How To Add Your Health Care Business To Apple Maps


Apple Maps is the third most popular map service on the market today. With 23 million monthly unique visitors, they are right behind Google’s 154 million and Nokia HERE’s 27.7 million

Is Apple Maps worth the time for a health care business and your practice? 

As you’ll soon discover, it’s a worthwhile investment and a key part of your local search and review management strategy. 

What we’re covering in this presentation:

  • What is Apple Maps?
  • Apple Maps vs. Google Maps
  • Siri with Apple Maps
  • Apple Maps and CarPlay
  • Who uses Apple Maps
  • How does Apple Maps handle Ratings and Reviews
  • How to get your health business listed in Apple Maps
  • The future for Apple Maps
  • Why Apple Maps should be a Priority for your health care business

 

Apple Maps is a web mapping service exclusive to iOS, iPadOS, WatchOs and macOS. As the name suggests it’s built by Apple Inc., but before launch in 2012 they announced that their app would include turn-by-turn navigation, 3D maps with Flyovers from your phone or tablet (or computer), as well as Siri – all of which are designed exclusively for you!

 

Apple Maps offers a variety of features:

  • Turn-by-turn navigation with spoken instructions for vehicles, pedestrians, and public transportation.
  • Apple patients can use the app while driving via CarPlay, and via Siri, Apple’s voice assistant app.
  • It can also be used to see real-time traffic information. Siri, Apple’s virtual assistant, is integrated into navigation.
  • Maps display points of interest provided by approximately twenty companies, including Booking.com, Foursquare, TripAdvisor, and Yelp.
  • Users can drop pins on the map to save places for later retrieval.
  • The satellite view features Flyovers, three-dimensional satellite views in designated locations.
  • The Nearby feature displays points of interest for each category. Points are shown with their names, distances, and reviews on Yelp.

 

Apple Maps integrates with many third-party providers, such as Yelp and Booking. This means that you can use Apple Maps to find a restaurant or hotel without having to switch back and forth from one service’s app to another.

 

Apple Maps vs. Google Maps

 

Apple Maps is an exclusive application to Apple devices, while Google Maps is available for both Android and iOS. There are some important differences that you should be aware of before installing either app on your device:

 

  • Apple shares data contextually taking a subtle approach. Google gives the user everything.
  • Apple has flyover mode, a 3D landscape of buildings and structures. Google has Street View.
  • Apple integrates Siri tightly with Apple Maps, and other apps in your phone (e.g., location data for your photos) tell Siri where you’d like to go, and navigation is seamless.
  • Google Voice Assistant works in a similar fashion but isn’t as tightly integrated with the rest of the software and hardware in your device.
  • Both Apple and Google integrate Maps with mobile devices, vehicles, watches, and smart speakers.
  • Apple Maps doesn’t hold onto your data!  Apple goes out of their way to protect your privacy. According to Apple, “When you use Apple Maps, your route from A to B is scrambled into sections on Apple servers because nobody else should know your entire route.“

 

If you want a navigation experience that’s seamless, one where your Apple Maps app is natively integrated with all of our products? Then it may be the best fit.

Google Maps is the best mapping tool on the market, providing you with detailed data and giving you access to a wide variety of information.

It’s a smart idea to add your health care business to both Google and Apple Maps. 

Siri with Apple Maps

 

Using Apple’s voice assistant, Siri, you can perform several types of searches starting off with the activation keyword “Hey Siri.”

For Instance, 

  • Hey Siri, take me home.
  • Hey Siri, where is the nearest Pizza shop?
  • Hey Siri, where is the nearest (local business)?
  • Hey Siri, what’s the traffic like in Philadelphia?
  • Hey Siri, what time is the Phillies game tonight?
  • Hey Siri, show me Independence Hall in Philadelphia?

 

Siri is remarkably intuitive, handling searches with several variables.

 

Apple Maps and CarPlay

 

With CarPlay, iPhone users can now start their car with a simple touch of the screen. And even better than that, you’ll never have to look down at your phone again – just take advantage of Siri’s voice control!

It’s all hands-free of course. 

CarPlay with Siri voice control gives you the hands-free experience and navigation of Apple Maps without ever taking your eyes off the road. You can use both car controls as well or report issues using Apple Maps.

Who uses Apple Maps?

 

If you’re an Apple user then your maps are on apple’s map service. It was the default mapping app for all of their devices until Google Maps replaced it in 2012.

Here’s why Apple Maps is important.

Apple says 1.65 billion Apple devices are in active use overall and 900 million to 1 billion+ users in 2019 with a total of 4.66 billion internet users worldwide as of 2021

Here’s why this matters.

Apple Maps is more popular than Google Map on iPhones and Apple devices, as evidenced by its 3x greater usage.

There’s more.

DuckDuckGo uses Apple Maps to display maps and navigation data in their search results. 

Although DuckDuckGo doesn’t collect user information, it’s difficult to pinpoint an exact number of users. 

However, earlier this year they hit an important milestone: 100 million searches per day! 

This may not seem like much but it’s significant because Duck Duck Go’s new users come from Google and Bing. It’s indirect competition!

This should be a real reason to consider getting your health care business on Apple Maps!

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How does Apple Maps handle ratings and reviews?

 

Initially, Apple Maps relied on third-party providers like TripAdvisor and Yelp.

Apple has decided to start rating health care businesses in their Maps app. For now, these ratings are being provided by third-party sources but it is only a matter of time before Apple decides to offer them themselves.

 

Apple’s rating system for products, services and businesses went live in 2019 with the MacOS 14 beta 6 update. This thumbs up/down ratings system allows users to rate their favourite things – it is a work in progress!

 

Apple’s new rating system will allow users to leave reviews about local, regional and national businesses.

The company has not shared the specific timeframe for adding content to their ratings and reviews yet. They have, however, mentioned that they hope “to add more services and features in future.”

Here’s how to get your health care business listed in Apple Maps

 

You can add your Apple Maps listing via Apple Maps Connect. A free Apple ID is required. Here’s how you do it.

 

  1. Head over to mapsconnect.apple.com
  2. Sign in with your Apple ID (you’ll need to create an account if you don’t have one)
  3. Search for your health care business using the search fields above. If you don’t see your health care business, you can also add it
  4. Once you’ve found your health care business, you’ll be prompted to verify your account
  5. Once verified, you’ll be able to edit the content on your page

 

You can add the following information to your Apple Maps listing:

 

  • Business Name and Phone Number
  • Clinic Address
  • Hours of Operation 
  • Place Status (Open / Closed)
  • Links to your apps, website, Yelp, Facebook, Twitter Profiles
  • Apple Pay Accepted (or Not)
  • Categories

 

Apple makes this a simple and straightforward process. Just follow the prompts, provide the necessary info, and your health care business should be ready to go!

 

The future for Apple Maps

 

Apple Maps is an essential part of the Apple product ecosystem, and it’s a service that offers marketers something different than Google does. Where other platforms want to lure in advertisers with slick marketing campaigns or free services like Waze, Apple prefers focusing on developing groundbreaking new products instead. As their line-up matures, they have moved into creating subscription plans for many features within its map app – such as traffic updates and satellite images.

Apple seems to be taking on Yelp and TripAdvisor with its own ratings service. The features of the reviews will most likely look very different from what we’ve been accustomed to in order for Apple to make a name for itself as an innovator.

This means the time to prepare is now.

Apple Maps should be a priority for your health care business

 

One of the biggest mistakes health care businesses make is putting all their eggs in one basket. Not only does this risk your health care business, but it can also be an inconvenience for patients who want to leave a review with another site and need you to sign up first before they do so. 

 

This means that while Google receives the lion’s share of reviews, enough negative or mediocre ones could cost them potential new patients down the line if patients associate these past stories as current occurrences instead of just bad luck or timing-related incidents.

In order to put a new spin on your marketing strategy, take the time for review management. If you notice iOS users in analytics surveys and follow-ups, make sure that Apple Maps is part of your plan moving forward. Particularly because Apple makes it super easy!

So… if you are a private practice healthcare business owner and you are looking to grow and scale your practice or generate more new patients for the practice – we are here for you!  Drop a comment below if you have questions or if you’d like to set up a call with us go here: https://chat.practiceinsidersedge.com/PIE-Triage-Call


Here’s How to Use Google My Business for FREE to Get More Patients


Google! It’s a massive search engine and it’s become synonymous with searching for information online. It’s even become part of our everyday lexicon.

Just ‘Google It’! 

If you are trying to give your health care business the advantage and leverage of being found when someone does a search for your type of health care business, it makes sense to use as many Google products as you can!

Google is more than a ‘search engine’ these days. 

People use Google to navigate and explore their local areas, discover answers to common household problems, painful problems with their body, seek out product and service recommendations by reading reviews as well as writing their own reviews about their experiences with businesses!

As a health care business owner, there is a lot you can do to improve your visibility on Google.

Setting up your Google My Business (GMB) is probably the most advantageous of them all. 

As a side note…it’s totally FREE!

 

What is Google My Business?

Google My Business is a free listing service that literally puts your business on the map!

It was created to help businesses manage their online presence and connect with local consumers/patients.  

Quite literally your health care business gets a location-specific listing in the biggest directory in the world. 

These listings help curious prospective patients discover the important information about your healthcare business, such as your address, online reviews, and where they can find you online!

What are the benefits of Google My Business?

There are a number of benefits to your health care business for setting up and getting your Google My Business listing optimized.

Getting your Google My Business listing set up properly is all about visibility for those closest to your business! 

As a local health care business, you want to get in front of as many prospective patients as possible, right?

The whole idea is to show up in the search engine for your type of health care business locally!

Here are the main benefits of putting a concentrated effort into Google My Business.

Rank better than #1 with the Local 3-Pack

Here is a subtle but important thing worth considering. 

When you search for a local health care business (chiropractor/physical therapist near me), even before the SEO-driven search results come up, Google shows you a list of nearby practices that it considers to be the most relevant to the search. (Read that again)

These results show up on a map, complete with star ratings and all the health care business information that is important to searchers (also known as your potential patients).

Does that get your attention? It should!

The exciting news about this is by filling in your Google My Business profile as much as possible, and getting Google reviews, it will help boost your chances of being included in the 3-pack!

Show up on Google Maps searches

Achieving 3-pack visibility is definitely a great accomplishment but it’ll only work for you when the patient is already in your area. 

So that raises a question, “What about when searchers don’t happen to be in your local area?” 

Setting up your Google My Business account helps you come up on Google Maps when people search locally.

These days, 86% of people are searching for businesses on Google Maps with 30% of all mobile searches are related to location! 

More searches mean more traffic, which means more sales.

Over 50% of “____ near me” searches result in a visit and a chance for a sale or a new patient!

Its Easy, Fast and FREE!

Marketing and SEO can be complicated, super expensive, and time-consuming. 

Setting up a Google My Business account is a fast and free way to get your health care business found on Google. 

It’s easy to update your health care business details so that patients trying to reach you have the right information.

Local SEO delivers great ROI…

Google reported that 46% of searches have local intent! That’s HUGE!

That means almost half the searches on Google are specifically looking for a nearby business! 

Within that 46% of searches, 60% of those people are searching from a mobile device, which means the map search result is going to pop up and they are ready to buy.

Leveraging that would be a huge advantage for your health care business!

Build trust and social proof with reviews

It would stand to reason that having (positive) reviews of your health care business would be favorable! 

When someone searches and discovers your health care business, seeing positive testimonials and reviews are a great way to display social proof that your business is reputable. 

We all like to do health care business with those whom we know, like and trust! And patient trust is critical for a successful health care business! Reviews on your Google My Business listing makes your health care business that much more legitimate and trustworthy!

It’s been said that 73% of consumers will trust a health care business based on their positive Google reviews!

Access the smartphone market

Do you know how much time the average person spends on their mobile phone?

4 Hours! 

That is a massive amount of time! And a lot of that time is spent searching for businesses!

Over 50% of all web traffic comes from mobile phones! 

Considering that information and the fact that 78% of local mobile searches lead to an in-store purchase, it’s clear that a winning formula is literally at your fingertips!

A FREE Website!!

While many health care businesses already have a functioning website, there are so many more that may be just getting around to moving online.

For health care businesses that prefer to sell offline but want to be found on the internet when someone searches for their type of health care business, they can get a Google My Business page set up in minutes!

A Google My Business page is a simple website that shows off your health care business, helps searchers know where to find you.

A Google My Business Page also helps facilitate things like placing orders, sending messages, and calls to your health care business

How to start using Google My Business

The best part about setting up a Google My Business listing aside from being Free is how easy it is to do.

 

To create a Google My Business listing for your health care business:

  • Head over to Google.com/business (or log in if you already have one)…
  • The page will prompt you to provide information that makes it easier for potential patients to get in touch such as your phone number, website URL, your clinic address (which will show on the map), business hours, and photos of your clinic…
  • Make sure to complete your business category…
  • Click ‘Finish’ to verify! 
  • Google will send you a postcard with a code to the address you entered to make sure it’s your actual address. 
  • Don’t miss this last step! Once you get the postcard (it should only take a few business days), log back in, enter the code, and you’re done!

Is Google My Business right for you?

 

Some health care businesses don’t have a clinic or storefront. 

If you don’t want everyone online to know your home address or if you are an online practice, you’ll still have to put it in during the Google My Business setup process to get the verification postcard but you can change the settings so people don’t see it.

You can choose what information is visible to searchers. 

You can also select the areas you service. 

And this is ideal for health care businesses who want to specify the locations where you offer delivery or if you have a service rather than a product.

As a local health care business, this should sound interesting particularly if you want more customers!

Here’s what to do next…

If you want new or more customers, go set up your Google My Business profile today and start tapping into all those extra searches!

By the way, if you need help with this Google My Business stuff and don’t want to deal with all the technical aspects, we would be elected to help you.

So… if you are a private practice healthcare business owner and you are looking to grow and scale your practice or generate more new patients for the practice – we are here for you!  Drop a comment below if you have questions or if you’d like to set up a call with us go here: https://chat.practiceinsidersedge.com/PIE-Triage-Call