Microsoft Introduces New Bing Places For Business

Microsoft has introduced the new Bing Places for Business, designed to drive better customer engagement through improved search integration.

Bing Places for Business has a new design, which is now rolling out to all users, and can be accessed at bing. com/forbusiness. The enhanced product features a new recommendation engine, quicker and more reliable Google Business Profile import, and automatic migration for existing users.

Microsoft Redesigned Bing Places

The redesign follows extensive research with business owners, many of whom reported difficulties locating the previous version of the platform, navigating its interface, and managing bulk location imports efficiently.

Microsoft explained:

“Before we wrote a single line of code, we spent months listening to business owners about their challenges and goals.”

Feedback like this influenced the development of a sleeker, more straightforward, and more user-friendly tool.

Key Improvements and New Features

Enhanced Google Business Profile Import: The import flow for multi-location brands and agencies has been redesigned to retain crucial information, including business names, hours of operation, and contact details, with stronger management features such as dashboards, bulk editing, and real-time status updates.

Recommendation Tool: This new feature assesses the completeness of business listings and provides recommendations for additional, helpful content, such as photos, links to websites, hours of operation, and social media pages, or more specific options based on categories (menu links or an online ordering link for restaurants). It’s created specifically for those new to local SEO, so they know what to prioritize.

Automatic Migration: Existing Bing Places users and their listings are automatically migrated to the new platform. Users who sign in with their old credentials are silently redirected to the new experience.

Further Updates for Bing Places

Microsoft says we should expect more updates in the months ahead, which will offer deeper integrations with Bing Maps and Copilot, along with broader support aimed at agencies and partners who want to manage lists of this type.

A claimed Bing Places listing can have a significant impact on local search visibility in Bing Search and Bing Maps. The result is that they can help customers discover the answers to important questions about location, hours, and contact information, which impacts foot traffic and online engagement.

Additionally, the new Google import process makes it easy to keep Bing listings in sync with Google Business Profiles, minimizing administrative work. The new Bing Places for Business is now available for everyone at bing.com/forbusiness.

Bottom Line

For businesses seeking to boost their local search presence, this platform is worth considering. Utilize the recommendation feature and update all profile details to increase the likelihood of capturing more local audience engagement. Continued investment from Microsoft shows Bing Places is a valuable tool for local SEO.