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In this article:\nHow to get set up with Google Customer Reviews for your small business\nWhy setting up Google Customer Reviews is worth your time\nHow to display Google Customer Reviews in your business’s search result\nFree tips for optimizing getting more reviews\nIt’s shocking, the number of people who rely on Google for their online needs.\nIn the amount of time it took you to read that first line, there were over \n9 million \nGoogle searches. Let the sheer magnitude of that sink in.\nIt’s absolutely critical for local small businesses to be taking full advantage Google’s services for local merchants. \nIn this article, we’re going to cover one of the most important (and free) Google tools that will have a direct positive impact on your sales and search rankings: Google Customer Reviews.\nWhat is Google Customer Reviews, and what happened to Google Trusted Store?\nGoogle Customer Reviews is a new program that replaced the former “Google Trusted Store” program. The change happened in April 2018 as a result of Google shifting a seller’s reputation and source of authority away from Google’s approval to a more transparent, customer-centric, buyer approval.\nThankfully, Google Customer Reviews is a leaner program than the Google Trusted Store program, taking over the protocol for displaying the prized \nSeller Ratings\n in ads and search results. \nSeller Ratings is the aggregate scoring buyers experience shopping with a seller, rated on a five-point scale of “stars.” It’s arguably the most important component to your business’s search listing because it features a prominent data point of social proof and strong visual. According to Google, ads with Seller Ratings receive a 17% increase in click through rates compared to ads without them.\n(Image)\n\nNote: Google Customer Reviews and your Seller Rating won’t show up until you collect 100 customer reviews (it used to be 30 when it was the Google Trusted Store program). \nWhy setting up Google Customer Reviews is worth your time\nBefore setting up Google Customer Reviews (and therefore displaying Seller Ratings), it’s worth mentioning why this is worth the time it takes to set up. \nOne study found that 94% of online purchases using Google’s Product Listing Ads (screenshot below) were products with an average rating of either four or five stars. The study when on to note that ads with five stars generated 126% more purchases than listings with four stars.\n(Image)\n\nIn Google search results, stars make all the difference between whether an online shopper becomes a customer or remains a mere passer-by. It builds customer trust immediately, proving the credibility of your business through multiple sources. Also, having Google’s brand badge associated with the name of your business tends to help, just a little *wink*.\nWithout further ado, let’s get into how to add the magical stars to your business’s search results. \nHow to display Google Customer Reviews in your business’s search result\nGoogle Customer Reviews resides inside Google Merchant Center, so you’ll want to sign into your account there. If you don’t have a Google Merchant Account, you can create one by going to \nmerchant.google.com\n.\nOnce inside your Merchant Center, follow these steps to opt into your Google Customer Reviews dashboard:\nLog in to your Merchant Center account\nEnsure your Merchant Center account is \nverified and claimed\nClick the 3-dot icon dropdown in the upper-right corner\nSelect Merchant Center programs from the dropdown menu options\nFrom the Merchant Center programs page, navigate to the Google Customer Reviews card\nClick Enable to sign up\n(Image)\n\nOnce inside, you should see your Google Merchant Center dashboard like this:\n(Image)\n\nNavigate down to the bottom of the menu on the left hand side where you should see “Customer Reviews.” If you don’t see Customer Reviews, it means you skipped the part above about opting in to Google Customer Reviews — you must do this first.\nSelect “Customer Reviews.” \nHere’s where it gets a little tricky. But this is crucial to make this work. It’s time to \nonboard your store and integrate with Google Customer Reviews\n. \nUnder “Program setup,” you’ll find the code you need to add into your store’s website. You need this to \nintegrate the survey opt-in module\n into your small business’s site. \nBefore you become overwhelmed, here’s the good news: this is very easy — just type into a Google search “google customer reviews [name of your online store software (e.g., shopify, bigcommerce, magento)]” and step-by-step setup instructions will come up.\nOnce you have this setup correctly, Google will automatically send any of your customers who have made a purchase on your site and \nhave opted in\n to the program a one-question survey that looks like this: \n(Image)\n\nYou can now view all the data collected and processed by these Google Customer Reviews surveys in the dashboard, divided into five key metrics: \nOpt-ins received\nSurveys offered\nSurvey responses received\nSeller rating\nProduct reviews\nOnce you reach the threshold of 100 reviews, you will become eligible for Seller Ratings to display in search results — this is the big win for your business!\nHere are some tips to speed up this process and reach that 100 Google customer reviews mark as fast as possible:\nTake a moment to review the \nFAQs for Google Customer Reviews\n to uplevel your knowledge about how the program works.\nAsk customers in person at your store.\nRequest for customers to write a review in your email correspondence. Consider adding a link to your email signature or in a PS. at the end of the email.\nLeverage social media direct messages. Don’t be afraid to make the ask — remember, you don’t get what you don’t ask for!\nRespond to all of your reviews. It will show customers that you care and demonstrate that you will read and respond to their review.\nFor more creative ideas for how to ask customers for Google Customer Reviews, read our blog post “\nHow to Get Google Reviews\n.”\nYou might also like: \nHow to respond to reviews\n.\nIf you’re still on the fence when it comes to setting up Google Customer Reviews on your small business’s website, remember this: once it’s set up, it’s done — you’ll be hands off while your online reputation management will be automated by today’s most powerful search engine. 

How to set up Google Customer Reviews for your small business

In this article:\nHow to claim your business listing on TripAdvisor\nHow to start a new TripAdvisor business listing\nHow you can improve results with reputation management software\nWord-of-mouth is still the top way people find local businesses, but in the past few years that conversation has moved online to sites like Google My Business, Yelp, Facebook, and TripAdvisor. This means that local businesses must stay laser-focused on their “online presence” on these review sites by keeping their information up-to-date, responding to reviews, and more. Plus, research shows that businesses that claim their listings on multiple review sites make 58% more money! The first crucial step is to claim your business listing on TripAdvisor and all other review sites.\nNot sure if your business is listed on TripAdvisor, Yelp, or Google My Business? You almost certainly do—even if you didn’t know it. Review websites automatically create a listing for your business when customers leave reviews, so it’s important for you to manage that listing to ensure your information is up-to-date and correct. Something as simple as \nresponding to your reviews\n can have a positive impact on revenue. And it all starts by claiming your listing.\nThis post will show you, in a few easy steps, how to claim a business on TripAdvisor, so let’s get started!\nHow to claim your business listing on TripAdvisor\nStep 1: Start a new TripAdvisor business account (or log into your current account)\n(Image)\n\nVisit \nTripAdvisor.com\n and Click the Join button in the top-right corner of the page.\nIf you choose to continue with either your existing Facebook or Google account, you will need to login with the email and password associated with the Facebook or Google account you choose.\nIf you choose to continue with another email address, please enter any existing email address you own and have access to (e.g.: @gmail.com, @yahoo.com, @businessname.com), create a password, then click Join.\nIf you already have a TripAdvisor account, simply enter it and log in as you normally would.\nNote: The email address you provide when creating your TripAdvisor account will NOT be visible to your customers. Please provide the best recovery email address in the event you forget your login password.\nStep 2: Search for your business listing on the TripAdvisor owners page\nOnce you’re logged into your TripAdvisor account, visit the business owner page at \nTripAdvisor.com/Owners\n to claim your listing.\n(Image)\n\nStart typing the name of your business in the search field provided. \nOnce your business listing appears in the dropdown list below, select it and click Claim Your Business.\nNote: If your business doesn’t appear in the search results, then you’ll need to add the listing yourself. Simply go to \nTripAdvisor.com/GetListedNew\n and follow the steps on the page.\nStep 3: Claim your TripAdvisor business listing\n(Image)\n\nEnter your name as you want it to appear when you reply to customer reviews. TripAdvisor will not display your full last name, just your first name and your last name initial. For example, John Smith with appear as John S.\nUpdate your business phone number if necessary. \nUpdate your business email if necessary.\nSelect your role in the business as you want it to appear when replying to customer reviews. For example, “John S. Owner replied”\nCheck the box to certify you are an authorized account user representing the business and to agree to the Terms of Use & Privacy Policy guidelines. Then click Continue.\nStep 4: Verify your identity\n(Image)\n\n(Image)\n\nTripAdvisor requires that you verify your identity to claim, manage and update information on your business listing. Most businesses chose to verify via phone, but make sure you (or an employee) are able to receive a call or text at your business line at the time you request this option. \n(Image)\n\nOnce you’ve submitted the code, you will have successfully claimed your TripAdvisor business listing! (If this method doesn’t work, you can also verify your identity by providing a credit card under your name).\nNow that you’ve claimed your listing, you can add photos of your business, respond to reviews, and more. Simply log in to your account to get started.\nStay on top of your online reputation \nAfter you’ve claimed your TripAdvisor business listing, check out our other guides:\n\nHow to claim your Google my Business listing\n\n\nHow to claim your business on Yelp\n\nClaiming your business on every review site is just the first of many important steps when it comes to managing your local business in today’s digital world. Reading and responding to reviews on all the review sites that are relevant to your business type is key, so be sure to keep up on that important task as well.

How to claim your business listing on TripAdvisor

In this article:\nWhy use OpenTable\nHow to add your restaurant to OpenTable\nAbout optional OpenTable services\nOpenTable leads the industry in online restaurant reservations. On average, this trusted platform seats 128 million people per month in restaurants worldwide. \nTo take advantage of the opportunities OpenTable can provide your restaurant, you need to add your listing to their website. \nWhy use OpenTable for your restaurant\nOpenTable helps local consumers find top-rated restaurants near them. When someone is looking for a new place to dine, this is a common place they will go to look. \nHere are some of the cool benefits that OpenTable can provide to your restaurant:\nReserve more seats and increase revenue with their marketing platform\nImprove customer relationships and gather online ratings\nFull-service solution helps you market, manage, and operate your restaurant\nFree online training for OpenTable services with professionals in the restaurant industry\nOpenTable partners with Yelp, Google, and other directories to allow customers to book reservations from these sites\nRestaurants pay OpenTable a monthly subscription fee for their full-service plan, which includes electronic reservation software, customer support, and unlimited upgrades, along with a one-time installation fee that covers on-site installation of the software and training for employees. \nAnother option (which is also included with their full-service plan) is to only use the reservation capabilities. For this, they charge a $1.00-$2.50 fee per seat booked on OpenTable (and other online directories) or $0.25 per seat booked through your website (via OpenTable’s software). But for most restaurants, it only takes three reservations to break even on the monthly costs of this plan. (Please confirm current pricing.)\nYou don’t have to take advantage of all of OpenTable’s products and services to create your listing, but it’s nice to know that these capabilities are available to you—and if you need a little extra help with marketing, they have some great tools!\nHow to create or claim your restaurant’s OpenTable profile\nIn this section, we’ll take you through each step of adding your restaurant to OpenTable. There are two options for doing this: suggest your restaurant to OpenTable or submit your restaurant’s information to OpenTable through their form. \nOption 1 – Suggest your restaurant to OpenTable\nWith this option, you can suggest your restaurant to be added to OpenTable’s directory. \nThis form\n is intended for customers to add their favorite restaurants to OpenTable, and your restaurant can be your favorite!\nJust add the following information and hit submit:\nRestaurant name\nRestaurant city and state\nRestaurant zip (optional)\nWhy this restaurant should be on OpenTable (optional)\nAt the end of the form it asks, “May we share this info with the restaurant?” If you check yes, OpenTable will try to pass this form onto you to show that customers are interested in your restaurant. Feel free to check “no” on this to keep them from sending you your own information. \nOption 2 – Submit your restaurant to OpenTable through their website\nGo to OpenTable’s \nsite for restaurateurs\n and click “Get Started” to fill out their \nform\n, or call their customer support line at (866) 951-7154.\nYou’ll need to provide the following information:\nFirst and last name\nRestaurant name\nEmail address\nPhone number\nRestaurant city, state, zip, and country\nAfter you’ve completed the form and submitted it, OpenTable will contact you via email or phone to provide more information about their services. You don’t need to opt-in to their services in order to get listed in their directory. \nOpenTable will list any restaurant in their directory for free, but if you want to have full access to make changes to your restaurant’s profile and use OpenTable’s online reservation tools, you’ll have to subscribe to their services. \nIn order to update your listing information without paying for OpenTable’s services, you can email \nsupport@opentable.com\n.\nOptional OpenTable features\nOpenTable has three main products they offer to restaurants that join their network. Here’s a little more information about them so you can decide if you’d like to try them out. \n1. Electronic Reservation Book\nThe most common product on OpenTable is its Electronic Reservation Book (ERB). This tool handles all reservations online and in-store, allowing you to see your floor plan to better manage seating arrangements for customers. \n2. Connect Service\nThis solution allows you to connect your online booking capabilities to different platforms, like Google, Yelp, TripAdvisor, and more. You can accept and track reservations across these different websites through a mobile app or on your desktop computer. \n3. GuestCenter Plan\nThis is OpenTable’s full-service package. They provide reservation management along with shift summaries for employees, multiple table management, and the ability to create guest profiles. You can also integrate it with your POS system and get real-time analytics and reporting. \nGet set up on OpenTable and see how it can benefit your restaurant!

How to add your restaurant to OpenTable

In this 8-minute read:\n24 free listing sites to add your restaurant to\nHow to manage your listings\nThe great thing about owning a restaurant is that everyone loves food, and there’s never going to be a decrease in demand for top-quality places to eat. But how do you make sure that your restaurant is showing up above the tons of other restaurants in your area? \nShowing up in the local search results on Google—and Google Maps results—is crucial to getting your restaurant in front of new customers. One way to help \nimprove your local search engine rankings\n is to add your business information to online directories. This helps Google and other search engines to verify your information and gives your restaurant more credibility. It also puts your restaurant on other websites where customers are searching for new places to eat. Win, win!\nBe sure to add your restaurant to these 24 free listing websites and watch as the calls and reviews start coming in. \n1. Google My Business\nGoogle My Business is how you get your restaurant to show up on Google Maps in the first place. Without this, the other online listings still help you, but they don’t provide as much value for you on Google. \nAlso, research shows that in terms of its correlation to increased sales, Google is the most important of any of the single review sites. Businesses who claim their Google listing average 10% more in annual revenue than the average business, but those who don’t claim theirs average \n24% less\n in annual revenue, so you want to make sure you are showing up here. \nFollow our simple steps and learn \nhow claim your Google Business listing\n. \nGo deeper: read about \nGoogle Maps Advertising\n2. Yelp is essential for restaurants\nYelp is a crucial \nonline review\n platform for restaurants to add their information to. As the third most popular online review site, Yelp provides you great opportunities to grow the reach for your restaurant. You need to have a Yelp listing to get reviews on Yelp, and so many people check these reviews when trying to decide what new restaurant they want to try out on date night. \nGuide: \nHow to claim your business listing on Yelp\n3. GrubHub: the new hotness\nGrubHub is free to list your restaurant, however, if you are capturing orders on their site, that’s when they’ll charge a small fee for their service. A great benefit of GrubHub, besides appealing to the introvert in all of us, is that when you create your GrubHub listing it will feed over to other sites like MenuPages and Seamless (also popular restaurant listing sites). \n4. Zagat: the premier restaurant listing\nZagat is a little more exclusive and won’t just list any restaurant, but they are free and if you can get on their radar, it’s a great opportunity for you. The nice thing too is that they pull directly from Google My Business. \n5. Allmenus is great for restaurants\nAllmenus lists more than 345,000 across the United States, and it is their goal to help restaurant owners like you get more customers. You can join AllMenus by using their \nform here\n. \n6. OpenTable: more than reservations\nOpenTable is the restaurant listing website for tens of thousands of restaurants worldwide. With reviews and online booking capabilities, they can help you get noticed by even more customers. Suggest your restaurant to be on their site for free with \nthis form\n.\n7. 8coupons\nEveryone loves a deal! And 8coupons provides the perfect platform for your restaurant to offer sweet deals and entice more customers to knock on your doors. \n8. TripAdvisor? Yes please!\nWith TripAdvisor’s 390 million unique visitors each month, this is a listing that your restaurant has to have, especially if you live in a tourist town. When friends and family are visiting loved ones in your town or others are on vacation looking for a good place to eat, TripAdvisor is a popular site that people go to. \nGuide: \nHow to claim your business listing on TripAdvisor\n9. Set up your restaurant’s Facebook page\nYour restaurant should absolutely be on Facebook too! Not only is this a great way to promote brand awareness and get involved in local online communities, but Facebook is another platform that people love to leave reviews and recommendations on. \nFacebook has a great tutorial to help you set up your \nbusiness page\n. \n10. Instagram is great with younger diners\nInstagram is highly popular among, well everyone, but especially the younger demographic. If you’re trying to reach a younger target customer, you definitely want your restaurant to be here. Not only can your Instagram account show up in the search results and direct people to your website, but if you have highly photogenic food (and let’s be real, people love to ‘gram their food) you can gain a huge following that drives even more customers to your restaurant. \n11. Twitter? Use it for announcing deals\nOkay, so Twitter is a little different from the rest of these and may not compel customers into your restaurant, but it does have its benefits. Along with showing up in the search results, it is a super easy way for customers to reach out to you with questions and suggestions for your business. Twitter is also awesome for spreading the news on sweet deals that you’re offering. \nWendy’s\n is an awesome example of a restaurant that excels on Twitter. \n12. Apple Maps\nWhile Android dominates the market with an 87% market share, iOS holds around 13% of that market share which is still over a billion users. The primary map app on iOS devices is Apple Maps, another free directory in which you can and should make sure your restaurant is listed. You will need an Apple ID to create or edit your Apple Maps listing, but that’s free to create too if you don’t already have one. Get started at \nmapsconnect.apple.com\n. \n13. MapQuest: Yes, it’s still a thing\nAnother site that travelers tend to use a lot, you’ll want to make sure you’re included in their searches. MapQuest support is awesome and can get your restaurant added to its platform within days. Here’s their guide to \nadd a listing on MapQuest\n. \n14. YouTube? “FoodTube”\nYes, even restaurants can win at YouTube. YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world, so if you can produce some awesome videos that people fall in love with, that’s a great way to promote your restaurant! \n15. Don’t forget Bing\nPeople do use Bing as a search engine, so it’s important to make sure that you have a Bing Places listing too. You can get started \nhere\n, or sign in with your Google account and import your Google My Business listing. \n16. \nSolo profile\nWith a free Solo profile, even the smallest local restaurant, pop-up, food cart, or hole-in-the-wall can have a helpful, functional SEO-friendly online presence for free. Building and maintaining a traditional website is simply too much for many restaurant owners to deal with. This is one reason a Solo profile can be such an amazing benefit. \nYour customizable Solo profile can list your business’s location, relevant contact information, links to your social pages, and any business details you want included. Sign up at \nSolo.co\n.\n17. MerchantCircle\nWith more than 2 million merchants and over 100 million visits each month, this is a good one to end our list. MerchantCircle sorts its businesses by category, and restaurants is a big one. Go \nhere\n to claim your listing on MerchantCircle. \n18. YP.com\nYP.com, or YellowPages, is a large directory listing site that 60 million people still use. You can set up and claim your free YellowPages listing \nhere\n. \n19. Old school listing: Better Business Bureau (BBB)\nThe Better Business Bureau (BBB) is a trusted resource for reporting scams. With your restaurant rated by the BBB, your customers or potential employees will feel a lot more confident in placing their trust in you. Follow \nthese steps\n to get your restaurant added. \n20. Manta helps consistency across listings\nManta is, you guessed it, another online directory listing. But they have some cool features to take advantage of. Once you put your business information into Manta’s platform, they will scan their database and check if your restaurant’s information matches up with other listing sites across the web. This helps you to make sure your information is consistent across multiple listing sites, which is an important ranking factor on Google. \n21. CitySearch: locally focused\nCitySearch is your friendly neighborhood listing site. They help consumers find businesses near them. With fun features like voting, award badges, and special deals, CitySearch has your best interest in mind as it drives customers toward you. Add your restaurant to CitySearch through the \nCityGrid database\n. \n22. Local.com\nLocal.com is all about showing users the best places in their cities. Make sure your restaurant is one of those places! Sign your business up on local.com \nhere\n. \n23. Foursquare\nWith its 55 million monthly viewers, it’s safe to say Foursquare is a biggie. Customers can check into your restaurant and leave tips about it for others—like what they should order the next time they visit!\n24. Whitepages/Yext\nWith over \n5 billion records\n, Whitepages is an enormous database of global people and businesses. One unique feature of Whitepages is its \nAPIs\n, which allow businesses to buy and use the company’s extensive data to build their own software. This means a WP listing shows up not only on whitepages.com but also across all of their API customers’ sites as well. \nWhitepages uses Yext to create listings, meaning the two can go hand-in-hand. Yext is a pretty cool platform that allows you to see how you show up across a bunch of listing sites. While they do cost money to update all of your listings from one place (convenient, right?), they do let you check your restaurant listings for free on their site. \nYou’ve claimed your restaurant listings. What’s next?\nNow that you’ve claimed your restaurant’s listings across multiple websites, you’ll want to make sure you keep track of them and be in the loop when someone asks you a question or posts a review to that listing. Set up alerts via the platforms if available, or consider using reputation management software to help you stay on top of it all.\nAlso, when you get a review on any of these platforms, be sure to respond if the feature is available. Replying to reviews (both positive and negative) goes a long way to show your current and potential customers that you take their feedback seriously, and are committed to resolving any problems that may arise.

24 free listing sites every restaurant should be on

In this article:\nMost businesses don’t claim their listings on popular review sites\nThey’re missing out on opportunities to attract and engage customers\nClaiming your business listings is free and surprisingly simple\nSomeone posted an online review about your business. Now what?\nAs we explained in other articles, we highly recommend responding to every review—positive, neutral, and negative. You can’t do that unless you first claim your \nonline business listings\n on popular review sites like Google, Yelp, and TripAdvisor.\nYou also can’t control how your business information appears if you don’t claim your listings, and worse yet—what if someone else claims your page? Plus, your listings will still exist whether or not you claim them. It just makes sense to claim what’s yours.\nman leaving online review on laptop for claim your business listings\nPlus, research shows that businesses that claim their listings on multiple online business reviews sites make more money!\nThe bad news about online review sites: \nOnly 33% of of all Yelp listings and 44% of Google listings have been claimed, and only 23% of businesses keep their listings on these sites current. \nThe good news about online review sites: \nClaiming your listings is free and easy. Claiming your listings already puts you ahead of most local businesses who ignore their online presence.\nLet’s walk through some of the basics for claiming your listings. \n1. Start with the claiming your listings on the biggest online review sites\nBefore claiming a page on every review site under the sun, it’s good to prioritize. For most local businesses, it’s most important to \nclaim your business on Google\n and \nYelp\n. It’s not hard to see why:\nGoogle:\nNearly half of Google’s 3.5 billion daily searches are local.\nThe search engine serves 2 billion active search devices every month.\nAbout 20% of Google searches are related to location (e.g. Google Maps). \nYelp:\nNearly 180 million people access Yelp reviews on desktop or mobile. \nCustomers have posted a whopping 163 million reviews on Yelp. \nIt’s not just for restaurants: People use Yelp to shop for products, find professional services, search for a salon nearby, and much more. \nStart by claiming your pages on these two behemoths. From there, \nclaim your business on Facebook\n, which ranks #3 nationally for local business traffic, and then move on to industry-specific sites like \nTripAdvisor\n (hospitality), and \nOpenTable\n (restaurants). \n2. Claim your business listings\nReady to claim your listings? It’s always free, but every site has its own unique process. Below, we’ve listed our step-by-step guides for claiming your pages on some of the major sites:\nGoogle My Business\nYelp\nFacebook\nTripAdvisor\nOpenTable\nFoursquare\nRefer to our \nfree business listings\n article for many more!

Start here to claim your free business listings on review sites like Google and Yelp

In this article:\nHow to claim and create your Bing business listing (2 ways)\nWhat you should do next\nBing currently holds around 3% of the market share for search engines, which may not seem like a lot. But when you consider the billions of people that do internet searches every day, that means that Bing still gets hundreds of millions of searches daily.\nDon’t limit the opportunities for your business by leaving your Bing listing unclaimed. Follow the simple steps below to get your business added to and claimed on Bing. \nHow to create and claim your Bing Places business listing\nLet’s get to it!\nStep 1: Log in to Bing\nThe first thing you need to do is create a Bing account, or sign in with your Google account (we recommend the latter as it will speed up the process). \nLogging in with Google will allow you to important any existing Google My Business listings that you own directly onto Bing without going through their verification process. Pretty sweet, right?\nGo to bingplaces.com to sign in or sign up. \n(Image)\n\nSign in with Google, if you are able to, otherwise, select one of the other options for signing in: Facebook, Microsoft, Work Account, or create one. \n(Image)\n\nWhen you get signed in, Bing will prompt you to finish setting up your profile, feel free to finish this by adding your phone number and email or just click save and move on. \n(Image)\n\nWhen you click save on your profile information, Bing will take you to a screen that allows you to import your business from Google or claim and add your business manually. Follow the steps below for each of these options. \nStep 2 (Option 1): Import your Google My Business listing to Bing\nIf you don’t own a Google My Business listing, or don’t have a Google account, then skip this step and go to Step 2 (Option 2). \nIf you do own your business’s Google My Business listing, this is the faster way of claiming your business listing on Bing. Click “Import from Google My Business Now.” \n(Image)\n\nA new window will then pop up from Bing and prompt you to continue to Google My Business. This window shows what you should do once you get to Google. \n(Image)\n\nMake sure you select the Google account that is associated with your Google My Business listing. \n(Image)\n\nClick “Allow” on the next screen to grant Bing access to your Google My Business listing. \n(Image)\n\nYou’ll then be brought back to Bing and prompted to “Continue.”\n(Image)\n\nBing will then show you that your business has successfully been imported into their directory. Your listing may show “Not verified” because Bing places each listing under review before publishing them. \n(Image)\n\nWhen you click “Go to dashboard” there will be a little sliding bar that shows you when your listing will be published. \n(Image)\n\nIn your dashboard, be sure to “Sync with Google My Business” so that whenever you update your Google list, your Bing listing will automatically get those updates too. \n(Image)\n\nYour Bing business listing is now done! Just wait for the review process to complete and your Bing listing will go live. \nStep 2 (Option 2): Manually claim or add a new Bing Places account for your business\nIf you don’t own your Google My Business listing or have access to the Google account that does, then select “Claim or add your business manually.”\n(Image)\n\nNext, fill out the information in the form provided: business type, country, and phone number OR business name and location. \n(Image)\n\nBing will do a search for your business in their directory. If it is in their directory, you’ll see your business listed and be given the option to claim your listing. If your business has ever had a name change or other information change, it may be outdated, so look for the best match and click “Claim and edit details.” \nIf you do see your business, we urge you to claim and edit it so you don’t create duplicate listings. \nIf none of the businesses displayed are yours, then click “My business is not listed in the search results.”\n(Image)\n\nBoth options will redirect you to the same form, but if you select a pre-existing business listing, then the information will already be filled out for you. So make edits to the existing information or add your new business information to your Bing listing. \nFirst, add your business name, phone number, and address (make sure these are the same that you use across all your online listings). \nIf you have a website, be sure to add that here too. \n(Image)\n\nNext, select the best category segment and category for your business. You can add multiple categories, and once you have these added, you will need to select a primary category. \nAdd your business description and click “Next.”\n(Image)\n\nNext, you will need to indicate whether or not Bing should show your address to customers. If you have a physical storefront where customers can come in to see you, then you should select “Yes.” This will help you show up better in Bing’s search results. \nIf you have a service area business where you go to your customer and are using a satellite office or employee’s home for your address, you should select “No” to hide the address. \n(Image)\n\nThen you will need to enter contact information for your business. This will have an email address option, so make sure you enter an email that customers can reach you with. \nYou can also enter information for the following social accounts:\nFacebook\nTwitter\nYelp\nTripAdvisor\n(Image)\n\nThen be sure to add plenty of photos to your Bing listing. Photos of your location, logo, and branding will be helpful for customers to recognize and find you. If you sell products or serve food, images of those would also be great to include here. \n(Image)\n\nNext, add your hours so customers will know when you are open and available. \n(Image)\n\nThe last section of your listing is for menus and pricing. If your business is a restaurant, be sure to include a link to your menu and online ordering if applicable. \nOnce that is done, click “Submit” to complete your Bing listing. Proceed to Step 3 to verify your listing.\n \n(Image)\n\nStep 3: Verify your business listing on Bing Places\nBing provides four options for verifying businesses in their directory: phone verification (by text or phone call), email, and mail. Phone verification will only be an option for your business if it was already listed on Bing and your address didn’t change. \nEmail will only be an option if you have are updating an existing listing and have an email on the domain of the listing’s website. For example, support@solo.co. \nProceed through each option to see how you can verify your business listing on Bing. \n1. Phone call\nWith this option, Bing will place an automated call to the phone number on your listing. They will provide a code that you will need to enter once you click “Verify now” and receive the call. \n(Image)\n\n2. SMS/text\nYou’ll only be able to do this option if you have the ability to receive text messages for your office line. Click “Verify now” to receive a text message to verify your Bing listing. \n(Image)\n\n3. Email\nEnter in an email address you have access to that is on your website’s domain. Then click “Verify now” to get an email to verify your Bing listing. \n(Image)\n\n4. Mail\nIf you are unable to complete any of the previous methods for verification, you’ll need to have Bing send you a piece of mail with a verification code. This can take 5-6 business days to reach you. \nBing will send the code by mail to the address you listed, so make sure you can receive mail at your address before doing this. \nWhen you receive the code, just log back into your Bing Places account and enter it on your business listing to finish your verification. \n(Image)\n\nFinished claiming your Bing business listing? Here’s what you should do next\nNow that your listing is complete on Bing, there’s a lot more that you can do to improve your online visibility. But don’t get intimidated—we have a couple of great guides with some free tips to help you improve your local search engine rankings. \nLocal SEO: 15 free tips for better search rankings\n\n25 free business listing websites every small or local business should be on\n\n

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