Did You Know You Were Googling It?
The maps app currently on all iPhones is actually a Google product: Google Maps. We’re all familiar with it. It helps us find nearby restaurants, stores, movie theatres – anything, really – and then it tells us how to get there. It’s incredibly useful, and Apple is axing it.
Apple Maps
Don’t worry too much, though. Apple’s not going to abandon you in the middle of nowhere without a map. They’ve created a maps app of their own that will be included in the next operating system upgrade. According to Apple, the new maps will do everything Google Maps did, plus a few more things.
So Why Does My Business Care?
With Google Maps, any business with a Google Places page is listed on the map when a
customer searches using relevant keywords. The customer can then see reviews, contact information, and directions immediately.
Apple Maps will do all of these things, but they’re certainly not going to use any of Google’s information to populate their maps. Google is a direct competitor with Apple now, what with Android and all, and Apple wants nothing more to do with Google’s products. So where is Apple getting the business information to put into its maps?
We Recommend Getting Your Yelp in Order
Have you optimized your business’ Yelp listing yet? You probably should. Apple will be pulling information from Yelp to populate its maps app. If your business isn’t on Yelp, customers won’t find it on their iPhone unless they open up a browser and Google it. And that’s getting less and less likely as Siri use becomes more and more widespread.
Getting Siri to Like Your Business
Siri is Apple’s voice-activated software that allows users to use their iPhones for just about anything 
without having to actually touch the phone. A person using Siri, then, might simply say “Siri, find me the nearest shoe store” instead of opening a browser and typing in “shoe store Lafayette Indiana.” Siri will deliver a list of options and then provide directions through the map.
As you may have guessed, Siri, an Apple product, uses Yelp to find this local business information. So between using Siri and Apple Maps to find businesses, it’s the rare user who will use Google at all on an iPhone.
Now, this doesn’t mean you should stop optimizing for traditional search engines. Plenty of your customers still use a computer with a browser to find your business online. This simply means that Yelp and Siri-friendly keywords are more important than ever! If you need help getting started with Yelp or Siri-fying your business, go ahead and give us a call; we’re happy to help!