Apple Maps business listings are about to get more detailed with the launch of “Apple Business Connect” TechCrunch

[ad_1]

Apple Maps is today acquiring a new tool that will allow the decades-old service to better compete with Google: It will now allow business owners to update and manage their information on the platform, including key details such as business hours and location, photos, logos, special offers and promotions and more. To do so, the company is launching a new web portal called Apple Business Connect, which allows businesses to manage their presence across 1.5 billion Apple devices from a single dashboard.

The service has been a long time coming for Apple Maps. Though it first launched in 2012, the mapping platform has for years relied on a streamlined system, the Apple Business Register, to update Maps listings with the correct information. And it leveraged third-party data from partners like Foursquare, Yelp, and Tripadvisor to provide users with other business insights, ratings, and reviews. For comparison, Google has allowed business owners to manage their own listings since 2005, though its product, now called Google Business Profiles, has gone through several name changes since then.

Apple says it won’t remove its Yelp integrations when it launches Apple Business Connect. Customers will be able to see Yelp photos and reviews in business placeholders, and will be able to choose Yelp as a supplier for things like placing an order or viewing a restaurant menu, for example. However, the new system will allow business owners to enrich their listings with important details they may be missing, resulting in richer, more detailed and more up-to-date listings.

Image credits: Apple

After going through a verification process, business owners will be able to update their business post listing with basic information such as working hours, phone numbers, address and more, including an “about” page. as well as with the logo and photos of their business. For the first time, they can also update their business category and even add sub-categories to help Maps users find your business when searching. And they can personalize the information that appears in the “Good to Know” section of their ad, which includes helpful information such as whether a place is “kid-friendly,” has “free Wi-Fi,” offers “free delivery,” is “accessible in a wheelchair” and the like.

If the location on the listing is incorrect, the owner can also move the pin on the map to a more accurate location.

Additionally, some business listings on Apple Maps have an “Action” button that allows a customer to take some sort of action, such as booking a hotel room with Booking.com, ordering groceries with Instacart, or recently , find a parking spot with SpotHero. With Apple Business Connect, the business owner will now be able to add custom actions like these for themselves.

Image credits: Apple

Listings can also be customized for the first time to display special offers and limited-time incentives, such as food deals or tickets to a show. These updates, or “storefronts,” can include explanatory text, a photo, and even a custom action customers can take. They are free to use.

Apple will work with partners, including Walmart, to enhance their corporate placeholders in new ways as well. For example, customers who visit the Walmart placeholder will be able to access a “Text to Buy” feature by tapping a “Send Us a Message” button in the app. They can then start typing in Messages for Business, the service that allows customers to connect with a business through iMessage.

Image credits: Apple

After verification, business owners will also be able to designate other team members who are allowed to update their information and set up their account to update multiple locations if needed.

Because owners use Apple Business Connect to make updates, they’ll see a real-time preview on screen so they know what their ad will look like before it goes live.

While keeping business information up-to-date is the primary reason for engaging with your product, Business Connect will also offer insights that will let them know how their placeholder is performing over time. These can be viewed in an insight dashboard where they can discover how customers find their business and how they interact with the pin.

While many Apple device owners still prefer to use Google Maps over Apple Maps for a variety of reasons, Apple stresses that updated pins won’t just live in the Maps app itself. These updates will flow through Apple’s ecosystem, to enhance business listings in other places like Siri Spotlight, Apple Wallet, Safari and more.

Image credits: Apple

While Apple says today it has no immediate plans to monetize this system to allow owners to elevate their listings in some way, like classifieds, the Business Connect platform appears to be setting the stage for some sort of future effort in that area. Apple has shown growing interest in the digital advertising market in recent years and has broken the Facebook-Google duopoly. Elsewhere on mobile, Apple’s privacy changes have helped boost its advertising business, according to reports. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Apple now also considering a corner in the search ads market, particularly if it could leverage its iOS platform and various features, like Siri Spotlight, to help it along the way.

Apple Business Connect will launch in countries around the world starting Wednesday, initially in the following languages: English, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish.

[ad_2]