Most owners set up Google and stop there. That leaves a gap. Bing Places for Business is the free listing tool behind Bing search and Bing Maps, and it takes less time to set up than most people expect. If your Google Business Profile is already verified, you can be done in one sitting.
This guide walks through what Bing Places is, the fastest way to get listed, how verification works, and the mistakes that quietly break a listing after it goes live.
Why Bing Places for Business is worth an hour of your time
Bing is not the biggest search engine. Nobody is pretending it is. But it is the default on Windows computers and in the Edge browser, and plenty of customers search from those without ever switching to Google. Those people still need a plumber, a dentist or a lawyer.
There is a second reason. Your business details live in a lot of places, and every platform that shows a customer your hours or phone number pulls from somewhere. Bing is one of the larger sources. When your Bing listing is missing or wrong, that bad data has more chances to show up in front of a customer.
Some AI tools also look at web search results when they answer local questions. Exactly how much any given assistant relies on Bing changes over time, so we won't overstate it. The practical point is simple: a complete, accurate Bing listing is one more clean signal working for you, and a missing one is a gap you don't need.
What changed with Bing Places in late 2025
If you remember Bing Places from a few years ago, the address has moved. In October 2025 Microsoft relaunched the tool and moved it to bing.com/forbusiness, replacing the old bingplaces.com site. Existing accounts were carried over automatically, so if you already had a listing, your old login should take you into the new setup.
The relaunch also improved the Google Business Profile import and added a recommendation tool that points out missing fields and photos. Older guides with screenshots of the old dashboard are now partly out of date, so trust the screen in front of you over a two year old blog post.
What to have ready before you start
Ten minutes of prep saves you from half finished listings. Pull these together first:
- A Microsoft account. It's free. Use a business email you control long term, not a personal one that leaves with an employee.
- Your exact business name, address and phone number. Copy them character for character from your Google Business Profile so the details match everywhere.
- Your hours, including any holiday or seasonal changes.
- Your categories. Bing lets you choose several. Start with the one that best describes what you do.
- Real photos of your storefront, team, trucks or finished work. Skip stock images.
- A short description written in plain language about what you do and where you do it.
How to set up Bing Places for Business, step by step
There are two routes. Pick based on whether your Google profile is already verified.
Route one: import from Google Business Profile
This is the fastest path for most businesses.
- Go to bing.com/forbusiness and sign in with your Microsoft account.
- Choose the option to import from Google Business Profile.
- Sign in to the Google account that manages your profile and approve the connection.
- Select the location or locations you want to bring over.
- Review every field before you confirm. The import carries over your name, hours and contact details, but check categories, description and photos yourself.
When your Google profile is already verified, the imported Bing listing is typically verified as part of the import, so you skip the waiting game. Guides covering the import also describe later changes on Google carrying over to Bing, but don't assume that sync is perfect. Spot check your Bing listing any time you change hours or a phone number.
Route two: claim or create the listing manually
Use this when you don't have a verified Google profile, or you would rather manage Bing separately.
- Sign in at bing.com/forbusiness and search for your business by name and location.
- If a listing already exists, claim it. If not, create a new one.
- Fill in every field: name, address, phone, website, categories, hours, description and photos.
- Choose a verification method and complete it.
How Bing Places verification works
For listings that are not verified through a Google import, Bing sends a PIN. Depending on what your listing qualifies for, that PIN comes by phone, by email or by postcard to your business address. The postcard is the slowest option, so pick phone or email when you are offered them.
A few things that trip people up:
- The address has to be real. Bing requires a genuine physical location for verification. Virtual offices and mailbox addresses are not allowed, and using one is a fast way to have a listing pulled.
- The phone number should ring at the business. If verification goes to a number nobody answers, you will lose the PIN and start over.
- Don't create a second listing while you wait. Duplicates are harder to clean up than a slow postcard.
Service area businesses: hiding your address
If you work out of your home and drive to customers, like most HVAC, roofing, cleaning and mobile service companies, you can hide your street address on Bing. The setting sits in the additional business details section. With it turned on, customers see your city and ZIP code rather than your home address.
One difference from Google worth knowing: Google expects service area businesses to hide their address, while Bing leaves it up to you. If you have a real storefront where customers visit, show it. If you don't, hide it. Either way you still verify with a real physical address.
Bing Places mistakes that quietly cost you
| Mistake | What it causes | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Name, address or phone doesn't match Google | Conflicting data across platforms | Copy details exactly from one master record |
| Old listing left behind after a move | Customers see the wrong address | Claim the old listing and update or close it |
| Keywords stuffed into the business name | Listing can be flagged or suspended | Use your real name, put services in categories and description |
| Hours never updated for holidays | Wasted trips and frustrated customers | Update special hours ahead of every holiday |
| No photos | Listing looks abandoned next to competitors | Add real photos of your work and location |
The common thread is consistency. If your details differ across Google, Apple Maps, Bing and Yelp, you are giving every platform a reason to doubt which version is right. We cover the cleanup side in more detail in our guide to signs you need a local SEO audit.
Keeping your Bing listing accurate after launch
Setting it up is the easy part. Keeping it right is where most listings fall apart. Build a simple habit:
- Every time something changes on Google, change it on Bing the same day. New phone number, new hours, new address. Same day.
- Check the listing once a quarter. Look at it as a customer would: search your business name on Bing and see what comes up.
- Use the recommendation tool. It flags missing fields and photos, so take the suggestions that apply.
- Watch your reviews. Bing shows reviews pulled from other sites such as Yelp and TripAdvisor. You can't manage those from the Bing dashboard, so stay on top of them where they live.
Bing is only one piece. Apple Maps is the other big one people skip, and it feeds Siri. If you haven't done it yet, here's how to claim your business on Apple Maps. And because Google is still where most local searches start, keep your profile healthy. Our guide on what to do when a Google Business Profile is suspended covers the worst case.
Bottom line on Bing Places for Business
Bing Places for Business is free, it takes about an hour, and if your Google profile is verified, the import does most of the work. Match your details exactly, verify with a real address, hide it if you're a service area business, and recheck it whenever anything changes.
If you'd rather not manage listings across every platform yourself, our voice search optimization service keeps your details accurate across Google, Apple, Bing and the directories that feed them. We make sure your business is ready to be found and optimized for voice search. Not sure what customers see right now? Run a free visibility scan.