Local businesses can solicit GoFundMe donations via Bing Places

Bing has partnered with crowdfunding platform GoFundMe to facilitate donations to local businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the search engine announced Monday. Bing Places for Business account owners can set up a fundraiser through GoFundMe and Bing will display a donation button within its local listing page.

Why we care

Many local businesses have had to change operating hours, temporarily close or shift their business models to protect their customers and staff and comply with local stay at home orders and business restrictions. Creating a fundraising campaign is one way to help offset lost revenue during the crisis.

Featuring a donate button right on your local listing makes your fundraiser accessible to customers that may already searching for your business and may make your GoFundMe campaign more effective.

Related: Local SEOs talk COVID-19 challenges [VIDEO].

More on the announcement

• This feature is currently only available for new fundraisers. Bing will add support for existing GoFundMe campaigns in the coming weeks.
• GoFundMe does not charge a platform fee; however, there is a fee of 2.9% plus $0.30 per donation for payment processing.
• To set up a fundraiser, sign in to your Bing Places for Business account and click the “Get Started” button in the “Set up a GoFundMe fundraiser” module on your Bing Places dashboard. Then follow the prompts on GoFundMe as directed and the donate button will appear on your Bing local listing page.

About The Author

George Nguyen

George Nguyen is an editor for Search Engine Land, covering organic search, podcasting and e-commerce. His background is in journalism and content marketing. Prior to entering the industry, he worked as a radio personality, writer, podcast host and public school teacher.