Apple Business Register Feedback And Recommendations

[Lluc]

Hi! I came across this post by Jay Holtslander about Apple's Business Register.
I've set up our agency account and I'm waiting to get businesses validated by Apple.

Registration is here: https://register.apple.com/

Has anyone got any feedback/recommendations?

 

[Eoghan_Aircam]

Interesting development but given Apple's historic pace of development in this area I don't expect it to evolve into a GMB equivalent any time soon. As an existing Maps Data Partner, I've been hassling them for years for any sort of reporting on listing performance and no luck thus far.

I played around with the new platform. Besides no real way to manage locations in bulk, the other thing that stood out is that this platform will certainly help get more brands signed onto Apple Business Chat. It's a great platform if your customer service teams are set up to support it.

 

[Contractor]

Is this for service area businesses as well? Last I looked Apple did not let them register on their maps system.

 

[Lluc]

Thanks @Eoghan_MomentFeed !

I've created our agency's brand profile and it's pending validation. Do you know if Apple allows UTM in the urls?

 

[Eoghan_Aircam]

Is this for service area businesses as well? Last I looked Apple did not let them register on their maps system.

No change in that policy I’m afraid.

 

[Eoghan_Aircam]

Thanks @Eoghan_MomentFeed !

I've created our agency's brand profile and it's pending validation. Do you know if Apple allows UTM in the urls?

Not easily. There is a workaround, see below thread. Meanwhile I will check with Apple if there’s been any changes.

Apple Maps Traffic in Google Analytics | Citations

Is there a way to track how many people see or use a business's Apple Maps listing? It doesn't look like Apple allows you to add a UTM to your website URL. Is there another way to track this?

www.localsearchforum.com

 

[Eoghan_Aircam]

Not easily. There is a workaround, see below thread. Meanwhile I will check with Apple if there’s been any changes.

Apple Maps Traffic in Google Analytics | Citations

Is there a way to track how many people see or use a business's Apple Maps listing? It doesn't look like Apple allows you to add a UTM to your website URL. Is there another way to track this?

www.localsearchforum.com

I stand corrected here - I checked a few of our clients who we pass to Apple via our bulk feed, UTM codes are displaying so might be a Maps Connect / direct submission limitation!

If anyone on the forum wants to add their (SMB or chain) locations just to MomentFeed's Apple Maps feed (and not have to subscribe to the rest of our bundled solution - I know that's a bigger decision and sometimes is a blocker to managing the listings at all on Apple), send a DM and I'll help you out.

 

[Peter Hill]

Regarding UTMs - correct me if i'm wrong, but maps traffic would have maps.apple.com as a referrer, and I can't imagine there would be any other traffic coming from that URL.

 

[Lluc]

I stand corrected here - I checked a few of our clients who we pass to Apple via our bulk feed, UTM codes are displaying so might be a Maps Connect / direct submission limitation!

If anyone on the forum wants to add their (SMB or chain) locations just to MomentFeed's Apple Maps feed (and not have to subscribe to the rest of our bundled solution - I know that's a bigger decision and sometimes is a blocker to managing the listings at all on Apple), send a DM and I'll help you out.

Thanks for the info @Eoghan_MomentFeed ! I was not aware of MomentFeed, I'm looking at it now and it might be an interesting solution for our clients, all of them are hotel chains. Because of the current situation, everything is on hold at the moment but I'm interested in receiving further information.

 

[Lluc]

Regarding UTMs - correct me if i'm wrong, but maps traffic would have maps.apple.com as a referrer, and I can't imagine there would be any other traffic coming from that URL.

Hi @Peter Hill I'm thinking specifically of the URLS displayed on the business listings in the Apple maps app (See screenshot below). I don't follow what you mean...

 

[Eoghan_Aircam]

Regarding UTMs - correct me if i'm wrong, but maps traffic would have maps.apple.com as a referrer, and I can't imagine there would be any other traffic coming from that URL.

That is correct sir! Just perhaps UTM enables the aggregation so they can see 1 total for all listings and then perhaps more behavioral insights if they did an Apple specific UTM.

 

[Eoghan_Aircam]

Hi @Peter Hill I'm thinking specifically of the URLS displayed on the business listings in the Apple maps app (See screenshot below). I don't follow what you mean...

In Google Analytics maps.apple.com will be listed as a referring domain which is where you can see the traffic volume Apple Maps brings.

 

[Eoghan_Aircam]

Thanks for the info @Eoghan_MomentFeed ! I was not aware of MomentFeed, I'm looking at it now and it might be an interesting solution for our clients, all of them are hotel chains. Because of the current situation, everything is on hold at the moment but I'm interested in receiving further information.

Sounds good, will DM you. Happy to help. Apple Maps is always at me to send more data so figured this is a good mutually beneficial approach to cover them and maybe a few other publishers who aren't as easily accessible as Bing or Google!

 

[Lluc]

In Google Analytics maps.apple.com will be listed as a referring domain which is where you can see the traffic volume Apple Maps brings.

OK, understood! Thanks

 

[Lluc]

Apple may be soon launching their own search engine:

Apple showing signs it may soon launch a search engine to compete against Google Search

Changes in Spotlight Search on iOS and iPadOS 14 beta, a significant update to its Applebot support page, and an increase in crawling from AppleBot signify that Apple may be launching a search engine soon.

www.coywolf.news

 

[Stefan Somborac]

Apple may be soon launching their own search engine:

Apple showing signs it may soon launch a search engine to compete against Google Search

Changes in Spotlight Search on iOS and iPadOS 14 beta, a significant update to its Applebot support page, and an increase in crawling from AppleBot signify that Apple may be launching a search engine soon.

www.coywolf.news

That post from Jay Holtslander about the Apple Business Register really makes sense among rumours of an Apple search engine and, as Mike Blumenthal pointed out today, the ability for users to leave reviews on Apple Maps on iOS 14 beta.

 

[Eoghan_Aircam]

That post from Jay Holtslander about the Apple Business Register really makes sense among rumours of an Apple search engine and, as Mike Blumenthal pointed out today, the ability for users to leave reviews on Apple Maps on iOS 14 beta.

I haven't actually seen the reviews bit yet, just the thumbs up / thumbs down rating part but it's honestly only a matter of time before Apple releases their own. In the US they do OK with Yelp content but outside, Yelp is a not reliable and they're even using Zomato and Foursquare content with their years old reviews! OpenTable and TripAdvisor are two other (decent) sources they have but aren't broadly applicable across all business types.

If they're ever going to seriously compete with GMaps as a local search engine, they need to solve this challenge and I am glad they are finally making moves to do it. Apple Maps has been a sleeping giant for too long!