The Key to Your Star Rating on Apple Maps

Are your prospective customers iPhone users? Since Apple owns half the domestic smartphone marketplace, chances are at least half of your customers rely on Apple’s default apps to search, locate and vet products and services they’re interested in purchasing.

Consequently, it is very important for your business to know about the power of Apple Maps. Although it may seem that there’s a lot of focus on Google My Business, Google Maps, the “near me” search and the Google 3-Pac (and we admit we’ve spent a lot of time focusing on these as well!) it’s time to take a look at Apple’s Map search and the impact on your business.

Apple + Yelp

You may be curious to know how Apple ranks businesses in their search, and more importantly your business! Back in 2012, when Apple released their own version of maps, they partnered with Yelp, with whom they are still partnered with today. The alliance allows Apple’s Maps App to tap Yelp’s extensive directory of businesses, providing its users a data rich and reliable experience, while Yelp benefits from exposure. It’s unknown what the financial terms of the joint venture might be since any detailed press about the alliance is hard to come by. Perform a “near me” search on Apple Maps, for say carpet cleaning, and nearly every business listing will have a Yelp star rating and a review count. Until now, you may not have realized how important your Yelp star rating is for attracting new business.

Although Apple is currently beta testing their own proprietary rating and mapping system, until this is fully up and running it’s important to claim your business with Apple and give some attention to your Yelp reputation. In order to rank well on Apple Maps you need reviews — lots of reviews– and a good star rating from varying directories, but most importantly in Apple’s case, on Yelp.

You may be asking, “How do I list my business on Apple’s Maps?” Well, it’s pretty easy and similar to registering with Google My Business (GMB). Apple provides their own portal from where you can claim your business. Much like GMB, you can add business hours, contact information, photos and other pertinent information. Go to https://register.apple.com/placesonmaps/ to get started, and if you’re interested in learning how to kickstart your online reputation, download our FREE 8-Point Checklist!