How To Claim Your Bing Local Business Listing

We have already spoken about claiming your Google Place Search page and optimizing it to the max. This is your first step in promoting your local business. But do not forget about Microsoft’s Bing. Even though Bing does not have the search volume of Google it still gets a huge amount of search traffic and you need to have your business listed there as well.

Bing’s local search has a refreshingly simple, sleek interface. I like it because unlike Google the local listings Bing business pages do not overwhelm the page. There is plenty of room for good old fashioned natural listings. I was surprised to find the I was number 1 for the highly competitive term “injury lawyers fort lauderdale.” This term goes for $60. per click in Adwords. I rank number 1 in Google video search for this term but I am not on the first page of the natural listings yet in Google for this term. I find Bing local search less cluttered than Google. I may use it more often.

Review, Maps, Directions Bing Has Everything Google Local Has Plus An Uncluttered Sleek Interface

It is very easy to get your business listed in Bing. You just have to go to the Bing Local Listing Center. From there you will be able to check to see if you already have Bing Local Listing.

Once you start creating/modifying your account Bing will ask you to log in with your Windows ID. If you do not have one yet you can create one easily. Now you will be asked to provide all the particulars of you business such as your phone numbers, websites, email addresses, hours, payment methods, photos, videos, business description, brands, specialities, affiliations, languages, parking etc. Make sure you fill out your listing as completely as possible. Another tip, make sure you use the same exact name address and phone number as you do with your Google Place Search Page.

Use The Same Exact Name, Address And Phone On All Your Local Directory Listings To Improve Your Google Place Search Rankings

You should do this with all your local directories. Google will count these local directories as citations boosting your ranking in Google. If they cannot sync the information you will not get credit for the citation. Keep your information consistent.

Then you can start to choose up to six categories by priority. You will also be able to provide additional more personalized and descriptive information about your business. It is important again to fill this out properly because Bing allows users to refine their searches and you want to be right where to refine it to!

Then Bing will ask you to review your business listing on the map and to fix the pushpin locator if need be. If everything checks out correctly just submit your listing and you are done. The whole process should not take more than 10-15 minutes.

I hope you found this local marketing information helpful. Your comments are appreciated. Please share the post on Facebook as well. Thank you. Matt.