Alternative Map Sources
Google Maps dominates the digital mapping and navigation market. A U.S. congressional investigation cited an estimate that Google Maps and Waze, both owned by Google, collectively accounted for approximately 81% of turn-by-turn navigation services.1 More recent data continues to identify Google Maps as a leading navigation application, reinforcing its importance for businesses seeking local visibility.
Google’s integration of mapping information has made its business listings an essential resource for consumers searching for local products and services. This integration is especially valuable for businesses that depend on customers within a specific geographic area that are looking for local servicew. While Google’s market position makes it a priority, businesses should not overlook other platforms that customers use to discover and locate businesses. Two important alternatives are Apple Maps and Bing Maps.
Much like Google, Apple and Microsoft provide platforms that allow businesses to manage how they appear in local search results and mapping services. Although these alternatives generally attract less traffic than Google’s platforms, they should not be ignored. Apple Maps and Bing Maps provide additional opportunities for customers to discover your business, particularly through devices and search experiences that rely on their mapping information.
There are several practical reasons why maintaining accurate business information on these alternative mapping platforms should be part of a comprehensive modern marketing and search optimization strategy. As discussed in Chapter 2, your business name, address, and phone number, the NAP information, should be accurate and consistent across your website, Google Business Profile, and these additional navigation and map services.
The Importance of Apple Maps
Apple Maps is an important component of your digital visibility strategy because it provides access to a substantial audience of iPhone, iPad, and other Apple device users. According to StatCounter (2026), Apple accounted for approximately 54% of mobile web activity in the United States in late 2026, demonstrating the importance of Apple’s mobile ecosystem for businesses seeking to reach consumers. This means that the Apple Maps app runs has the potential to run natively for a majority of cell phone users. many people.
Apple Maps is integrated into Apple’s broader ecosystem, including Siri, Spotlight, and other location-based features. This is analogous to Google’s leverage in its own ecosystem. It also provides another form of structured information about businesses. As AI-powered assistants become more sophisticated, accurate and consistent business information across platforms will become increasingly important in helping AI identify relevant local businesses. It is one more way that AI can confirm that a business is credible. The more accurate and consistent the results, the more likely that a business will be recognized by AI platforms and thus recommended by AI.
Having an Apple Maps listing does not guarantee that a business will appear in AI-generated recommendations. The practical objective is to make your business discoverable, accurately represented, and accessible across every possible major technology platform.
Setting Up Apple Maps in Apple Business Connect
Apple provides a free platform called Apple Business Connect, which allows businesses to claim and manage their Apple Maps listings. Apple Business Connect allows business owners to manage essential information about their businesses. Like other platforms, ensuring accuracy and consistency of information including the business name, address, telephone number, operating hours, and website are critical. Owners should also select appropriate business categories, upload photographs, as well as other visual branding.
The topic cluster supports your work here, as the business should identify available services and relevant business attributes, and provide additional customer-facing information and features that help potential customers better understand their offerings. Just as with Google Business Profile, completing every relevant section helps ensure that customers can understand what your business offers.
One disadvantage of Apple Business Connect is that it does not provide the same simple, built-in Google Business Profile import process available through other systems. Platforms like Bing allows businesses to import supported information from Google. However, Apple generally requires owners managing listings directly to claim, verify, and review their locations through Apple Business Connect. For businesses with multiple locations, this can require additional time, but the process is manageable, and Apple supports multiple locations within a single business account.
The Importance of Bing Maps
Microsoft has made substantial investments in artificial intelligence, incorporating AI-powered capabilities throughout its product ecosystem, including Bing, Microsoft Copilot, and its widely used business applications. These investments are particularly relevant to small business owners because they demonstrate how traditional search engines and artificial intelligence platforms are becoming increasingly interconnected.
For years, most small businesses have concentrated their search optimization efforts almost exclusively on Google. This approach was understandable given Google’s dominant position in the search market. However, as artificial intelligence changes how consumers discover products and services, business owners should recognize the importance of establishing a presence across multiple search ecosystems. Bing provides one of those ecosystems.
Bing Places for Business provides an opportunity to be recognized in yet another place. Much like Google Business Profile, Bing Places allows businesses to manage essential information, including their business name, address, telephone number, website, operating hours, business categories, and other relevant details. Maintaining a complete and accurate listing helps customers discover your business through Microsoft’s search and mapping services.
While traffic to the Bing search site is much smaller than Google, it does represent almost 10% percent of search traffic in the United States.3 Bing and Copilot, one of the most prominent AI platforms, are tightly integrated. Simply creating a Bing Places listing does not guarantee that your business will appear in Microsoft Copilot recommendations or other AI-generated responses, but maintaining an accurate Bing Places listing gives businesses an additional opportunity to be discovered within Microsoft’s search environment.
The broader lesson is that modern search optimization should not depend on a single platform. Google may remain the primary source of customer discovery for many businesses, but Microsoft represents another meaningful opportunity. Establishing and maintaining your Bing Places listing is a relatively simple, low-cost step toward building a more complete digital presence. As artificial intelligence continues to reshape the search landscape, businesses that make themselves easy to identify, understand, and verify across multiple platforms will be better positioned to compete for customer attention.
Importing from Your Google Business Profile to Bing Maps
One of the most attractive features of Bing Places for Business is how easily business owners can establish their presence on the platform, particularly if they have already invested time in developing their Google Business Profile. Microsoft offers the ability to import supported business information directly from Google Business Profile, eliminating much of the repetitive work associated with creating listings on another platform. Instead of manually entering business name, addresse, telephone number, operating hours, categories, and other essential details, owners can use their existing Google listings as a starting point.
This is particularly valuable for businesses operating multiple locations. Information that may have taken hours to develop and organize across several Google Business Profiles can be transferred to Bing Places in a fraction of that time. Depending on the features available to your account, Bing Places may also offer options for periodically synchronizing supported information with Google Business Profile. This can be particularly useful when business hours, contact details, or other information changes. However, synchronization should not replace occasional manual reviews to confirm that your listings remain complete and accurate.This is an excellent example of completing work once and leveraging it across multiple marketing platforms whenever possible.
A Small Investment With Potential Long-Term Value
Google Maps, Bing Maps, and Apple Maps represent three important opportunities to establish your business’s presence across major search and navigation platforms. Although Google Business Profile should remain a high priority for most local businesses because of Google’s extensive search and mapping reach, Apple Maps and Bing Maps should not be overlooked. Your objective is to ensure that customers can find accurate and consistent information about your business regardless of which device, search engine, mapping application, or AI-powered assistant they use. Establishing a presence across these platforms expands the opportunities for potential customers to discover your business.
Fortunately, the additional effort required to establish and maintain your presence on Apple Maps and Bing Maps is relatively modest, particularly when you have already developed the information for your Google Business Profile. Bing Places, for example, allows businesses to import supported information from Google, making it one of the more accessible steps in a broader search optimization strategy.
Applying the Lessons: The Standard Pizza Business
The Standard Pizza Business (TSPB) has already established its Google Business Profile. Now it’s time to make sure customers can find the restaurant on Apple Maps and Bing Maps! The first step is to claim or create the restaurant’s listings through Apple Business Connect and Bing Places for Business. The owner should verify that the restaurant’s name, address, telephone number, website, and operating hours are accurate. Fortunately, much of this information can be reused from the Google Business Profile. Why do the same work twice?
Next, the owner should add business categories, descriptions, and photographs of the restaurant’s delicious pizzas, storefront, and dining area. Services such as dine-in, takeout, delivery, and catering should also be included where available.
One important detail is checking the location of the restaurant’s map pin. Imagine a hungry customer following directions to TSPB, only to end up in the parking lot across the street! Making sure the map pin is accurate can prevent unnecessary frustration.
Once the listings are complete, the owner should periodically check them for accuracy, especially when hours or services change. The goal is simple: Make it easy for customers to find TSPB, regardless of which search engine, phone, or navigation app they use. Whether someone asks Siri for pizza or searches Bing for a nearby restaurant, TSPB wants to be part of the answer. And getting found is the first step toward selling another pizza!
References
1 U.S. House of Representatives, Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law. (2020). Investigation of competition in digital markets: Majority staff report and recommendations. Committee on the Judiciary. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CPRT-116HPRT41367/pdf/CPRT-116HPRT41367.pdf
2 StatCounter. (2026). Mobile vendor market share United States of America – September 2026. StatCounter GlobalStats. https://gs.statcounter.com/vendor-market-share/mobile/united-states-of-america
3 StatCounter. (2026). Search engine market share United States of America. StatCounter GlobalStats. https://gs.statcounter.com/search-engine-market-share/all/united-states-of-america