Bing Places for Business in plain terms
Bing Places for Business is the owner-facing control panel for a business’s listing on Microsoft’s search engine and map. A listing is the record of a business’s name, address, contact details and other facts that Bing shows to searchers. The service costs nothing to use.
The listing appears in two connected places. One is the local results inside Bing search. The other is Bing Maps, Microsoft’s mapping service.
On Bing Maps, business search results can show addresses, contact details and reviews. Those are the facts a customer sees before deciding to call or visit. Bing Places is where an owner gets a say in them.
The idea is not new. Bing’s earlier local listing center let businesses add listings to Bing Maps and Bing Local. The current platform is the rebuilt version of that idea.
The rebuild matters for anyone using older instructions. Many guides still send owners to bingplaces.com. That address gave way to bing.com/forbusiness in 2025.
The first part of this series looks at what Bing Places is and who tends to use it. This guide explains the platform’s structure and what it means for a local business.
How a listing moves from Bing Places to Bing Maps
A Bing Places listing works by giving Microsoft a business record that it can show alongside its own map data. The owner supplies and maintains the business facts. Bing combines those facts with the base map underneath.
The base map underneath
The base map is the layer of roads, places and boundaries that every listing sits on. Since June 2020, Bing Maps has drawn its base map data from TomTom, with OpenStreetMap and other sources. A business listing is placed onto that layer.
That split explains why some problems are not listing problems. A misplaced street or a missing road comes from the base map. A wrong phone number or opening time comes from the business record.
The business record layered over the map
The business record holds the details an owner controls. Name, hours and contact details are the core. Photos, a website and social links can add to it.
Bing Places is where that record lives. Changes made there are meant to flow to Bing search and Bing Maps. The part of this series on where the data appears traces those routes.
Bringing data in from Google
The October 2025 relaunch added an import flow from Google. It keeps a business’s name, hours and contact details during the move. An owner with a Google Business Profile can start from that record instead of typing it again.
Importing saves time but is not the same as checking. Any mistake in the Google record arrives in Bing as well. The part of this series on importing a Google profile explains the process.
The ownership check
Verification is the step where a platform confirms the person managing a listing really represents the business. Bing Places has a verification step of its own. The part of this series on verification covers it, since official detail on the methods was not available for this guide.
Suggestions from the platform
The relaunch also added a Recommendation Tool. It suggests things to add, such as photos, hours, a website and social links. For some categories it suggests items like menus.
Parts of the Bing Places platform after the relaunch
The rebuilt Bing Places for Business has a small set of distinct tools, each aimed at a different job an owner faces. Some help with setup, some with upkeep, and some with scale. The table sets them out.
| Tool | Job it does | Who gains most |
|---|---|---|
| Listing editor | Holds the name, hours, contact details and other facts | Every business with a listing |
| Google import flow | Copies name, hours and contact details from Google | Owners who already keep a Google Business Profile |
| Recommendation Tool | Suggests photos, hours, website, social links and items like menus | Owners with thin or incomplete listings |
| Bulk editing tools | Change many listings at once | Businesses with several locations |
| Status dashboards | Show real-time status updates | Anyone waiting on a change to go live |
Setup tools
The listing editor and the import flow are the starting points. One builds a record by hand, and the other copies an existing one. Either way, the owner ends with a record to review.
Upkeep tools
The Recommendation Tool and the dashboards keep a listing in shape. Suggestions point to gaps an owner might miss. Real-time status updates show whether a change is still pending.
Scale tools
Bulk editing tools serve businesses with more than one site. They let an owner make the same change across many listings. Exact file formats and limits are outside what this guide can confirm.
What Bing Places means for a local business
For a local business, Bing Places means a free way to control what Microsoft’s search engine and map say about it. Without a managed listing, Bing still shows what it has from other sources. With one, the owner can correct and add to that record.
A second source of local visibility
Many owners focus only on Google. Bing is a separate search engine with its own local results and its own map. A customer using Bing sees Bing’s record, not Google’s.
Keeping that record right is low effort after the relaunch. The Google import flow removes most of the retyping. The owner’s main job becomes checking and maintaining.
The ordered steps for getting on Bing Maps have their own guide on this hub. That guide runs from first sign-in to a finished listing, while this one stays with what the platform is.
Consistency across platforms
Customers notice when details disagree. A business with one set of hours on Google and another on Bing invites confusion. Using the same facts everywhere avoids that.
The import flow helps with consistency at the start. Later changes still need to be made in each place. An owner who updates hours on Google should update Bing Places as well.
Richer listings
Business search results on Bing Maps can show addresses, contact details and reviews. Photos, a website and social links make a listing more useful. The Recommendation Tool points out which of those are missing.
Locations at scale
A business with several branches has more to manage. Bulk editing tools and dashboards were added in the relaunch to help with that. Each location still needs accurate details of its own.
Reviews on the listing
Reviews are part of what Bing Maps can show for a business. They sit beside the address and contact details in search results. Customers read them as part of the same record.
Where future features stand
Microsoft has talked about tying Bing Places to its Copilot assistant. As of October 2025, that integration was only planned. Owners should not assume a listing shows in Copilot today.
Common misconceptions about Bing Places
Several common beliefs about Bing Places are out of date after the 2025 changes. Others mix up separate Microsoft products. Each is set straight below.
“Bing Places lives at bingplaces.com”
Not any more. The address moved to bing.com/forbusiness in 2025. Existing users and listings migrated automatically.
“Bing Places is a paid service”
It is free. Creating and managing a listing carries no charge. The relaunch did not change that.
“Bing Maps is shutting down”
This confuses two products. Bing Maps for Enterprise was discontinued on June 30, 2025. That was a product for developers and companies, and Bing Maps itself continues.
“Bing Maps still has all its old features”
Some features did go. Bird’s Eye, Streetside and the measurement tool were removed in 2025. Business listings and search results remain.
“Importing from Google finishes the job”
Import copies name, hours and contact details. It does not mean the listing is complete or checked. Owners should review the result and fill gaps the Recommendation Tool suggests.
“Bing uses Google’s map”
It does not. Since June 2020, the base map has come from TomTom, along with OpenStreetMap and other sources. Bing’s local results are its own.
Frequently asked questions
Is Bing Places for business free?
Yes. Bing Places for Business is a free platform for creating and managing listings. There is no charge to add or edit a listing.
Where is Bing Places for Business now?
It is at bing.com/forbusiness. Microsoft moved it there from bingplaces.com during the October 2025 relaunch. Existing users and listings came across automatically.
Can a Bing Places listing be copied from Google?
Yes. The relaunched platform has an import flow from Google that keeps name, hours and contact details. The owner should still check the imported record for errors.
The wider Bing Maps hub
This guide described Bing Places for Business and how it feeds Bing Maps.
The Bing Maps hub also holds a step-by-step guide to adding a business. Four parts of this series sit there too, on what Bing Places is, Google imports, verification and where the data appears. Find them all at Bing Maps explained.