Google still brings most local businesses the majority of their search traffic. But it is no longer the only place worth paying attention to. Customers are searching across different engines, maps, browsers, and AI-powered tools, making Bing Places increasingly relevant for businesses that want to be found wherever potential customers look.
Ignite Local has seen that shift firsthand.
Across a sample of our larger clients, the share of search traffic from Google declined substantially over roughly six months, while Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Yahoo all gained ground.
| Search source | Earlier | Later |
| 93% | 76% | |
| Bing | 4% | 12% |
| DuckDuckGo | 1% | 4% |
| Yahoo | 1% | 3% |
These numbers do not represent the entire search market. They reflect what Ignite Local observed across this particular group of clients. Still, the movement was significant enough to matter.
That is one reason Ignite Local has connected client Google Business Profiles with Bing Places and Bing Webmaster Tools. New Bing listings can be created from existing Google profile information, while future updates can stay synchronized.
Google remains central to local marketing. Businesses now have an opportunity to build visibility around it rather than depending on a single source of discovery.
Why Should Local Businesses Care About Search Engines Other Than Google?
A customer looking for a plumber, landscaper, counselor, contractor, or other local service may still begin on Google. Another customer might use Bing. Someone else may search from a browser or device connected to a different search ecosystem, while another asks an AI assistant for recommendations.
The important question for a business owner is simple:
Can customers find accurate, useful information about your business wherever they choose to search?
For years, many local marketing strategies effectively treated Google as the internet. That made sense when Google accounted for an overwhelming percentage of search activity for many businesses.
Ignite Local’s own traffic data shows why we are widening that view.
In the sample above, Bing’s share tripled from 4% to 12%. DuckDuckGo rose from 1% to 4%, and Yahoo increased from 1% to 3%. Google still accounted for the largest share by a wide margin, but the remaining traffic became too significant to ignore.
A strong local search strategy now gives customers more than one path to your business.
What Is Bing Places for Business?
Bing Places for Business is Microsoft’s system for managing local business information that can appear in Bing search and Bing Maps.
A Bing business listing can contain the basic information customers need when deciding whether to contact you, including your business name, address, phone number, website, categories, business hours, service information, and photos.
For a local business, that information serves much the same practical purpose that a Google Business Profile does within Google’s ecosystem: it helps a search platform understand who you are, what you offer, and where customers can find you.
That makes Bing Places for Business an important part of local SEO even when Bing sends less traffic than Google.
Imagine that 10% of your potential search traffic comes from somewhere other than Google. If your information is missing, outdated, or inconsistent there, those customers may instead encounter a competitor with a stronger presence.
Local visibility is cumulative. Each additional place where your business appears accurately creates another opportunity to be discovered.
Can You Sync Google Business Profile With Bing?
Yes. A business can connect its Google Business Profile to Bing Places so that key listing information can be imported and kept in sync.
Ignite Local has implemented this for clients so that Google can continue serving as the main profile while relevant information also reaches Bing.
The synchronized information can include core details such as the business name, address, phone number, website, categories, regular and special hours, service information, and photos.
This provides two important advantages.
First, businesses do not have to maintain completely separate versions of the same basic information every time something changes. If operating hours change or important profile information is updated, those changes can flow through the connected system.
Second, synchronization reduces a common problem in local search: inconsistent business information.
A prospective customer should not find one phone number on Google, another on Bing, and outdated hours somewhere else. Consistency creates a better customer experience and gives search platforms clearer information about the business.
That is why Ignite Local is treating the Google-to-Bing connection as part of a broader local visibility strategy rather than as a one-time listing task.
Does Bing Places Help With Local SEO?
A complete Bing local listing gives Bing more structured information about your business. It gives customers using Bing Search or Bing Maps a better opportunity to find accurate information about you.
But Bing Places optimization is only one part of local SEO.
Your website still needs to clearly establish what your company does and where it works. That means creating useful service pages for the individual services customers search for, and location pages that genuinely help people understand your service area.
Ignite Local’s local SEO work connects these pieces.
We optimize business profiles, strengthen local search visibility, create and improve service and location pages, manage reviews, and monitor how customers actually reach the website. For businesses competing heavily in local map results, Ignite Local can also incorporate MapBoost into the strategy.
The goal is a consistent picture of the business across its digital presence.
If your Bing listing says you provide a service, but your website barely mentions it, you have an incomplete search presence. If your website describes five service areas but your local business information is outdated, customers may struggle to tell where you actually operate.
Strong local SEO makes those pieces support one another.
Google Maps vs. Bing Maps: Does a Local Business Need Both?
For most local businesses, the practical answer is yes, when customers are using both.
You do not need to choose between Google Maps and Bing Maps. Google will probably remain the larger source of local visibility for many businesses, while Bing can provide incremental reach among people who search elsewhere.
If Bing accounts for 10% of your search opportunities, ignoring it simply because Google accounts for more means voluntarily giving up part of the market.
The same principle applies to other channels. Local businesses rarely grow because one platform does everything. They become easier to discover when their website, business listings, search presence, reputation, and advertising work together.
Ignite Local has seen this integrated approach produce results for service businesses. Junk Be Gone, for example, combined a conversion-focused website with Google Maps and local SEO, which helped the company achieve strong rankings across major junk-removal searches and increase calls and booked jobs.
Bing adds another layer to that visibility strategy.
Why Ignite Local Connected Client Profiles to Bing
The decision came from the data.
When we saw meaningful growth in traffic from Bing and other non-Google sources across larger client accounts, we wanted to make sure those businesses were positioned to benefit from it.
Connecting profiles accomplishes several things at once. It expands the places where customers can find a business, helps keep information consistent, reduces unnecessary profile maintenance, and prepares the business for a search landscape that continues to diversify.
Ignite Local is also connecting websites with Bing Webmaster Tools, giving our team another way to monitor and support search visibility beyond Google.
This is where marketing analytics becomes useful.
Search behavior changes. Algorithms change. New platforms emerge. Businesses need enough measurement to notice when customer behavior starts moving with them.
Ignite Local’s marketing analytics and reporting services focus on the metrics that help businesses understand where leads and traffic come from and where marketing opportunities are developing.
The traffic shift we observed is a good example of why that matters. Without looking at the source data, a business owner might never know that Bing’s role had grown.
What Else Should Local Businesses Optimize Beyond Google?
Bing is one piece of a larger change in local discovery.
A local business increasingly benefits from having a digital presence that clearly communicates the same basic facts wherever customers encounter it: what the company does, where it operates, why customers trust it, and how someone can take the next step.
Your website plays a particularly important role.
Clear service pages help search engines and customers understand individual offerings. Location content establishes where you work. FAQs answer the questions prospects are already asking. Reviews and case studies provide evidence that others have trusted your business and had a positive experience.
Those elements can also become increasingly useful as customers use AI-powered search and recommendation tools.
Ignite Local combines website design and optimization, SEO, local SEO, service and location pages, Google Business Profile optimization, review management, and marketing analytics so that these pieces reinforce each other rather than operate as separate tactics.
If an existing website does not clearly communicate services, locations, expertise, or proof, improving the site may be just as important as adding another business listing. Ignite Local’s web design work specifically combines search-friendly structure with conversion-focused pages designed to help visitors become customers.
Is Bing Places Worth It for a Local Business?
For businesses that depend on local search, Bing Places is worth including in a broader local SEO strategy because it gives customers another way to discover accurate information about the company.
The opportunity becomes more compelling as traffic diversifies.
You do not need Bing to overtake Google before it deserves attention. You simply need enough potential customers using it that not having a listing there has a cost.
Ignite Local’s client data suggests that point has already arrived for some businesses.
Build Local Visibility Wherever Your Customers Search
Google remains enormously important, and Ignite Local continues to help businesses compete there through local SEO, Google Business Profile optimization, service and location content, reputation management, and stronger websites.
We are also watching where customers go next.
By connecting client profiles with Bing Places, supporting websites through Bing Webmaster Tools, and monitoring traffic across search sources, Ignite Local is helping businesses build a broader foundation for local discovery.
As search expands across Google, Bing, maps, directories, and AI-powered experiences, your business should be easy to understand and easy to find in the places your customers actually use.
Want to know where your business is visible, and where potential customers may be missing you? Ignite Local can review your current web presence, local listings, website, and search visibility and identify the areas with the greatest opportunity for improvement.
