Adding a business to Bing Maps: Importing from Google Business Profile (Bing Places guide)

Preparation before registration: NAP, category, hours, and photos

Before creating a Bing listing, check that the business name, address, and phone number (NAP) are exactly the same on the Google profile, website, and social media accounts. Bing automatically validates basic information and may not publish changes that conflict with trusted external data.

Bing’s listing editing page, states that the business name, address, phone number, website, hours, category, and open/closed status are required basic information and are checked through automatic validation. The data quality guidelines also set out the following rules; failure to follow them may lead to the listing being suspended:

• Business name: Use the actual name customers know; descriptors such as “best” or “cheap” are not added unless they are part of the legal name.
• Address: Enter the official address, including apartment and building numbers; a post office box cannot be used as an address.
• Phone: It must be a working number customers can reach; a dealer’s or business partner’s number is not used.
• Website: Enter the business’s own website; a social media profile is not used instead of the main website and is added in a separate field.
• Map pin: Zoom in on the map as far as possible and place the pin in the center of the business premises.
• Hours: A maximum of two time intervals can be entered per day; businesses open 24 hours use the 24/7 option.

For categories, a total of 10 categories can be selected: 1 primary and up to 9 additional categories. According to the photo guidelines , up to 100 photos can be added to a listing; images must be at least 480×360 pixels, and up to 10 MB can be uploaded at a time. Two exterior photos, several interior and service photos, and category tags such as interior, exterior, or logo are recommended. For basic Google profile settings, the Google Business Profile optimization guide explains the Google side of the same preparation.

Importing from Google into Bing Places, step by step

Importing from Google into Bing Places is done by connecting to Google Business Profile in the Bing Places account; the system automatically detects and imports eligible listings. The Bing Places interface is in English; the menu names below are the original names in the official help text.

According to the Google synchronization help page the steps are as follows:

1. In the Bing Places account, select Import from your Google Business Profile (import from Google Business Profile).
2. Choose whether the profile will synchronize weekly, biweekly, or monthly.
3. Sign in with the Google Business Profile account.
4. Import the detected listings.

The imported information includes the business name, address, phone number, opening hours, and photos; Services offered are also transferred automatically through synchronization. If the listing is already verified on Google, Bing automatically verifies the imported listing, after which the standard publishing process begins. This process usually takes 7–12 days, and the dashboard displays “Pending Publish”. The listing can sometimes go live on Bing before the dashboard status updates.

To turn off synchronization, choose Google Business Profile sync from the menu in the upper-right corner and uncheck the regular synchronization option. According to the official text, this does not disconnect the Google profile; it only stops subsequent synchronizations.

Import from Google or register manually?

If the Google profile is verified and up to date, importing is faster; if there is no Google profile, it is unverified, or you want to manage the Bing listing separately, manual registration is more appropriate. The difference between the two routes is most evident in verification and later editing.

Bing’s getting started page notes one more detail: if a listing already on Bing matches a Google listing, the information in Bing Places is replaced with Google data. If information was corrected manually on Bing but remains outdated on Google, the Google side must be corrected before importing.

Manual registration: Claiming an existing listing or creating a new business

With manual registration, first check whether the business is already listed on Bing; if so, claim it, and if not, create a new listing. Bing’s listing creation page explicitly recommends this order.

1. Sign in to Bing Places for Business with a Microsoft account, work account, Google account, or Facebook account. Claimed and newly created listings are linked to the email account used to sign in.
2. Select the country, enter the business name and location, and press the Search button.
3. If multiple results appear, select the listing with the matching address; report duplicate listings.
4. If there is a listing, claim it and begin verification; otherwise, select Create a new business (create a new business) and enter the information.

If someone else has claimed the listing, request access from the account owner. According to the official text, changes only go live after the listing is verified. Opening the account with the business’s own email address is important to prevent loss of access when an employee or agency changes in the future.

Bing business verification methods and publishing time

For Bing business verification, a six-digit PIN is sent by phone, mail, email, or text message; according to the official text, some options are not available to every business. After verification, the listing enters Bing’s publishing cycle.

If the PIN does not work, verification may have been initiated from another account, for example by an agency; the PIN must be entered in the same account. For publishing time, the official text says typically 7–12 days in North America and up to 2 weeks in the rest of the world. The FAQ page also adds that updates are processed over 7–12 days and may take additional time to appear after publication. Every edit made while waiting resets the publication date; avoiding further edits before changes appear on Bing is recommended. Verification and waiting periods on Google are also explained separately in the guide to adding a business to Google Maps .

Service-area businesses and multi-location businesses

Businesses that visit customers can hide their address on Bing and define the places they serve; the address is still entered into the system for verification. Multi-branch businesses can group listings and use bulk verification.

Bing’s page for businesses without physical stores, states that businesses such as plumbers, locksmiths, and private tutors can hide their address from search results. In the listing, select Edit (edit), and answer the question at the end of Basic details (basic information): “Are customers expected to visit your address?” According to the editing page, to hide the address a complete address and a category must have been entered, and the Service areas (service areas) section must have been completed. Up to 20 service areas can be added as cities, regions, or postal codes. The FAQ page states that the address is hidden from the public but continues to be retained for verification and system purposes. Service areas appear in listings only for certain categories and regions.

For multi-location businesses, a consistent business name and, if possible, a location-specific webpage are recommended for each location. The Store code field helps distinguish locations in bulk management and is not published. The Bing announcement states that bulk editing tools have also arrived in the new interface.

Common problems: Duplicate listings, unpublished changes, and relocation

Most problems with Bing listings arise from duplicate listings, edits made before the publishing cycle finishes, and relocated businesses updating an old listing. All three have a solution described in the official help text.

• Duplicate listing: If a similar name, address, or phone number already exists in the system, the listing is marked “Duplicate”, and the editing panel closes. Claim the live listing; if it has already been claimed, request access from the account owner. Google synchronization may bring in listings already present in the Bing account again and create duplicates.
• Change not being published: If the listing is still not live after one complete publishing cycle (7–12 days), contact the support team. For a listing connected to Google, changes are made on Google rather than through the Bing dashboard.
• Business relocated: Do not change the address of the old listing. Create a new listing with the new address and mark the old listing “Closed”. Bing has no “Business Moved” status. The closed listing gradually loses visibility and is removed after approximately six months.
• Adding keywords to the name: Bing states that it does not accept SEO techniques such as adding keywords to the business name and may reject such updates.

Bing’s ranking page states that local results are ranked by relevance, distance, and popularity, and that the website’s SEO plays an important role in local ranking. For visibility and location errors on Google, the articles My business is not appearing on Google Maps and The location is wrong on Google Maps are separate guides.

Maintenance routine, other maps, and checklist

A Bing listing requires regular checks even after it is created; Bing may prioritize more current external sources over Bing Places data that have not been updated for a long time. When maintenance follows the same schedule as the Google profile, the workload does not increase.

A brief note on Bing Webmaster Tools and Apple

The Bing Places page also lists Bing Webmaster Tools among tools for businesses; the tool’s AI Performance report in public preview reports how often website content is cited in Copilot and Bing’s AI responses. On Apple’s side, Brand and Location Management within Apple Business performs the same function; Apple’s feature availability page lists Türkiye among the countries where this feature is available.

Checklist

1. Are the name, address, phone number, and website exactly the same across Google, Bing, Apple, and the website?
2. Is the Google profile up to date and verified; was importing or manual registration selected?
3. Is there a second listing for the same business on Bing?
4. Does the primary category accurately reflect the main business activity?
5. Are opening hours and holidays up to date?
6. Have exterior, interior, and service photos been added and tagged?
7. For a service-area business, has the address been hidden and have areas been entered?
8. Is verification complete, and is the publication date visible in the dashboard?
9. After every change on Google, has synchronization or a manual update been performed?
10. Has the listing been searched for on Bing and its live appearance checked every three months?