How To Add Your Business Listing To Apple Maps

Source: OMGDroid

Want to know how to get your business listed on Apple Maps?  Too bad.  You can’t.  Not directly, anyhow.

UPDATE 10/22/14: Apple launched Apple Maps Connect to allow businesses to add and update their listings on Apple Maps! Check out my Apple Maps Connect FAQ.

But there are some rudimentary tools available for you to optimize your business presence on the maps as much as possible and add a location if it’s missing.  Here’s how:

Search for Your Business
Get your hands on an iPhone or iPad that has been updated to iOS6.  Open the Maps app and enter your business name and location in the search box.  Make sure you use the location.   In its current state, Apple Maps can get easily confused if the query is not precise.  In fact, because the app suffers from quirky data consistency issues, I recommend you do the following searches, just to make sure your business shows up for all of them:

– business name + city
– business name + city + state
– business name + street address
– business name + street address + city
– business name + street address + city + state
– business phone number

If your business listing does not appear for any of these queries, it’s possible that you may have one of the following issues:

– Apple Maps does not have your business in its database
– Apple Maps is confusing your location with a different location (e.g. Miami, FL v. Miami, OH)
– Apple Maps does not have your location in its database

Here are some ways you can try to correct the situation:

Adding Your Business Listing To Apple Maps Database

There are three main ways to currently add a US-based business to Apple Maps:

1. Report Your Location to Apple Maps
   i.     Search for your location
   ii.     In the location detail click the “Report a Problem” link
   iii.     Choose the appropriate problem
   iv.     Choose “Other” on the Report a Problem screen
   v.     Add your business data via the various fields and submitIt’s unclear how often Apple is updating the maps based on user-submitted data, but my guess is they are furiously figuring out how to do it asap.
   
   
2. Add Your Business to Yelp
   Yelp syndicates reviews and other content to Apple Maps.  If your business has been verified on Yelp, there’s a good chance that it will show up on the maps.  If you do not already have a business listing on Yelp, check out How To Add Your Business Listing To Yelp.Again, it’s unclear how often Apple updates the Yelp data, but my guess is this is some of the more frequently updated data on the maps.
3. Submit Your Business to Localeze
   Localeze is the core U.S. business listing data provider for Apple Maps.  If your business is not listed on Apple Maps, go to this URL to check if your business is in Localeze’s database.  If not, you can submit your information to Localeze for free.  That said, the free submissions can take a while to make it into the database.  Depending on how complex it is to verify your submission, the premium submission ($297/year) can take 1-2 weeks.  Localeze provides updates to Apple on a regular basis, although we don’t know how often Apple is updating the Localeze data.  Note: Localeze Premium listings retail for $397. I can get it for you a lot cheaper, so get in touch if you need a submission.
   
4. Submit Your Business to Factual
   Factual.com is another key global business listing data provider. You can submit your listing here.
5. Submit Your Business to Acxiom
   Acxiom is yet another global data provider to Apple Maps. You can submit U.S. listings via My Business Listing Manager.
6. Add Your Business to OpenStreetMap
   OpenStreetMap is kind of like the Wikipedia of maps. Anyone can contribute to it. It’s a bit complicated but once you figure it out, it’s pretty easy. Apparently Apple was using an old version of OSM, but it may have been updated by now.

In the future, I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple creates a formal business claiming process, but I wouldn’t expect that for at least another year.  I doubt Apple is going to create its own data verification process.  Working through a system to allow business claiming while running verification through its various data partners is likely less of a priority than making sure the mapping functionality works.

If you are asking yourself “how can I add my business to Apple maps?” and you don’t have a good answer, feel free to contact me and I might be able to help.

UPDATE: I am now offering a service to help get your business listed on Apple Maps. More info here.