The short answer
Apple Maps listings are managed in Apple Business, which now holds what used to be Apple Business Connect. A dental group verifies one organization, sets up each patient-facing name as a brand, and adds every office as a location under its brand. Since October 8, 2026, offices can be added and edited in bulk with a spreadsheet of up to 10,000 rows.
Bing listings are managed in Bing Places for Business at bing.com/forbusiness. It is free, and it can import listings from Google Business Profile.
Both go faster when the group already has one approved row of facts per office, the same row that feeds the office page and the Google profile.
Start with one row per office
Apple, Bing, and Google each keep their own copy of your offices. When they disagree, patients call a closed number or drive to an old suite. The fix is boring and it works: one approved row per office, owned by one person, copied everywhere.
The row holds the public name on the sign, the street and suite, the neighborhood, the city, the full state name, the ZIP, the office phone, the office page URL, and regular hours. Add an internal office code too. Apple keeps a private location code field for exactly this, and it is not shown to patients.
Check the row against the office page and the Google profile before you touch Apple or Bing. Google's guidelines ask for the real-world name and one profile per location, and the same discipline keeps the other two maps clean. The Business Profile governance guide covers the Google side.
Apple: verify the organization
Sign up at business.apple.com under a real person's name. Apple sends back sign-ups made under a role name such as IT Coordinator. The email domain cannot already be verified by another Apple Business or Apple School Manager organization, so check that before a vendor signs up on your behalf.
After sign-up you have 60 days to verify. Apple asks for two methods from this list: a D-U-N-S Number or EIN, a TXT record on your domain, an App Store app, or an official document such as a business license, lease, or utility bill. Apple says review can take up to five business days, and longer at busy times.
Watch the deadline. If the organization is not approved inside the window, Apple deletes the organization, its data, and its Managed Apple Accounts. Put the 60-day date on a calendar the day you sign up.
Apple: brands and locations
Every location belongs to a brand. Details set on the brand, such as the name, logo, and cover photo, carry down to its offices, and each office can use its own cover photo. When you add a brand, Apple asks for the name, country, primary category, website, and whether the brand is owned or franchised.
For a group with one name on every door, that is one brand. For a group that kept local names after acquisitions, set up each patient-facing name as its own brand under the same organization. Attach each office to the name on its sign, not the parent company's legal name.
Apple lets you add one office, get it approved, and read its insights before you add the rest. For a group, that is a sensible pilot: two or three offices that represent your normal case and your hardest case, such as a recent move.
If an office is already claimed by someone else, such as a former owner, add it anyway and select Request Transfer. Explain why, attach a business license or utility bill, and send it for review. Apple says that review can take up to five business days. If another organization manages the brand itself, use the ask to join the team option.
Apple: the multiple locations file
The add multiple locations file needs a verified organization, at least one brand, and a user whose role can manage locations. Download the ZIP from Brands, then Locations. It holds a TSV template, an example file, and reference lists for categories, Good to Know attributes, and error codes. Upload as CSV, TSV, or XLSX, up to 10,000 rows.
What the template requires
- Missing Brand Reference ID or Brand ID. Copy both onto every row, unchanged.
- A state written as "CA." Apple wants the full name, such as California.
- A phone without the plus sign and country code. Write +19165550142.
- A U.S. row without the neighborhood column filled in.
- A status other than OPEN or OPENING_SOON on a new office.
Small things that save a round trip
- Start a ZIP that begins with zero with an apostrophe so the spreadsheet keeps the zero.
- Hours are free text, such as Mon-Thu 8am-5pm. Unclear hours come back as a warning.
- The website must be your own site or the office's Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok page.
- An Opening Soon date can be at most six months out.
- Do not leave or refresh the page while Apple processes the file.
The add file cannot carry photos, the cover photo, the logo, showcases, action links, alternate names, service hours, or temporary hours. Plan those as a second pass once the offices exist.
Select Send for Review when the file passes. Apple says review can take up to five business days, and the person who sent it gets two emails: one when it is received and one with the result. Settings, then Activity, has a report with Status, Error, and Warning columns. Fix the flagged rows in your file and upload the corrected report.
Apple: keeping offices current
Once a group has five or more locations, the edit multiple locations file handles changes in bulk. Filter the offices you want, download them, change the cells, and upload. Without a filter the download includes every location in the organization. Before you send it, Apple shows a summary of changes by type, such as Hours: 22. Read that number. If you meant to change hours at four offices, 22 is a problem.
The edit file can add photo URLs and temporary hours, which makes it the natural tool for holiday closures across many doors. Status can be set to TEMPORARILY CLOSED with from and until dates, or PERMANENTLY CLOSED with a date. Do not change the Location ID column. Apple warns that another location may get the edit.
Patients can report a wrong place card from Apple Maps. Apple may then change an office's name, status, or hours and email your administrators and location managers. Each change shows as Updates Available. Select Looks Good if Apple is right, or edit it back and send supporting documents for a name. Give one person that inbox. Holiday and closure timing is in the holiday hours guide.
Apple: agency access
Apple calls agencies and listing vendors third-party partners. The partner needs its own verified Apple Business account. Do not hand a vendor your administrator login, and do not let a vendor create your organization under their name.
An Organization Administrator or Marketing Administrator shares access in Settings, then Integrations, then Partner Access, using the partner's Organization ID. Some partners connect by OAuth from their own site instead. Either way you choose the features, such as brand profiles or locations, and the brands. You can pick specific brands or all current and future brands.
Content a partner publishes is held to the same policies as your own. Review partner access each quarter and remove it the day a contract ends. The agency switch guide has the full handoff list.
Apple: location reports
Settings, then Location Reports, downloads a CSV per brand. It shows search taps split into name or brand searches, category searches, and other searches, plus place card views and action taps for directions, website, call, and share. History goes back up to 14 months. Reports cover brands with 2,000 or fewer locations, one brand per report.
Usage below Apple's threshold shows as zero. A quiet office can look empty week to week, so compare offices by month or by quarter. Category searches are the useful signal for growth: people who looked for a dentist, not for your name. Put these next to Google and call data in the per-office report.
Bing Places
Bing Places for Business is Microsoft's free tool for listings in Bing search and Bing Maps. Microsoft rebuilt it on October 3, 2025 and moved it from bingplaces.com to bing.com/forbusiness. Existing accounts moved over automatically.
Microsoft says the new Google import is faster and better at keeping the business name, hours, and contact details. After import there are bulk editing tools and status updates. That makes the order simple: clean every Google profile first, because the import copies what is there, mistakes included.
After the import, open each Bing listing and compare it with the approved row: name, suite, phone, office page URL, and hours. Look for a former name or an old address. Check what your account offers for groups of listings and for verification before you plan the rollout.
Compare the three listings
Put one office's approved row next to what Google, Apple, and Bing show for it. The form starts with a sample office. The check looks past small differences such as St and Street or a tracking tag on the link. It flags what a patient would notice: another name, an old address, a different phone, a link to the wrong page, or other hours.
Rollout order for a group
- Approve the rows. One row per office, checked against the sign, the office page, and the Google profile.
- Verify Apple Business. Two methods, inside 60 days. Calendar the deadline.
- Set up brands. One per patient-facing name, owned or franchised.
- Pilot two or three offices. Include one hard case. Wait for approval.
- Upload the rest. Multiple locations file, then fix every row in the Activity report.
- Add the extras. Photos, cover photos, actions, and temporary hours as a second pass.
- Import into Bing. From clean Google profiles, then compare each listing.
- Read it as a patient. Search each office in Apple Maps and Bing Maps on a phone. Tap call and directions.
Office row checker
Paste your office rows before you build Apple's file. Use one office per line, in this order: name, street, neighborhood, city, state, ZIP, phone, website, hours. Separate fields with tabs, as they come out of a spreadsheet, or with a | character. The rows stay in your browser.
Checklist
Twelve checks, in the order of the rollout. Your ticks are saved in this browser so you can come back to them.
Apple and Bing listing checklist
12 items
Related guides
The office page each listing points to is in location pages for a multi-office website. Name, address, and phone consistency across the wider web is in local citations.
Moves, mergers, and closures are in the office relocation guide. Claiming each office in ChatGPT is in verify a business in ChatGPT.
For a multi-office group
DDS Web Solutions builds websites and local search programs for dental practices. Our team has been building websites since 2014, we have served 100+ practices, and our offices are in Sacramento and San Mateo.
For a group, we can build the approved office rows, the office pages they point to, and the Apple and Bing rollout, with access shared to us as a partner rather than through your logins. We do not promise rankings, calls, or new patients. See DSO and multi-location marketing, or request a quote.
FAQ
Is Apple Business Connect gone?
The listing tools now live in Apple Business at business.apple.com. Apple's guide says you can sign in with the personal Apple Account you used for Apple Business Connect. Keeping that account limits you to the brand and location features. A Managed Apple Account opens the full set.
Do we need one Apple Business account per office?
No. One verified organization holds the brands, and each office is a location under a brand. Apple says each location can still be managed on its own, whether the organization has one location or a thousand.
Our offices kept their local names after acquisitions. How does that work in Apple Business?
Set up each patient-facing name as its own brand and mark it owned or franchised. Then attach each office to the brand on its sign. If another organization already manages a brand or an office, Apple offers ask to join the team for brands and Request Transfer for a location, with documents such as a business license or utility bill.
How long does Apple take to review?
Apple says organization verification can take up to five business days and can take longer at high volume. A multiple locations file can take up to five business days. A location transfer and a contested name change can each take up to five business days.
Can we put our online scheduling link in the Apple website field?
Apple's template allows the location's website or its Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok page. It does not permit third-party websites that are not owned or operated by your brand. Use the office page on your own site and keep scheduling links on that page.
Can an agency manage Apple listings for us?
Yes, if the agency has its own verified Apple Business account. An Organization Administrator or Marketing Administrator shares access by Partner Organization ID, or the group connects through OAuth on the partner's site. You choose which brands and which features, and you can remove access at any time.
Should we import Google profiles into Bing Places?
If each Google profile is already clean, importing is usually the quickest start. Microsoft says the import preserves the business name, hours, and contact details. Fix the Google profiles first, then compare each Bing listing with your approved row after the import.
Do Apple location reports show patient details?
No. They are aggregate counts of search taps, place card views, and actions such as directions, website, and call. Apple shows usage below its reporting threshold as zero, so read small offices over longer periods.
Sources
- Apple Business User Guide: Sign up for Apple Business
- Apple Business User Guide: About locations
- Apple Business User Guide: Add a brand
- Apple Business User Guide: Add a single location
- Apple Business User Guide: Add multiple locations
- Apple Business User Guide: Edit or remove multiple locations
- Apple Business User Guide: Maintain location information accuracy
- Apple Business User Guide: Share access with a third-party partner
- Apple Business User Guide: Location reports for multiple locations
- Apple Business User Guide: Release notes
- Microsoft Bing Blog: Introducing the new Bing Places for Business
- Microsoft Support: Add and manage your business listing
- Google Business Profile Help: Guidelines for representing your business