Best Strategies for Bing Listing for Business

In a world dominated by Google, it’s easy to overlook Bing. But Microsoft’s search engine maintains a strong and loyal user base, and its integration with Windows, Xbox, Outlook, and the Edge browser means it still drives a significant volume of search traffic. For businesses looking to expand their visibility, getting listed effectively on Bing is an intelligent and often underutilized way to reach a broader audience.

TLDR (Too Long, Didn’t Read)

Optimizing your business listing on Bing involves more than just submitting your name and website. It includes verifying your business, adding rich content, encouraging reviews, and focusing on local SEO practices. Because Bing shares data with other search platforms like Yelp and Apple Maps, an optimized listing can improve your presence across multiple services—not just Bing.

Why Bing Still Matters for Your Business

Bing holds roughly 6% of the global desktop search engine market and over 30% of the U.S. desktop market via Yahoo and AOL partnerships. In addition, Bing powers searches in Cortana, Amazon Alexa, and even certain portions of Facebook Search. If you ignore Bing, you’re leaving a slice of digital real estate untouched—and that means lost visibility, leads, and revenue.

Not to mention, Bing’s integration with Microsoft products attracts a professional, higher-income demographic, which can be valuable for many B2B and B2C businesses.

Key Strategies for Building an Effective Bing Listing

1. Claim and Verify Your Business with Bing Places

Your first step is to visit Bing Places for Business. Much like Google Business Profile, it allows business owners to claim, create, and update their business listings across Bing’s search ecosystem.

• Claim your listing: Enter your business name or phone number to check if a listing already exists. If it does, claim it. If not, create a new listing.
• Verify ownership: Bing provides various verification methods—email, phone, or postal mail—to confirm you’re the rightful owner.
• Fill in accurate information: Provide key details like business name, location, phone number (NAP consistency is crucial), hours, and website.

2. Optimize Listings with Rich Content

Don’t treat your Bing listing as a one-time job. The platform allows for image uploads, videos, promotions, and special offers to make your profile more eye-catching and helpful. Visuals are especially powerful.

• Add high-quality photos of your storefront, interior, and products/services.
• Use keyword-rich descriptions that naturally integrate terms your customers might use to find businesses like yours.
• Update for seasonality: Update your listing with holiday hours or limited-time offers to keep it fresh.

3. Leverage Bing’s Integration with Other Platforms

One of Bing’s unique advantages is its data partnerships. Bing pulls business information from Yelp, TripAdvisor, and Facebook. Optimizing your presence on these sites positively impacts your Bing listing visibility.

• Claim and optimize your Yelp listing, since Bing relies heavily on Yelp reviews and photos for local results.
• Ensure consistency across listings—your business name, address, and phone number (NAP) should be identical on all platforms.
• Maintain an active Facebook business page to support Bing’s engagement algorithms.

4. Encourage and Manage Reviews

Like Google, Bing values customer feedback. The better your reviews across platforms like Yelp and Facebook, the more credible your business appears in Bing search results.

• Ask satisfied customers to leave reviews on platforms Bing uses in its ecosystem.
• Respond to all reviews, positive or negative. Engagement shows Bing and potential customers that you value feedback.
• Avoid fake reviews. They can be flagged and potentially harm your listing’s trustworthiness.

5. Focus on Local SEO for Bing

Local SEO is not just a Google game. Bing has its algorithm and ranking factors for local results. Unlike Google, which is increasingly pay-to-play, Bing often ranks listings more organically.

Here are a few Bing-specific local SEO tactics:

• Use headings and meta descriptions optimized for Bing’s crawlers.
• Register your sitemap with Bing Webmaster Tools to ensure your site is indexed promptly.
• Use schema markup to help Bing understand your content better. This especially helps with featured snippets.

Tracking Performance with Bing Webmaster Tools

While most people use Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools offers comparable (and sometimes even more detailed) insights for those focused on Bing traffic.

• Monitor page indexing to ensure your site appears in Bing search results.
• See keyword and search performance data unique to Bing’s algorithm.
• Fix crawl errors that might be preventing your site from ranking well on Bing.

Mobile Optimization Also Matters on Bing

With more than half of all searches now conducted on mobile devices, even Bing caters extensively to mobile users. Bing Places ensures your listings are mobile-responsive, but make sure your site is also mobile-friendly.

• Use responsive design so your business site adjusts to different screen sizes automatically.
• Monitor mobile loading speed. Visitors from Bing’s mobile search are less likely to wait around for a slow site.
• Ensure click-to-call features are functional, which is crucial for smartphone users.

Utilize Bing Ads for Even Greater Visibility

Although organic listings are powerful, businesses can supercharge their efforts with paid advertising on Bing Ads (now part of Microsoft Advertising). It’s a less competitive platform than Google Ads, often resulting in lower cost-per-click (CPC) and a better return on investment.

• Create location-specific ads to drive foot traffic or local leads.
• Target demographics unique to Bing users—who skew slightly older and more affluent.
• Use remarketing tools to stay top-of-mind with potential customers who previously visited your site.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

Optimizing your Bing listing doesn’t just mean taking action—it also means avoiding common mistakes that many businesses unknowingly make.

• Ignoring verification: Until verified, your listing won’t appear properly in search results.
• Inconsistent NAP info: Make sure your business info is uniform across platforms.
• Neglecting updates: A stale listing sends the wrong message. Keep your listing current.
• Overlooking analytics: You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Use Bing Webmaster Tools consistently.

Final Thoughts

While Bing may not seem like the most obvious platform for business listings, the opportunities it offers are significant. Fewer businesses actively optimize for Bing, which means less competition and more room to stand out. With its overlapping presence across Microsoft products and partnerships with major platforms like Yelp and Facebook, a well-optimized Bing listing creates a ripple effect across the digital landscape. Implementing the right strategy now means you can benefit from traffic and customer engagement that your competitors are likely overlooking.

So, don’t leave Bing behind. Take control of your listing, and make it work for your business—just as effectively as any Google strategy would.