Siri for service area businesses (SABs)

[Ian Hammond]

Hi All!
I have read through some of the voice search threads on here but does anyone have any insight into the best way to approach Siri/Apple for service area businesses? I had an insulation company client sitting in his parking lot asking Siri to tell him "insulation companies near me" but he never showed up... I have started the process of claiming the listing in Maps Connect but support their seems pretty adamant that these listings are only for businesses where someone can go to get goods and/or services (unlike GMB and Bing Places where there is some recognition that many businesses are actually SABs). At the very least, the Maps Connect listings allow for business categories, up to 3 with 1 primary. That seems like a net positive for Siri search results and might have triggered the client's business in his search, but as noted Support is balking at my listing claim so far. Part of this stems from the lack of signage outside of this particular listing but, again, service area business.

So, if it seems safe to assume that Siri at least tries to pull info from Apple Maps then does anyone have opinions on the best way to approach this for SABs?

The client's Yelp listing is optimized as best as a non-apid listing can be and we working on getting them more reviews there--and all the fun that involves--as Apple/Siri seems overly reliant on these listings for information.

Apologies if these screenshots come in ginormous:

 

[JoyHawkins]

Do they have a listing on Yelp?

 

[Phil Rozek]

@Ian Hammond, I know it's a SAB, but are you trying to "hide" the address from showing on the Apple Maps listing? I suggest showing the address, at least on Apple Maps. For two reasons:

1. If you've got a Yelp page with the address specified, Apple will auto-generate a listing for you, based on the Yelp page. Then you can claim the Apple listing if you want to (or if you don't or don't want to, no big deal). Also, once the Apple Maps listing is up and verified, you can hide your address on your Yelp page. The Apple Maps listing will stay up.

2. If you specify your street address on Apple Maps, you shouldn't run into problems owner-verifying it. In my experience, Apple can't tell that you're not bricks-and-mortar.

 

[Ian Hammond]

Thank you for the responses @JoyHawkins and @Phil Rozek. They do have a Yelp listing. "Organic"; not paid. It is fairly well fleshed out with company details but unfortunately, Apple is not pulling in the company business categories. The listing in Apple currently just has them as "Home Services", as opposed to "Home Services: Insulation Contractor" (plus two other adjacent categories). This does seem to be affecting the results Siri churns out.

We aren't trying to hide the address. Even as a SAB the client would prefer people can see a pin in their geo. I think Apple is maybe getting hung up on the verification because they are basically located in a shopping plaza, with a Kroegers, nail salon, ect ect so maybe the business categories just don't seem to fit? I also made the mistake of moving the pin to a more accurate position of the building and now Apple is asking for an image of the"storefront" with signage. Come to find out my client just gets their mail there at the Mail Boxes Ect. So we may have hit a dead end for this route. I am not quite sure how they pulled off getting their GMB verified at that location but they did so prior to working with us.

Thank again for your time Joy and Phil!

 

[Ampere]

I tried to get on Apple Maps for my Electrician service, but they won't let me:

We have verified that the required details are correct, however, although we appreciate your submission, we are unable to honor your request because Maps Connect only accepts businesses with a retail storefront or commercial location that Maps users can visit during business hours and reasonably expect to receive on-site services from staff.

So does this mean that my services won't come up in Siri searches? "Siri, find me an electrician"