Intro to SEO for restaurants

A strong online presence for your restaurant is no longer optional. Customers need to be able to find you quickly and easily, across multiple platforms.

The best way to boost your online visibility? Search engine optimization for restaurants

Your online profile is especially important as online ordering and meal delivery disrupt the traditional restaurant model. Restaurants with online ordering systems generate 130% more revenue than those that don’t, and online orders are growing 300% faster than dine-in meals.

In addition, 60% of customers check a restaurant’s menu online and 50% go as far as looking at the website.

In response, restaurant owners have started to invest time in search engine optimization — or SEO for restaurants — to make sure their establishment shows up on Google and other search engines.

SEO may seem technical, but it doesn’t have to be! There are simple practices you can put in place starting today to turn your online presence into a major traffic driver for your restaurant.

What is SEO for a restaurant?

SEO, which stands for search engine optimization, is the process of optimizing a website to appear in search results on Google, Yahoo, and other search engines for terms related to your core business. The goal of this process is to attract more traffic to your site. More traffic means more potential customers.

For example, if you own a pizzeria in Paris, you’ll want to optimize your website for certain key terms such as « pizzeria in Paris » or « best pizza in Paris. »

If your site is optimized for the terms people are actually searching for, it will appear on the first page of Google for those terms or keywords, making them more likely to click through to your site — and, as a result, more likely to visit your restaurant in person. Especially if you offer online ordering or reservations on your site.

The benefits of SEO for restaurateurs

SEO for restaurants can be a long-term investment, but it delivers major benefits for your establishment when you devote time to it. Some of these benefits include:

• Increased traffic to your website
• More online orders and reservations
• Stronger brand awareness
• Higher customer engagement
• Increased revenue

When your restaurant appears for related terms — like in our pizzeria example — you can leverage these benefits in your overall restaurant marketing strategy. And your marketing strategy as a whole will help new customers find and discover your restaurant easily.

SEO acts like an on-ramp for your restaurant business — a perpetual and organic (i.e., free) channel to attract new customers and drive growth.

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MACCUS SEO tips to rank #1

There are literally hundreds of tips to help your website rank higher in search results — and it all depends on a scoring system Google keeps secret. No one knows exactly what gets you to the top spot.

That said, Google has given a pretty good idea of the formula.

In this section, we break down the core strategies and tips SEO experts use to optimize websites. Here are the best tips for your restaurant.

Create a Roadmap for Keyword Planning

The first thing a restaurant should do is create its restaurant SEO roadmap with keyword planning.

But what is keyword planning?

Keyword planning is about defining the target search terms you want your restaurant’s website to rank well for. These terms can be single words (e.g., « pizza »), but more often they include two, three words, or more (« best pizza in Paris »).

Next, you can use a free keyword planning tool to help you find other keywords similar to the ones you’ve defined.

This tool can help you prioritize certain keywords over others based on how many people (on average) search for that term each month.

Here are a few keyword planning tools that are free or offer free trials:

• Google Keyword Planner
• Semrush
• Ahrefs

When doing keyword research, you should split your targets into three types of keywords: broad high-intent terms, niche keywords, and branded keywords.

The 3 types of keywords for restaurants

Broad high-intent terms: These keywords are very broad but valuable, such as « restaurants in Paris, » « best restaurant in Paris », etc.

Niche keywords: Niche keywords are specific to what your restaurant offers. Think of searches like « pizzas in Paris, » « pizzeria with TV for sports in Paris, » etc.

Branded keywords: This means optimizing for your restaurant’s specific name and related keywords. It’s not uncommon for restaurants not to show up in the top results for their restaurant name, with Yelp appearing instead.

List the terms you think will have the biggest impact in getting your restaurant to appear in search results — then verify that people are actually searching for those terms using the keyword planning tool.

Next, make a list of potential customers who come to your restaurant. This will help you identify pain points for each and research keywords specific to that audience.

Here’s an example for a pizzeria:

Once again, you need to compare the terms using keyword research tools to make sure you’re optimizing for keywords that are actually being searched.

With methodical planning, restaurants can build a keyword foundation to focus on that delivers real value to their business, setting them up for long-term growth and SEO success.

Optimize for local SEO

Between 2004 and 2006, Google changed its local search results — meaning results for searches with location-based intent, like looking for a business in a specific city or town.

That’s why location-based search almost always shows results with the Google Maps carousel. This will be primarily targeted through optimizing a Google My Business listing for restaurants.

You absolutely must add your restaurant’s website to all directories, restaurant review sites, and social media platforms with the same standardized information about your business. This is a great way to optimize these results.

Start by adding your business information on pages like:

• Google My Business
• Yelp
• TripAdvisor
• Pages Jaunes

All of these actions help strengthen your restaurant’s presence and identity, while showing Google that your restaurant is a reputable business. This will also act as a form of defense against your main competitors in a local space, because your restaurant could show up before theirs on any of these channels.

Try to get links from other sites to yours

If you have someone in charge of marketing on your team, you may want to go beyond simple reviews and try to improve your search optimization through what’s called link building, or netlinking.

What is link building for a restaurant?

Link building is the strategy of getting other websites to link back to yours.

Why is link building important for restaurant websites?

When other websites link to your restaurant’s site, it acts as a trust signal from those sites and tells Google that your site is an authority on the topic of the linked page.

Each link to your site is another recommendation in Google’s eyes.

The more links you have from other reputable sites, the more you’ll appear in searches for your target keywords.

Tip: Reach out to the local press so they write articles about your restaurant

Optimize your restaurant website for mobile display

In 2018, more than 80% of the population used their phone to browse the Internet. This number has only increased over the years and is expected to keep growing.

People still use laptops and desktop computers to browse, but more and more visitors come from mobile devices.

What does that mean for you as a restaurateur?

Well, in 2018, Google made a major change to its search formula based on this mobile trend. Now, the mobile view of your site is more important than the desktop view.

In short, sites that aren’t mobile-friendly are less likely to appear in searches. In fact, in 2024 it’s official: 100% of sites will be ranked first based on their mobile optimization.

How do you make sure your restaurant website is mobile-friendly?

If someone else builds or updates your site, confirm with them that your design is « responsive » so that the content on each page adapts to the visitor’s device screen size. D

If your site is « DIY », look for responsive frameworks when creating or updating your website. Many popular WordPress themes now come pre-packaged with responsive frameworks, which helps pages appear optimized for both mobile and desktop visitors.