What exactly does “optimizing your restaurant website SEO” mean? This refers to two things: search engine optimization and performance optimization. These work together. Learn how to improve your restaurant website SEO, boost your online presence, and tips for optimizing a bar or pub to drive more customers to your business.
Your address (and more). This is obviously the most important element: people need to know where you are located. There is more than one way to share your address with your (potential) guests. All are restaurant SEO good practices to increase restaurant traffic.
Photos of the interior. If I’m going to spend my money in your establishment, I want to know I’ll have a cozy evening and a nice table to sit at. Your menu.
Not your website menu, but a list of all the food and drinks you’ll possibly serve me at a certain price. In addition, client testimonials. All the good stuff people tell me about your place. Finally, a way to make a reservation.
Domain Name For Optimizing Restaurant Site SEO
Usually, a succinct .com domain is best for restaurant websites. Follow these steps to pick the perfect domain name:
- Firstly, make sure your domain name is as close as possible to your restaurant name.
- Secondly, keep it short and memorable.
- It should be professional and easy to type.
- Leave punctuation out.
- Finally, when naming your website pages, use keywords you’re trying to rank for to help your overall efforts. For example: restaurant.com/chicken. Learn how to improve restaurant website SEO, boost online presence & tips for optimizing a bar or pub & drive more customers to your business
Optimizing Your Restaurant Website To be Find
If you add your address to your website, you want to do it the right way. First of all, you want it to be in a spot where everybody can find it without searching for it. That means adding it in a clear spot on your homepage, perhaps repeat it in your footer, and definitely put it on your contact page. On your contact page, you might want to consider adding a route map as well.
Schema.org For Restaurants
Don’t just add the address, but mark it up the right way. That means you’ll have to add Schema.org markup to your address. The most obvious Schema.org variation would be. Restaurant. This is a subschema of the FoodEstablishment schema, which allows you to add detailed stuff like acceptsReservations, menu and servesCuisine to your address.
All these details are added with the purpose of telling the search engine as much as possible about your restaurant, in a predefined way. It will make sure Google easily fetches the right information. That might already get you mention like this:
That is actually a combined effort, I think. It’s a combination of listing the right information the right way on your website, and a good listing in Google My Business. Learn how to improve restaurant website SEO, boost online presence & tips for optimizing a bar or pub & drive more customers to your business
Optimizing Google My Business For Restaurant Website SEO
Google My Business complements your existing website by giving your business a public identity and presence on Google. The information you provide about your business can appear on Google Search, and maps.
Go read and list your website. Ask your visitor to leave a review on your Google My Business, as this seems to help your rankings at the Google map as shown above as well.
Google My Business might give you another edge: a proper listing in the Google search result pages’ sidebar (where they keep the Knowledge Graph): Nice, huh. Be sure to tell Google as many details as possible and see what they come up with.
Facebook Places
Like Google My Business, Facebook Places isn’t on your website itself. Still, it will pay off to list your restaurant here. Facebook is improving its search engine by the day, and if there is one place where all your friends have and share their opinion, it’s on Facebook.
Make sure you list your restaurant as a Place by adding all the basic information. If you list your restaurant in the Local Business category (be sure to do so).
Besides that, listing your restaurant in the local business category, you’ll be able to allow check-ins and ratings & reviews and that is obviously just what you want!
These check-ins and reviews are actually very important, as search results in Facebook are ranked by recommendations and check-ins from your friends.
Besides that, “results that are similar to the people, places and things that a person is already connected to may be ranked higher.” All the more reason to list your restaurant on Facebook as well, and ask all of your friends to like, review and check-in to your restaurant.
TripAdvisor For Restaurant SEO
I’m going to name TripAdvisor here as another place to list your restaurant, but it is obviously one of many other websites you can use to list your restaurant details. This is how we improve restaurant website SEO, boost online presence & tips for optimizing a bar or pub & drive more customers to your business.
Especially since your restaurant is a local business, adding your website to services like that will also help your SEO, as all of these have a local focus. After adding your website to TripAdvisor, be sure to monitor your reviews on that website.
Bad reviews are always a bummer, but not acting on bad reviews might be even worse. Engage with a disappointed guest and see if you can change his opinion to something more positive. Perhaps he just had a bad day, or your chef did. Most bad reviews are mere incidents.
Harness the Power of Social Media
Just like word-of-mouth recommendations can fill your restaurant’s tables, social media can drive traffic to your website. Create profiles on popular social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Engage with your audience by sharing visually appealing images of your dishes, running promotions, and responding to customer reviews. Social media activity can increase your brand awareness and attract more visitors to your website, which, in turn, positively impacts your SEO efforts.
Harness the Power of Social Media
Just like word-of-mouth recommendations can fill your restaurant’s tables, social media can drive traffic to your website. Create profiles on popular social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Engage with your audience by sharing visually appealing images of your dishes, running promotions, and responding to customer reviews. Social media activity can increase your brand awareness and attract more visitors to your website, which, in turn, positively impacts your SEO efforts.
Keyword Research
Just like creating a delectable dish starts with the right ingredients, optimizing your restaurant website begins with thorough keyword research. Identify relevant keywords and phrases that potential diners are likely to use when searching for restaurants in your area.
Use tools like Google Keyword Planner or other keyword research tools to discover high-traffic, low-competition keywords. Incorporate these keywords strategically into your website’s content, including headings, meta tags, and descriptions.
Responsive Restraint Website Optimization
Your restaurant website must be mobile-friendly to ensure the most significant number of customers can view your site with ease and comfort. This is really important and a key to optimizing your restaurant website for SEO.
