Bing Places for Business Set up and Optimization
The aim of local SEO is to maximize the traffic you get. In order to do that, you’ll need to be present where your audience is.
Google is currently the biggest search engine in the market, but it is not the only search engine. You should also focus on leveraging the third-largest search engine – Bing.
Bing is Microsoft’s search engine and it accounts for 12 billion searches worldwide and 33% of US search marketing share.
Moreover, not many people are aware of the strength of this search engine. You can use this fact to your advantage and get ahead of your competition.
To get started, you will need to set up your Bing Places for Business page (the Bing equivalent to Google My Business).
How to set up your Bing Places for Business Page?
If you have already set up your Google My Business Page, then you don’t need to go through the setup process.
That’s because you can now import all the information from Google My Business to Bing Places for Business.
This is a great facility because it saves your time. All of your business information will get filled automatically and you can verify your listing instantly.
If you haven’t set up your GMB page, then you’ll need to follow the given steps:
1.Go to Bing Places for Business
2.Click on ‘Get Started’
3.In the next screen, enter your business information (name, location or phone number) and search
4.If nothing appears, click on ‘add new business’
5.You will need to create a Microsoft account if you want to create a BPB page
6.After logging in, you can start adding information on your page
7.Once you have entered all the information, press the ‘Submit’ button
8.After submitting all the information, you will need to verify the listing
After the verification process, your set up will be complete. If you own multiple businesses, then you can also perform a bulk listing of the business.
How to Optimize your Bing Places for Business Page?
Now that you have created your BPB page, you can start optimizing it. Optimization is similar to GMB:
Add Photos:
Just like your GMB page, add a bunch of detailed and descriptive photos of your business.
Photos increase your business’s credibility, help the users in understanding your business and boost your ranking.
Use OpenTable:
If you get appointments or bookings you should use the OpenTable feature. It lets the users contact you directly for booking.
Add Categories and Specialties:
Add a clear category of your business. Bing offers an additional feature of adding specialities.
Browse through them and add the matching specialities.
It helps the search engine as well as the users in finding your business and understanding what it does.
Provide Accurate Info:
Just like your GMB page, you’ll need to provide accurate and consistent information. Your business name, address and phone number should be accurate and same as your last listing.
If you have a local business website, then add its URL as well. You will also need to add opening hours of your business.
Summary
Bing might not be as big as Google but it is still a worthy platform.
Having a strong presence on this platform will ensure you get the maximum local traffic possible. The ultimate goal of local SEO is to increase local traffic and brand awareness.
Similarly to the Google My Business page, Bing Places for Business is free to use.
Now that we’re done with the setup, we can start focusing on other aspects of local SEO, which we’ll be discussing in the next chapter.