Bing Places is like digital Yellow Pages, enabling users to locate your business. When you are doing local SEO ensuring that your local listing in an online directory is yours and up-to-date with the right information is imperative. Otherwise, you will lose prospective customers and revenue which is something you definitely don’t need.
When it comes to Bing Places, it is prudent to realize that updating and verifying are two different things. And, although it is a protracted process, you should always check whether you Bing business listing has been claimed and verified.
Claiming Your Bing Business Listing
As a part of your SEO strategy, it is important that you maintain a positive web presence. In fact, this is integral to any SEO marketing strategy. So, if you want local customers to find your services and products, it is imperative that you focus on business listing and link building.
When you claim a Bing business listing, you are in effect creating an online account that requires a username and password. However, there is no need to worry as there is a simple way to find out whether your business listing on Bing has been claimed or not.
Put in your business name into the search box. This will give you the business listing. If you find that the listing is detailed, it is a sign that it has undergone SEO optimization. Hence, you can conclude that the listing has already been claimed. However, there is no need to panic as, towards the bottom of the page, you find the phrase “Change your business listing”. Click on this link. In case the listing has been claimed, Bing will display that the listing has been claimed.
At this stage, connect with the support chat to get them to release the claim on your business listing. To hasten this process, a Bing representative will request you send a verification email from your business email account. After receiving the email, the earlier claim on the listing will be released and you will receive the ownership.
Bing will verify the listing and you can relax and rest easy knowing that it has been verified. Now you can begin your local SEO endeavors to ensure you can be found locally. Remember to enter the PIN number that you will receive by post to complete the verification process.
Removing Duplicate Listing from Bing
As a part of your ongoing SEO plan, remember to remove the duplicate listing from Bing. In order to do this, it is important you claim those listing, verify with the help of a PIN and finally hide these duplicate listing from showing up on Bing Maps.
The method of claiming and verifying multiple Bing listings for your business does work, albeit it can take anywhere from two to six weeks to remove those listings from Bing Maps.
You also have the choice of opting for a community edit by clicking Report a Problem. However, this does not guarantee that the duplicate listing will be removed from Bing local search results.
So, an ideal way is through support chat. Make sure you make a list of the duplicate listings along with their URLs. You will need them when you chatting with the Bing representative. Furnish these URLs during the chat so that the representative can check that they are actual duplicates of your business and you are not trying to hurt your competition.
Final Words
While it can be a long wait to claim and verify your business listing on Bing, don’t neglect this. It will give your SEO a much-needed boost and help you plan your local SEO marketing strategy.