bing Places data hasn't been updated in more than six months. Log in a couple of times a year.

Common errors and fixes

What to do next

1. Claim your Apple Maps place card, which covers iPhone users who search in Apple Maps.
2. Add your site to Bing Webmaster Tools. If you've already set up Google Search Console, Bing can import it.
3. Make sure your website shows the same name, address and phone as your listings. Our local SEO service keeps all of them in step, and the free system quote checks them for you.

Frequently asked questions