If you run a local service business, here’s a question worth answering honestly: when did you last log in to Bing Webmaster Tools? Most contractors I talk to have never opened it. Josh Thompson, a local SEO in Boise who works mostly with contractors, asked me what I’m seeing on Bing when he was on Unscripted SEO, and my answer turned into a checklist. His answer to my question, what he does first for a brand-new contractor, turned into another one. You can use both this week.
Bing is back, and it feeds the chat answers
Josh lives in Google Maps. His clients’ customers mostly call straight from the map, and he rarely thinks about Bing. That made sense a few years ago. It doesn’t now, because ChatGPT leans on Bing’s index when it looks things up. I’ve seen a test where the businesses ChatGPT put in its map answers lined up almost perfectly with three things: a verified Bing business listing, a first-page Bing ranking and the number of Google reviews.
Here are the three tasks I’d give any local service business, in order:
- Install IndexNow. It lets you push your pages to Bing directly, so you skip the indexing fights you have in Google Search Console. On every client site I’ve used it on, Bing indexes what you send.
- Claim your Bing Places listing. Most of the local competition hasn’t touched it.
- Do what Bing Webmaster Tools tells you. It hands you a checklist of on-page basics. If your H1 is wrong, fix it. If your H2s are confusing, it will say so.
I wrote up the longer version in the Bing playbook I actually use.
Social posts count on Bing
Bing has treated social signals as a ranking factor for over a decade, and it has said so. When I told Josh that, he laughed:
“So the one million, the one million power washing companies on TikTok are actually doing the right thing.”
Probably, yes. I’d guess it’s a mix of engagement and how many places you show up. Social pages are websites, and most of them get crawled. I once posted a trash cleanup event in a big San Diego Facebook group, and only there. Within an hour it showed up in Bing’s chat results. If you’re a local business posting real jobs on Facebook or TikTok, you’re giving Bing something to find.
Josh’s first five moves for a new contractor
Josh likes working with new starts: the contractor who has work but no brand yet. When I asked what he does first, he didn’t mention AI at all. He listed basics that most local businesses still get wrong:
- Get a website and a Google Business Profile. Both, from day one.
- Fix the name. A business called “AA” with no trade in the name gives Google nothing. Add the service, without keyword stuffing.
- Get a map pin. He moves a lot of service-area businesses toward a real location where he can. He called it “a huge piece.”
- Build the service and city pages. Clean URLs, correct slugs, a real H1.
- Make it easy to call. His advice, word for word: “Just put your phone number in a bunch of places.”
The website point is the one owners push back on, since so many calls come from the map. Josh’s answer:
“People underestimate how much Google uses your website, especially locally, just to see what you do.”
If you want to do some of this yourself first, my DIY SEO basics for small businesses covers the same ground for owners.
Why a local SEO is worth more now, not less
Josh made a point I keep coming back to. Online, the SEOs posting on Twitter are pretty sharp. In his local market, the gap between what an SEO knows and what a business owner knows is huge. Think about the asphalt guy working five days a week. When would he learn about Bing Places, IndexNow and title tags? He’s been cold called since the day he registered his business.
That’s why the person who sits down with him, shakes his hand and tells him the truth has real value. As AI agents start doing the searching for his customers, he’ll need that person more. Listen to my full conversation with Josh Thompson for his take on AI agents requesting estimates from the top three plumbers in town.