Directories & Citations

1. 1

   Set your master facts

   Write one master record of your business facts and copy from it every time. Include the exact business name, phone number, address or service area, website address, hours, categories, a short description and your logo.

   Decide small details once, such as Street or St and Suite or #, and never change them from listing to listing. Your facts should match your website, your Google Business Profile and your state registration. Small differences across many sites make it harder for search engines to tell they are all the same business.

   • Write one master record of business facts
   • Pick one spelling for every address detail
   • Save a short and a long description
   • Copy from the record for every listing
2. 2

   Bing Places

   Claim your listing at Bing Places for Business, now found at bing.com/forbusiness. Bing powers search results in Microsoft products and other apps, so the listing reaches people who never use Google.

   If your Google Business Profile is already set up, Bing Places can import it and sync it weekly, every two weeks or monthly, which keeps the facts matching. Verify the listing, then check that the hours, categories and service area came over correctly. Log in a few times a year to make sure the sync still works.

   • Sign in at bing.com/forbusiness
   • Import from Google and turn on sync
   • Verify the listing
   • Check the facts against your master record
3. 3

   Apple Business and Apple Maps

   Claim your place on Apple Maps through Apple's no-charge business portal, called Apple Business. It replaced the older Apple Business Connect, and listings claimed there moved over on their own. Your listing shows in Apple Maps, Siri and other Apple apps, which many iPhone owners use instead of Google Maps.

   Sign in at business.apple.com with an account the business controls, search for your business and claim it or add it new. Apple will ask you to verify your organization. Add your hours, phone, website, categories and photos, using the same facts as your master record. Service-area businesses should read Apple's current rules on how they can be listed.

   • Sign in at business.apple.com
   • Claim or add your business
   • Complete Apple's verification
   • Add hours, photos and matching facts
4. 4

   ChatGPT Business Hub

   ChatGPT shows business listings in its answers, and OpenAI's Business Hub is where an owner claims one. Open Business Hub from the ChatGPT sidebar or at chatgpt.com/business-hub, search for your business and pick the listing that matches. Local businesses can currently claim only a listing that already exists, so check back later if yours is not there yet.

   OpenAI asks you to verify with a business phone, business email, a DNS record on your website domain or Shopify, then confirm your identity. Once approved, update the details using the same facts as your master record. Claiming does not raise your place in answers, but it keeps what ChatGPT says about you correct.

   • Open Business Hub in ChatGPT
   • Find and claim your listing
   • Verify the business and your identity
   • Match the facts to your master record
5. 5

   Other key listings

   After Google, Bing and Apple, focus on a short list of listings that customers in your trade actually use. That often means Yelp, Facebook, Nextdoor, the Better Business Bureau, your local chamber of commerce and one or two trade or regional directories.

   Quality beats quantity. A handful of complete, accurate listings is worth more than hundreds of thin ones from a mass listing service. Skip sites that look spammy or that ask for payment just to show your name. Add real photos and a link back to your website on each listing you claim.

   • Claim Yelp, Facebook and Nextdoor pages
   • Add your chamber and trade directories
   • Skip spammy or pay‑to‑appear sites
   • Link each listing to your website
6. 6

   Citation record

   Keep a simple spreadsheet of every listing you have. For each one, record the site name, the listing link, the login email, the date you claimed it and the date you last checked it.

   Store the logins in your password manager under business ownership. This record is what saves you when you move, change your phone number or rebrand, because you can work down the list and update every listing in one sitting. It also makes the business easier to hand over or sell, since the new owner gets every listing in one place.

   • Start a spreadsheet of every listing
   • Record the link, login and claim date
   • Store each login in the password manager
   • Note the date of each last check
7. 7

   Ongoing checks

   Check your main listings a few times a year and right away after any change to your phone, address, hours or name. Search for your business name and phone number to find listings you did not create, then claim or correct them.

   Watch for duplicate listings, which split your reviews and confuse customers. Most sites have a way to report or merge duplicates. Reply to reviews on the sites where customers leave them. Update the date in your citation record each time, so you always know which listings are current.

   • Review main listings a few times a year
   • Search your name and phone for stray listings
   • Report or merge duplicate listings
   • Update the citation record after each check

General information only, not legal, tax or financial advice. See the Disclaimer.