What Is Apple Business Connect and How Can It Benefit Your Small Business
Technology continues to evolve, and new tools emerge daily with the increased use of mobile devices and applications. Apple is one company that continues to develop tools to help its users access products and services they require from different businesses in their local area. The revamped Apple Business Connect, launched in January 2023, is aimed at helping small businesses reach current and potential customers in their geographic area using Apple Maps and Apple related products.
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What Is Apple Business Connect?
Apple Business Connect is a free tool introduced by Apple that allows businesses of all sizes to customize and create a place card to represent their business online within Apple Maps and related Apple products. The tool has built-in features that offer directions, photos, contact information, and special promotions for a business. Businesses eligible for an Apple Place Card include places to shop, restaurants, entertainment venues, service businesses, and many more.
How to Register an Apple Business Connect Place Card
Small businesses can either use their existing Apple ID or create a new Apple ID to register or claim their business at Apple’s self-service website. Once logged in, you can add your business information and update and personalize your place card. If your business already exists on Apple Maps, you can claim and optimize your existing listing.
The following are the steps to claim and optimize your profile:
- Visit Apple’s self-service website at https://businessconnect.apple.com/ (we recommend doing so on a computer)
- Login if you already have an Apple ID that you’re comfortable associating with your Business. Otherwise, select “Create yours now” on the login screen to create a new Apple ID.
- Click “Add Location” and search for your business on Apple Maps.
- Note that if your Apple ID manages multiple businesses, you may have to go through an extra step to create a business holding account which will contain that business’ specific locations.
- If you see your business listed, click on your business name and proceed to the next step.
- If your business is not listed when conducting a business search, select "add a new place.”
- Update the business information, and add contact info, accurate map markers, photos, and more.
- Verify the business by entering the verification code sent via the business number you used. Proof of ownership, such as a license or utility bill, may be requested when advanced verification is needed.
- Once your listing is verified, be sure to fully optimize your Apple Business Connect listing to get maximum visibility.
If you want to simplify management of your Apple Maps business listing, you can either use BrightLocal’s Active Sync service which synchronizes your company’s information with Apple Maps, Google Business Profile, Bing Places for Business, and Facebook. Or, you can use Semrush's Listings Management service which manages Apple and 90+ other listings all in one interface, with a slightly higher price tag.
Benefits of Apple Business Connect
Apple Business Connect can help your small business boost your local visibility and advertise your products and services in search engines through Apple's technology, including Macs, iPads, iPhones, and more. Additionally, other third-party platforms including search engines, like DuckDuckGo, use Apple's data for their own interfaces. Other benefits of this tool include:
1. Improve Customer Engagement
Apple Business Connect’s quick actions allow customers to quickly and easily engage with your small business. With just a tap, customers can look up detailed business information, book a reservation, schedule an appointment, view location photos, and more!
2. Share Limited Offers and Announcements
Via Apple’s Showcases feature, you can update your Apple listing to showcase promotions, offers, and seasonal specials your small business may be offering. Leveraging Showcases can gain additional visibility for your promotions within Apple Maps.
3. Monitor Performance with Insights
With Apple Business Connect’s Insights feature, it is now possible for you to monitor the number of clicks on your listing, measure incoming traffic, analyze how your listing has been found by users, and more. You can also see what buttons people are clicking on your listing including if they are requesting directions, sharing your listing, clicking our website, viewing a promotion on Showcases, or calling you directly from your listing.
If you’re looking to get a more holistic view of how your business ranks across search engines like Google and Bing, consider implementing robust keyword tracking to measure your visibility for target keywords and phrases.
4. Use Apple Business Connect to Boost Your SEO
Similar to Google Business Profile (GBP), claiming and optimizing your Apple Business Connect place card can help improve your small business’ local search engine optimization (SEO) and visibility. Having a complete and personalized place card will allow Apple users to quickly find, learn about, and engage with your small business. Additionally, your company will benefit from increased visibility on third-party platforms that source location data from Apple Maps products.
How to Optimize Your Apple Business Connect Listing
If you want to maximize your Apple listings visibility within Apple products, you must optimize your listing. The following are steps you should complete upfront and on an ongoing basis.
1. Claim and Verify Your Business
Just because your business is listed on Apple Maps does not mean your listing is claimed and verified. Claiming an existing Apple listing or adding your business from scratch can unlock additional features and boost your visibility within the Apple maps platform.
As such, the first step to getting the most out of Apple Business Connect is to add/claim your Apple business listing and go through the steps to verify your business.
2. Include Accurate and Complete Information
After claiming and verifying your business, you can then create your place card, upload photos, add your services and/or products, and more. When creating your place card, be sure to provide accurate information about your business, including up-to-date contact details, hours of operation, your business description, and other various attributes or additional features of your business.
The goal for your Apple business profile is that your Apple place card should be fully complete, contain accurate information, and entice users to engage with your business. Populate every field possible to maximize your visibility within Apple's platform.
3. Routinely Check and Update Your Business Information
Regularly check your listing and keep your company’s information up-to-date on Apple Maps, as changes in hours, holiday closings, services, or contact details may occur over time. Regular updates certainly include adding photos of new products or great new improvements at your store.
Make sure any updates are reflected accurately and promptly on your place card to keep customers informed of the latest information regarding your business.
4. Utilize Insights and Monitor Activity
With Apple Business Connect, you can monitor your place card activity by reviewing metrics such as search queries, clicks, calls, directions requests, shares, and other engagements to gain insight on how customers interact with your brand online.
Use insights from Apple Maps to analyze customer behavior, track engagement rates, and understand what’s working and what may need to be improved.
5. Frequently Add Special Offers and Event Showcases
Apple Business connect allows you to create Showcases to highlight your small business’ current activity. You can create showcases to let your customers know about limited offers, new products or services, or upcoming events. Apple’s Showcases feature is a great way to utilize more visual real estate on your listing stand out from competitors.
Consider Automating Your Apple Maps Listing Management
If manually managing your Apple Maps listing feels challenging, there are automated options available. Semrush has a listing management service that includes Apple and 90+ other directories, which has a cost associated with it but is well worth the saved time. BrightLocal has a cheaper option called ActiveSync which manages only a handful of listings, but at a much more affordable right.
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