Bing Places For Business: How To List Your Local Business?

Do you own a small local business?

Are you one among those shopkeepers who scold online stores for selling way more than your brick-and-mortar store?

Then, do not feel alone. There are many shop owners like you, especially after the pandemic.

However, the best part is you have landed on the right page to get a perfect solution to boost your sales.

Have you heard about online business listings?

If yes, chances are high that you are referring to Google Business Profile (Formerly Google My Business), the most popular and widely used online business listing platform.

But wait! There are other platforms as well.

It would be wise to consider the platform offered by the second-largest search engine, Bing.

This article will discuss how you can enlist your business in Bing local listing and provide you with tips to gain the maximum benefits from your Bing for business profile.

Let’s dive in!

What Is Bing For Business?

Bing Places For Business is Microsoft’s local business directory that you can use for free to list your business.

Creating a Bing My Business profile allows you to showcase the physical location of your business in Bing.com and Bing Maps and thus boosts your store’s online visibility.

A verified business listing in Bing allows your business to share vital information like name, location, contact details, website, and hours of operation.

The listed business appears at the top and right side of the Bing search results pages.

We know that now you are eager to list your local business in Bing Local to make your business visible to plenty of online customers.

Here you go,

How To List Your Business In Bing Places For Business?

You need to follow a few simple steps to get your business listed in Bing places.

Create Or Sign In To Your Microsoft Account

The first thing you need to do is to visit “bingplaces.com” using your internet browser.

If you already have a Microsoft account, click on the “Existing user” and sign in using your credentials.

If you do not have a Microsoft account or want to create a separate account for your business purpose, click “New user.”

Next, you must provide a valid email address & password and then pass a CAPTCHA test.

Then Bing will provide you with a verification code, which you need to use to complete the signup process.

Claim Or Add Your Business In Bing Listing

After completing the signup process, you must enlist your business in bing local business listing.

You can do that by following any of the two options Bing offers.

Option-1

If you already have a Google Business Profile, you can import your business details by clicking the “Import from Google My Business Now” button.

You need to select the Google account you used to create your Google Business Profile.

If you have more than one business in your Google Business Profile, select the one you want to import and click on the “Continue” button.

If you have selected a verified Google Business Profile, the Bing for business page will import all the business details and send you an instant verification.

Option-2

If you do not have a Google Business Profile, you can add your business details by clicking the “Claim or add your business manually” button.

You need to select the type of your business and operating region from the drop-down menus.

Next, you need to enter the basic details of your business in the search box appearing below.

Bing will show a list of businesses that match your business details.

If you can find your business in that list, click the “Claim Business” button. Otherwise, click on the “Create new business” button.

If you want to create a listing for a chain of businesses situated in more than ten locations, you need to go through a different verification process.

First, you must provide the name of your business chain, website, and number of stores.

Clicking on the “Next” button will allow you to add specific store details for each location.

Complete Your Bing Business Profile

In this step, you need to provide the following information about your business using the text fields and drop-down menus.

1. Business / Professional Name
2. Primary phone number
3. Full postal address
4. Website
5. Business segment
6. Up to 10 business categories
7. Description
8. Email 
9. Social media profiles
10. Links to other online business directory profiles (For example: Yelp)
11. Up to 100 high-quality photos of your business
12. Working hours

Most of the details you provide in this step will appear on your final profile. Hence, you must ensure that you provide all the details accurately.

It would be great if you could add as many high-quality photos of your business as possible. That will provide users with a clear idea about your products and services.

Get Your Business Listing Verified

Once you provide all the above details accurately, you enter the final step of creating your Bing business profile.

In this step, you need to verify your business listing by proving the reality and ownership of the business you enlisted.

You can complete the verification process by choosing any of the following options,

Phone Call

You can opt to receive a call on your registered business phone number to get the verification pin.

Once you receive the verification pin on a phone call, you need to enter the pin and hit the “Submit” button.

SMS / Text Message

You can opt to receive an SMS on your registered business phone number to get the verification pin.

Once you receive the verification pin via SMS, you need to enter the pin and hit the “Submit” button.

Email

You can opt to receive an email on your registered business email id to get the verification pin within 15 minutes.

Once you receive the verification pin via email, you need to enter the pin and hit the “Verify now” button.

Postcard

You can opt to receive a postcard at your registered business postal address to get the verification pin within 12 days.

Once you receive the verification pin via postcard, you must log in again to enter the pin and hit the “Verify” button.

Once your verification process is complete, your business will appear in the Bing business listing.

Tips For Creating A Strong Bing Business Listing

Now that you know how to list your business in Bing places, we will provide you with a few tips to gain the maximum benefit from your Bing business listing.

Perform Keyword Research

The terms your potential customers are using while performing their search queries are the relevant keywords you must target.

It would help if you optimized your business description, including those search terms, to rank higher on Bing for business pages.

You must choose the best free keyword research tool to find the relevant keywords for your business’s products or services.

The RankWatch offers a proper SEO keyword research tool to make your keyword research a breeze.

You only need to enter a parent keyword like ‘azure cloud solution’ and hit the “Search” button.

The tool not only provides a list of related organic keywords but also shows the search volume, cost-per-click, and competition for those keywords.

Targeting keywords with moderate search volume and competition for your small local business is recommended.

Earn Positive Customer Review

When you look for a product to purchase or subscribe to a service, if you find many positive customer reviews about the same, it influences your buying decision.

The same happens with searchers when they find positive reviews about your business from genuine customers.

Research by Birdeye on customer reviews finds some exciting stats that must draw your attention as a local business owner.

Hence, earning positive local reviews from customers significantly helps to achieve higher rankings on Bing business pages.

You can try the following creative ways to earn positive customer reviews for your local business,

1. If you own a local restaurant, you can place printed QR codes on the tables that lead to the review page of your restaurant’s website.
2. You can email your existing customers and ask for a positive review by completing a short survey.
3. You can encourage customers to leave reviews on third-party websites like Facebook and TripAdvisor, as Bing Places For Business fetches reviews from these sites.

Ensure NAP Accuracy

NAP is the acronym for Name, Address, and Phone Number.

It is a must for your business to provide the same NAP information across each online business directory you enlist your business to.

NAP consistency plays an essential role due to the following reasons,

1. NAP consistency builds trust and credibility for your brand.
2. It makes it easier for searchers to find your business.
3. An accurate NAP helps mobile users to navigate using GPS or other apps easily.
4. NAP accuracy plays a vital role in local SEO for small businesses because search engines use NAP information to validate the relevancy and existence of a local business.
5. Inaccurate NAP information can confuse search engines (Especially Bing, which pulls out information from external sources) and users.

Use High-Quality Images

Using high-quality images in your Bing for business profile significantly boosts your rankings in Bing business pages.

The presence of attractive images helps users get a clearer picture of your services or product line and encourages them to click on your business.

Moreover, Bing Maps prioritizes business listings, offering high-quality images.

Bing Places For Business Vs Google Business Profile

Both are online business directories offered by Microsoft and Google, respectively. However, they have the following differences.

Bing Places For Business	Google Business Profile
It fetches data about your listed business from third-party sources like Facebook and TripAdvisor to complement data uploaded by you manually.	You need to upload all your business data manually.
It pulls out customer reviews from third-party websites.	It uses its own proprietary platform.
You cannot interact with customers through reviews.	It allows customer interaction through reviews.
You cannot upload videos using this platform.	It allows you to upload videos.

Conclusion

No matter whether you want your business to make an online presence or wish to draw more customers to your physical store, listing in business directories can yield excellent results.

Though only a few businesses pay weightage to Bing Places For Business, it is still an effective way to boost your online presence and improve your local SEO.

However, just listing your local business in Bing places will not generate enough fruitful results.

You must optimize your listing by including potential keywords in your business description, earning positive reviews, ensuring NAP consistency, and using high-quality images to gain the maximum benefit from your Bing business listing.

Choosing the right tool to find the relevant keywords for your products and services is essential to ensure you target the right audience.