How to Add Your Business to Bing and Why It's Something You Need to Do

A while back I was sitting with a client, running through some searches to show off how we're ranked number one for website design in Wollongong. Except when we actually looked, we didn't come up. Not the ranking, not even our company name. Turned out the client wasn't using Google at all. I'd spent so long living inside Google as an SEO that I'd stopped paying attention to anything else.

That's the trap a lot of business owners fall into. Visibility isn't a one-search-engine job, and skipping the others means leaving customers on the table.

Bing powers Yahoo's search results alongside Microsoft's own, and it's still the world's second most popular search engine behind Google. It's the default on Windows and Microsoft Edge, and Windows runs on well over half the world's desktop computers, so a huge number of people are handed Bing as their starting point before they ever open Google.

Here's the bit that's changed since we first wrote this post: Bing's index now sits behind Microsoft Copilot, and it also feeds a chunk of what ChatGPT search and DuckDuckGo pull back when someone asks "best electrician near me" or similar. If your business isn't on Bing Places, you're not just missing bing.com traffic. You're missing a growing slice of AI-assisted search too.

Think of Bing Places as Microsoft's answer to Google Business Profile. It's where you add your business details, upload photos, list your services and manage your listing from one dashboard.

Getting listed means anyone searching on Bing, or querying an AI tool that draws on Bing's data, can actually find you. It's also worth knowing that Bing listings can indirectly help your Google rankings. Google looks beyond its own listing and factors in how many other reputable directories your business appears on, so being on Bing strengthens your presence everywhere, not just on Microsoft's platforms.

The best part? It's free, and setting it up takes about half an hour.

Head to bingplaces.com. You'll land on the main page, where you can either click Get Started or Sign In if you've already got an account.

No account yet? There's a "Don't have an account? Create one" link right on this same screen.

Once you're signed in, you'll land on the Set Up Your Profile page. From here you've got two options: import your details straight from your Google Business Profile, or build your Bing profile manually in three steps.

Going with the import option takes you to the Import from Google Business Profile screen. Tick the Sync checkbox if you want Bing to keep pulling updates from Google automatically (weekly, biweekly or monthly, your call), then click Continue with Google.

Prefer to set it up yourself? Click Create Your Bing Profile instead. This takes you to the Find Your Business screen, where you type in your business name and hit Search. Managing more than one location? There's a bulk upload tool here too.

For example, we typed in Love My Online Marketing and hit Search.

Your business should turn up in the results. Click the Claim Listing button underneath it.

Now you need to prove you're the rightful owner. Bing gives you three ways to verify: phone, SMS/text or mail.

Choose Phone and Bing will show you the number on file. Click Request PIN and they'll call you with a verification code.

Choose SMS/Text if you'd rather get it by message. Tick "Yes, please send a text to that phone number" and click Request PIN.

Choose Mail if you'd prefer a postcard sent to your business address, which Bing pulls from your listing. Click Request PIN and keep in mind this one takes the longest to arrive.

Once your PIN comes through and you enter it, your listing goes live under your account. From there you can jump straight into editing your business details, adding more photos, updating your hours or services, and if you're managing this alongside a marketing team or agency, you can also share access to the listing so more than one person can keep it up to date.

Bing Places doesn't cost anything, it doesn't take long, and it opens the door to a slice of search traffic your competitors are probably ignoring, including the growing share coming through Copilot and other AI tools.

If you want a hand building your visibility across Google and Bing at the same time, that's exactly what we do. Business listings, technical SEO, content, the lot, it's all part of our SEO services. Get in touch and we'll sort your rankings so more of the right people find you.

Please note that our SEO services are only available to clients whose websites have been designed and built by our team.