SEO isn’t just on your website

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What you list on directories like Yelp, Bing and Apple matters too. Search engines, map apps and AI assistants learn about your business from many places, not only your own site. Here’s which listings to claim first, how to keep them consistent, and how to clean up old ones.

What a listing is, and why consistency matters

A listing (or “citation”) is any place online that shows your business name, address and phone number, known as NAP. Directories, map apps, review sites and social pages all count.

Google says it builds business profiles from several sources: what you enter yourself, your own website, and data it licenses from third parties. Bing can copy its listings straight from Google. Data Axle, one of the big business-data companies, says it sends listings on to search engines, directories, in-car navigation and virtual assistants. Your details travel.

So an old phone number or address on one site can spread to others. Customers call a dead number, and search engines see two versions of you. Consistent details won’t guarantee a ranking, but they remove the confusion and make sure people who find you can reach you.

Step 1: Write down your official details

Decide exactly how your business appears, and use that version everywhere.

• Name: exactly as on your sign, truck and invoices. No added keywords or city names.
• Address: your full street address, the way the post office writes it. Pick one format (“Suite 200” or “Ste 200”, “Road” or “Rd”) and stick to it wherever you control it.
• Phone: one local number that rings at your business, the same on every site.
• Website: the same address every time (for example, always https://www.yourbusiness.com).
• Hours, a short description and your logo, ready to paste.

If you work from home and go to your customers, keep your street address private where a site allows it. Google requires it on your Business Profile; other directories vary.

Save all this in one document and paste from it for every listing.

Step 2: Claim the core listings first

Most are free to claim; a few charge for leads or extras, which you can decline.

Google Business Profile (business.google.com). The most important one. See our companion guide, *Google Business Profile optimization strategy*.

Bing Places for Business (bingplaces.com). Powers Bing’s search and maps. You can import your Google Business Profile instead of retyping it, and Bing says listings already verified on Google are verified automatically. Allow a week or two for it to appear. Once linked, you make changes in Google and they sync across.

Apple Business (business.apple.com). Formerly Apple Business Connect; Apple folded it into Apple Business in 2026, and existing listings moved over automatically. This is where you manage your place card, the panel people see when they find you on Apple Maps.

Yelp (biz.yelp.com/claim). Free to claim; Yelp verifies you with a code by email, text or phone. Log in at least every 90 days, or Yelp may show your page as unclaimed again. Claiming doesn’t make you an advertiser.

Facebook. Fill in your Page’s address (or areas served), phone, website and hours. If you show an address, drag the map pin to the exact spot.

Better Business Bureau (bbb.org). BBB keeps profiles on businesses whether or not they’re accredited, so you may already have one. Claiming it is free, and you can update your basic contact details without becoming accredited. Accreditation is a separate program with its own standards.

Nextdoor (business.nextdoor.com). A free business page that neighbors can recommend. Search first and claim it if it exists. Nextdoor suggests keeping it separate from your personal account if others will help manage it.

Angi (the same company as HomeAdvisor; pros now sign up through Angi). You can set up a free business profile. Leads cost money, and HomeAdvisor’s pro FAQ says you pay for each lead whether or not you win the job, so read the terms before you turn leads on.

Thumbtack. A pro account is free, with no subscription fee. You pay for leads, at prices you set, within a weekly budget.

Step 3: The data companies behind the directories

Some companies collect business details and supply them to many other sites and apps. Getting your details right with them helps correct the wider web.

• Data Axle (local-listings.data-axle.com). Free for 1 to 10 listings. Search for your business, check the details, and verify it. Data Axle says it then sends your listing on to its partners, which it lists as search engines, online directories, in-car navigation, navigation apps and virtual assistants.
• Foursquare. Foursquare closed its City Guide app on December 15, 2024, and the website version on April 28, 2025, but it still supplies places data to large partners, and owners can still claim their listing through its business listings portal. Check your details are right.

Step 4: Trade-specific listings

Next, add the one or two sites customers in your trade actually use.

• Carpet cleaning and floor care: if your firm is IICRC certified, make sure you appear correctly in the IICRC Global Locator, which consumers use to find certified cleaning and restoration professionals.
• Contractors and remodelers: a free Houzz profile lists you in Houzz’s Find Professionals directory. Houzz Pro, its paid software, is separate.
• Insurance agents: check your listing on each carrier’s “find an agent” page. Independent agents can also check the Trusted Choice agency locator from the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America (the Big “I”), which launched a new version of it in 2026.
• Everyone: your local chamber of commerce and any trade association you belong to usually have a member directory. Make sure your entry matches your official details.

Step 5: Fix duplicates and old listings

Old listings can be worse than missing ones: they send customers to the wrong number or address.

Find them. Search Google for your old phone numbers and old addresses in quotation marks. Search your business name with each town you’ve worked from.

Google. You’re allowed only one Business Profile per business, and duplicates are hidden from Search and Maps. If you moved, update your existing profile; don’t create a new one. To merge two profiles for the same business, use Suggest an edit on Google Maps. Reviews are combined, though replies to reviews may be lost. If you created a duplicate by mistake, you can remove it from your account.

Yelp. On the duplicate page, select Edit, tick the duplicate option, and link the correct page. For a closed or moved location, use Suggest an edit and mark it closed, with a link that proves it (like your website or a Facebook post).

Bing. Removing a listing from your Bing Places account doesn’t delete it from Bing; it just gives up your control of it. Mark old locations as closed instead. For duplicates you can’t fix yourself, contact Bing Places support, which has an option for duplicate listings.

Listings someone else controls. If a former employee or old marketing company claimed a listing, use the site’s ownership request process. On Google, that’s Request access.

Step 6: Keep it tidy

• Keep a simple spreadsheet: site, link, login email, and the date you last checked it.
• Use one business email address for every account, so logins don’t scatter.
• When anything changes (phone, address, hours, name), update Google first, then your website, then every other listing, then Data Axle.
• Check your main listings every few months. Sites accept suggested edits from the public, and data companies update automatically, so things can change without you.