How to advertise on Apple Maps: the complete guide

Apple Maps started showing ads on August 14, 2026, in the United States and Canada. If customers can walk into your business, you can now be the one ad at the top of the results they see while deciding where to go.

This is the whole path, in the order we run it for clients. No ad experience needed.

Before you start: are you eligible?

Three things have to be true:

• You have a physical location customers can visit, in the US or Canada.
• You have a business address in one of those countries.
• You have a verified profile in Apple Business.

Apple also blocks some categories outright: home services (plumbing, electrical, locksmith, HVAC, pest control, roofing, contracting), bail bonds and cryptocurrency ATMs. Medical is reviewed case by case. Alcohol, gambling and dating carry extra rules.

Not sure where you fall? Check the eligibility rules before you spend an hour on setup.

Step 1: Set up Apple Business

Apple Business is the free hub that controls how your brand appears in Apple Maps, Wallet and Siri. If you had an Apple Business Connect account, you already have this. Business Connect became Apple Business in April 2026 and accounts moved across automatically.

Enter your company details, accept the terms, and go through business verification. The first person to set up the organisation is the one who accepts the Terms of Service, so use a login that belongs to the business, not to someone who might leave.

Step 2: Claim and verify your locations

Claim every location you might ever want to advertise, not just the first one. Only claimed, verified locations can run ads.

This step decides your timeline. Phone verification is instant. Every other method can take up to 5 business days. Start here and do everything else while you wait.

Step 3: Build your place card

Your place card is what customers see, and its photos can be used inside your ad. Apple's guidance is at least three photos. Set up, at minimum:

• your logo and a cover photo,
• at least three photos of the place, the product, or both,
• accurate hours, category and contact details,
• the actions you want people to take.

A thin place card makes a thin ad. This is the cheapest hour of the whole project.

Step 4: Link an Apple Ads account

Go to the Apple Ads website, choose Apple Maps, select Get started. Sign in with a user who holds the Global Admin or Ads Admin role in your Apple Business organisation so your locations carry across. Then:

1. choose which brands to link,
2. accept the Apple Advertising Services terms,
3. complete Business Details, including tax information,
4. add a payment method.

Watch that last one. Apple's launch credit requires payment by credit card. If you set the account up on invoicing, you will not qualify. Read the credit rules first.

Step 5: Build the campaign

Campaign setup runs in a fixed order:

1. Pick the brand and the placement. Top of search results, or Suggested Places.
2. Choose a bid strategy. Pay per tap by default. Some advanced strategies bill per thousand impressions.
3. Name the campaign and create an ad group.
4. Select locations. All of them, specific ones, or rule-based groups for chains.
5. Set keywords, or let Apple match them. Search Match does it automatically. Or choose keywords and categories yourself.
6. Apply audience settings and scheduling if you want them.
7. Create the ad. Apple renders it with one image, three images or text only, depending on the query.
8. Select Create Campaign.

Step 6: Set a budget and go live

You set a monthly budget. There is no minimum spend. Start, pause and stop whenever you like, which makes the sensible first move a small one.

Nobody has reliable cost benchmarks yet, including us. Here is what actually moves the price.

What you can measure

Impressions, taps on your ad, and taps on each action: directions, calls, website, photos, share and app downloads. All of it by location and by campaign.

Directions and calls are the closest thing digital advertising has to a footfall count. Someone asking for directions to your door has told you what they intend to do next.

If you would rather hand this off

Apple supports authorised agencies. You delegate from inside Apple Business: Settings, then Integrations, then Partner Access, then Share Access. Enter the partner's Organization ID, pick Ads on Maps, choose the brands they may manage, and send the invitation.

Nothing is handed over permanently. You can withdraw access from the same screen. This is how a founding client engagement with us starts.

A realistic timeline

The work is small. The waiting is not. Plan around verification and the rest fits in an afternoon.

Sources

Apple's published advertiser and agency guidance for ads on Apple Maps, as of August 2026. Apple can change any of it. Confirm current terms with Apple before committing budget.