How to get your business on Apple Maps and Bing Places, not just Google

Most Kolkata businesses now have a Google Business Profile, and that is the right place to start. But not everyone uses Google Maps. Someone on an iPhone who asks Siri for a nearby chemist, or taps an address in a message, often ends up in Apple Maps. Someone searching on Bing, or asking Microsoft’s Copilot, gets answers drawn from Bing.

Both listings are free, take an hour or so plus some waiting, and are easy to forget. Here is how to set up each one, based on Apple’s and Microsoft’s own help pages as of October 2026.

Why Apple Maps and Bing are worth an hour

• iPhone users and Siri. Apple Maps is built into every iPhone, and Apple says your place card appears in many Apple apps, from Maps to Siri (Intro to Apple Business (opens in a new tab)). If that card shows old hours or no photos, that is what those customers see.
• Bing and Bing Maps. Microsoft says Bing Places listings appear in Bing search results and on Bing Maps (Bing’s announcement (opens in a new tab)).
• AI assistants. Microsoft says its Copilot fetches information from the Bing search service when it needs the web (Microsoft Learn (opens in a new tab)). OpenAI says ChatGPT search sometimes sends queries to partner search providers, and its help page points to Microsoft’s privacy statement for how they’re handled (OpenAI Help (opens in a new tab)). Accurate details in Bing give these tools something correct to draw on.

Neither replaces Google. They’re two more doors into the same shop, whether that’s a clinic, a café or a homestay, and they cost nothing but a little time.

Before you start: get your details straight

Write down one official version of your details and copy it exactly onto every listing. Your Google Business Profile is the natural master copy; if it isn’t in good shape yet, start with our Google Business Profile setup guide.

• Name exactly as on your signboard and Google profile, with nothing added. Apple asks for the name on your storefront or website, without descriptions; Bing warns against words like “best” or “cheap”.
• Address with building name, floor, street, area and pin code, written the same way every time.
• One phone number you answer, with +91. Apple asks for the country code and doesn’t support extensions.
• Website link, ideally your own domain. Apple doesn’t accept third-party websites such as a directory page, and Bing says a social profile shouldn’t be your main website.
• Hours, including your usual Puja and holiday changes.
• A few good photos: the shopfront with the signboard, the inside and your work. No added text, collages or stock images.
• Proof of business for Apple, such as a trade licence, GST certificate, rent agreement or electricity bill in the business name, plus access to your website’s domain settings if you have a site.

Apple Maps: claim your place through Apple Business

Apple Business Connect, the tool many guides still mention, no longer exists under that name. In April 2026 Apple replaced it with Apple Business, a free platform that also covers things like managing company iPhones, and existing Business Connect data moved across automatically (Apple Newsroom (opens in a new tab)). Apple’s availability page lists India for brand and location management, the part that controls your Apple Maps place card. Some extras, such as ads on Maps, aren’t offered in India (Apple Business feature availability (opens in a new tab)).

Step 1: Sign up and verify your organisation

1. Go to business.apple.com (opens in a new tab) and choose Sign up now.
2. Enter your business name, address and website (if you have one), then the legal name of the person enrolling, an email address and a phone number. Apple sends a code to each.
3. Agree to the terms, go to Settings, then Organisation, and choose Verify Now.
4. Pick two different verification methods and send them for review.

Apple’s methods are a business ID (such as a D-U-N-S number), a TXT record added to your website’s domain, an App Store app, or an uploaded document such as a business licence, tax permit, lease or utility bill (Sign up and verify your organisation (opens in a new tab)). With your own website, the practical pair is usually the domain record (whoever manages your domain can add it in minutes) plus a document like your trade licence or electricity bill.

Review can take up to five working days. Don’t leave it half done: Apple gives you 60 days to verify, after which an unverified organisation and its data are deleted.

Step 2: Add or claim your location

Go to Brands, then Locations, and choose Add (Add a location (opens in a new tab)).

• Already on Apple Maps? Search for your business and select it. You can verify that location with a phone call to the number Apple has on file, then enter the four-digit code.
• Not on Apple Maps yet? Add it as a new location: enter the address, check the map marker, then fill in the display name, default language, primary category, phone, website and hours.
• Managed by someone else, such as an old agency? Use Request Transfer, explain why, and attach proof such as a trade licence or utility bill. Review can take up to five working days.

Apple wants the marker on top of your building and centred over it, not on the road or the entrance. That differs from the advice for Google in our setup guide, where the pin goes on your entrance, so set each one by its own rules.

Step 3: Logo, photos, hours and details

• Logo and cover photo: select the location, then Info, and upload both. Apple reviews them before they appear on your place card (Configure location attributes (opens in a new tab)).
• Photos: up to 100 per location, and review can take up to three working days. Apple rejects added text in any language, borders, collages, QR codes, stock photos and AI-generated images, and you need permission from everyone in the shot (photo standards (opens in a new tab)).
• Hours: set your regular hours, then temporary hours for Puja and holidays. Apple’s temporary hours describe when you are open, not when you are closed, so enter the actual Puja timings.
• Categories: one primary category and up to four more, the most specific that fit.
• Other languages: Apple lets you add alternate names and an About description in other languages, a tidy place for your Bengali name. See our guide to Bengali on your website.

Bing Places: the quickest route is importing from Google

Bing Places for Business moved from bingplaces.com to bing.com/forbusiness (opens in a new tab) in October 2025. It’s free, and India is on its list of supported countries (Bing Places help (opens in a new tab)). You can sign in with a Microsoft, Google, Facebook or work account; listings stay tied to the login you use, so pick one the owner controls.

If your Google Business Profile is already verified, import it (Sync your Google Business Profile (opens in a new tab)):

1. Sign in at bing.com/forbusiness and choose Import from your Google Business Profile.
2. Choose how often to sync: weekly, biweekly or monthly.
3. Sign in to the Google account that manages your profile and allow access.
4. Import the listings Bing detects.

Bing says a listing already verified on Google is verified automatically, then goes through its usual publishing cycle, typically 7 to 12 days. Before you click, know that:

• You can’t pick which listings come across. Bing imports every eligible listing in that Google account.
• Importing can create a duplicate if Bing already has a listing for you, so search Bing for your business first.
• Categories and Google tracking (UTM) tags may not carry over exactly. Check them afterwards.
• Listings linked to Google can’t be edited directly in Bing Places. Change the detail on Google, and the next sync carries it over.

Bing Places without Google: claim or create a listing

If you don’t have a verified Google profile, or prefer to manage Bing separately, Bing’s Manage your listing (opens in a new tab) guide sets out the steps:

1. Sign in to Bing Places and search for your business, with India selected as the country.
2. If a listing exists and nobody has claimed it, claim it. If none exists, choose Create a new business.
3. Fill in your name, address, phone, website, hours and category. Bing allows one primary category and up to nine more.
4. Request a verification PIN. Bing offers phone, text, email or post, though not every option is shown to every business.
5. Enter the six-digit PIN while signed in to the same account that requested it.

Phone verification is only offered when the existing listing already has your business number, unedited. Publishing takes up to two weeks outside North America, and every edit you make while waiting resets the date, so make your changes in one go.

If you visit customers rather than receiving them, like an AC repair service, you can hide your address and list up to 20 service areas. PO boxes aren’t accepted. Photos must be at least 480 × 360 pixels, up to 100 per listing.

Name, address and phone: identical everywhere

All three platforms compare your details with the rest of the web. Bing says it plainly: other sources can take priority over your Bing Places data if those sources are fresher (for example, if you haven’t updated Bing Places for more than six months) or if they conflict with it repeatedly.

So copy your master details exactly. “Shop 4, 1st floor” on Google and “4, First Floor” on Apple isn’t a disaster; a different phone number or an old address is. We explain why in our guide to local SEO and “near me” searches.

Common verification hiccups, and what to do

• Apple rejects your organisation verification. Check that the business name and address on your documents match what you entered, and that each document is clear and current. Then resubmit. Apple says adding your website can speed verification up.
• Apple’s verification call goes to an old number. The call uses the number Apple already has on file. If you don’t recognise it, Apple’s guide says to contact Apple Business support.
• Bing’s PIN doesn’t work. Bing says this can happen when an agency or someone else started verification from a different account, because the PIN only works in that account. Otherwise, check all six digits or ask for a new PIN.
• Bing’s postcard never arrives. Bing says it can take up to 12 business days. After that, ask at your local post office, then contact Bing Places support (opens in a new tab). If you have a verified Google profile, importing it is the faster way round.
• Bing marks your listing as a duplicate. You can’t edit a listing marked duplicate. Claim the published listing instead, or ask whoever claimed it to give you access.
• You moved premises. Don’t change the old address on Bing. Bing recommends creating a new listing at the new address and marking the old one closed.

After you’re listed: keep all three in step

Listings drift: a number changes, Puja comes round, and only Google gets updated. A simple routine prevents that:

• Puja and holiday hours: update Google first, then Apple’s temporary hours. If Bing syncs from Google it should pick up the change, though Bing says sync timing can vary; if not, update Bing by hand.
• New phone number or new premises: change all three on the same day, along with your website footer.
• Twice a year: look your business up on an iPhone and on Bing, and fix anything that looks wrong.

Every WebNestle plan includes setting up or cleaning up your Google Business Profile (see what each plan includes), and that profile is the master copy everything in this guide builds on. For deeper local search work, see our SEO and performance service.