As you may have heard, IOS6 now uses its own map services which replaced the excellent Google Maps. One of the biggest gripes about IOS6 is the general crapiness of the Map program compared to Google’s product. What you may not know, or perhaps never thought about is how will your business be found in Apple’s product by the millions of people using it daily?
With Google’s map service, your business would show up most of the time even if you never asked to be in it as they have made an effort to make sure that any legitimate business would be found. If you were not in Google’s map product, you could use Google+ Local to add your business. You can add up to 10 photos and even 5 videos from your YouTube account plus a lot more to enhance your listing. What does Apple offer you to help you add your business listing? Zip. Nada.
To see if your business is in Apple Maps, do a search for your business using IOS6 on any Apple product. Do the search using your location, something like business name + city, business name + city + state, business name + street address, or even using your business phone number. If your business does not show up, it’s probably because Apple does not have it in their database.
As I mentioned earlier, there is no way to directly add your business, but you can do some things to let Apple know you exist:
1. Use the “Report a Problem” button. First, do a search as mentioned above. Click on the address icon, on the next screen that has the location info, click on the
“Report a Problem” button. Choose the correct problem either Information is incorrect, Pin is at incorrect location, Place does not exist, or My problem isn’t listed. Click “Next” and enter your complaint into the “Comments” area and click send.
2. The next thing to do is make sure your business is listed in Yelp. Yelp is one of the many review sites that Apple uses to get information and reviews for their Maps program. Many times you will see Yelp reviews when you click on a listing in Apple Maps.
3. Go to http://www.localeze.com and make sure to add your business, you can do this for free, but it may take some time for it to show up. You can of course pay them to add your business to expedite your listing, but you should only do this if you really need help getting into Apple Maps.
Don’t be left out! Millions of people are using the new Apple Maps and millions more will be coming on board in the next couple of years.
