Bing Maps API - search by domain name not working consistently?

Question

I'm trying to determine if given arbitrary domain names exist as physical locations in Bing Maps, i.e. has the website owner listed themselves as a local business with Bing Maps.

If I go to the Bing Maps website and rather than search for a business type, I enter the domain name of a given business, the map result shows locations for the business that owns that domain. This works regardless of locality.

When I try to do the same thing using the Bing Maps API for domains that I've confirmed exist as Bing Maps locations, I get results for US-based domains, but no results for Australian domains. Am I calling the wrong API or using the wrong search parameters, or is this an issue with the Bing Maps API? The URL I'm using is:

http://dev.virtualearth.net/REST/v1/Locations?query=mywebsite.com.au&key=REDACTED

I've tried including a userLocation parameter with local coordinates but it made no difference to the result.

Here are some examples. This one works (it's in San Francisco):

http://dev.virtualearth.net/REST/v1/Locations?query=www.mrspeedyplumbing.com&key=REDACTED

These two Australian domains do not work (they return no results):

http://dev.virtualearth.net/REST/v1/Locations?query=www.samedayplumbers.com.au&key=REDACTED http://dev.virtualearth.net/REST/v1/Locations?query=plumbersandgastoday.com.au&key=REDACTED

All three domain queries return results just fine from the web-based Bing Maps graphical user interface.

Answer 1

First off you are using the geocoding service. Geocoding is used for taking location information such as an address or country name and looking up a coordinate to show it on a map. Passing in a domain name into the geocoding service won't reliably return any useful information.

Secondly, the most of the business information for Bing Maps is managed by Bing Places and is not exposed through any service: https://www.bingplaces.com/