When someone looks up your shop on Google, Yelp, Bing or Apple Maps, they may see a listing with your hours, phone number and address, even if you never set it up. Google, Yelp and Bing build listings partly from sources other than the owner, and Apple can edit a Maps listing itself.
For a shop in Farmington or Unionville, the fix is to claim each listing, which means telling the service it’s yours. Claiming lets you update it directly, and Google and Yelp say it’s free. Each service also asks you to verify, which means proving to it that you run the business.
Yelp says it licenses “basic business information from third-party data providers who gather this type of information from public records and other sources.” Google uses what it finds on the web, data it licenses and what users add. Bing draws on many sources. Apple reviews reports from customers and can change your Maps listing itself.
Customers can suggest changes, too. Say one asks for new hours on Google. If Google sends you the edit to review and you don’t answer within four days, Google may publish it anyway, if other public information, such as your website, supports it. In some cases, where an edit is needed to meet Google’s policies, Google applies it without asking you first.
How to claim each one
- Google: Find your business on Google Maps. If it hasn’t been verified, select Claim this business, then Manage now. If someone else already verified it and you’re authorized to manage the business, you can ask that person to hand it over.
- Yelp: Search for your business at biz.yelp.com, Yelp’s site for owners. If there’s no option to claim, Yelp says someone else may have claimed the page, or it may be new and waiting for approval.
- Bing: Go to bing.com/forbusiness, Bing’s site for owners, sign in and search for your business. Claim it, then verify it with the code Bing sends by phone, mail, email or text, though not every business gets every option. Your changes go live only after you’re verified.
- Apple Maps: Apple’s tool for owners is Apple Business, at business.apple.com. First-timers select Sign up now, then add the shop under Brands > Locations. Apple calls your business account your organization, and you’ll have to verify it. If Apple hasn’t approved it within 60 days of signing up, Apple deletes the organization and its data. If Apple says “This location is already managed,” another organization has claimed it. Add it anyway, then ask for a transfer.
Keep checking after you claim
When you edit your Google listing, anything Google changed shows in blue. When Apple changes your shop’s name, status or hours, it emails you and marks the location Updates Available. Select Looks Good if Apple got it right. If not, select the hours or status, then View Details and Edit, fix it and select Save. A name change goes to Apple for review, which can take up to five business days.
Bing applies your changes to basics such as name, hours and whether you’re open only if they match outside information it trusts. If they don’t, Bing says, they may not go live or may be overwritten. Newer information from elsewhere can win out, for example when your Bing listing hasn’t been updated in more than six months. Yelp says a claimed page may show as unclaimed again after the owner is inactive for a while.
Keep your website’s hours and phone number current, too. Google names a business website as public information that can back up a customer’s edit.
The Standard: Claim and verify your shop on Google, Yelp, Bing and Apple Maps, then sign in and check your details at least every six months.
Source: Google Business Profile Help: “Understand Google updates on your Business Profile,” “Understand how Google sources & uses info in Business Profiles & local search results” and “Add or claim your Business Profile“; Yelp for Business and Yelp Support: “How did my business information end up on Yelp?,” “What is a claimed business?” and “How do I claim a business page?“; Bing Places for Business: “Manage your listing,” “Edit your listing” and the Bing Places home page; Apple Business User Guide: “Add a single location in Apple Business,” “Sign up for Apple Business” and “Maintain location information accuracy with Apple Business,” all read Oct. 12, 2026.
This coverage is supported by Farmington Storage, 155 Scott Swamp Road, the only storage facility in Connecticut with Museum air. Your listings may start from public records; the paper records your business keeps can live there instead of under the counter. 860.777.4001 📦
Jack Beckett has covered Farmington long enough to know that most of what gets written about a town, the town did not write. He is on his second coffee, which is about as current as the Mercury gets. ☕
The Farmington Mercury covers the town: Town Council and the land use boards, the police log, the schools, elections, and the businesses in Farmington and Unionville. Our motto is “Always last to breaking news,” and nobody has ever accused us of breaking it. Find us at farmingtonmercury.com and tell a neighbor. 📰