Outside of your own channels, arguably the most important marketing channel for your restaurant is Google. They process 5 trillion searches every year, and 43 million of those searches are for restaurants… every single day.
I don’t have the exact number, but yesterday at the Google Restaurant Influencer Summit, hosted by the Google Business Profile team in their NYC offices, they confirmed that a significant portion of search on their platform is for restaurants.
If I’m being a little more direct, the word “significant” probably doesn’t do it justice. 😎
The Google Business Profile and Restaurants team invited a small group of industry professionals to their office to share insights, best practices, product previews, and, best of all, to get our feedback on what would be most helpful for restaurants.
It was an incredible event, and I’m grateful once again to have been invited.
With that, I’m able to share with you a best practices and prioritization checklist for maximizing the Google Business Profile for your restaurant so you capture the most relevant searches possible.
1 . Business details and attributes
This is all the black-and-white information about your restaurant. Make sure every field is filled out, including:
Name
Address
Phone number
Hours of operation
Parking
Online ordering
Which credit cards do you take ...
And anything else that applies!!!
2 . Photos and videos
When people are deciding where to get their next meal, visuals drive the decision. Add photos of your space, your food, and the experience. My recommendation: add a minimum of 3 to 5 new brand-approved photos or videos every month.
3. Social Media and Links
If you’re on social media, add those links to your Google Business Profile. This is relevant information for guests, and it surfaces directly in search results.
4. Structured Menus
The Google team confirmed that your menu is the number one deciding factor when people choose where to eat.
The key word here is structured. This means adding your menu through their menu tool so it can be indexed properly.
A structured menu includes:
A photo of each menu item
The name of the item
A full description of the item
Please do not skip this. It matters.
5. Actions
If you take reservations or offer online ordering, make sure those links are in the appropriate fields. That is where conversions happen, and Google confirmed these are extremely important.
6. Reviews
Reviews matter for guest decision-making and for ranking in search. Encourage guests, without incentivizing, to share how they feel in the form of a Google review. And reply to those reviews. It’s good hospitality, and it helps you get more reviews.
If you want your restaurant to rank higher in relevant search results, it’s imperative that you do all of these things and keep the information as up to date as possible.
Lastly, here's a quick note of appreciation for the Google Team, especially Lisa Landsman and Michael Gnagy for organizing this incredible event and thank you to the entire team for truly caring about restaurants and building tools that help us to be successful!!
Reach out to me if you need help with your Google Business Profile and overall search strategy: [email protected]
– Rev Ciancio
WHAT DOES REV DO?
I help restaurants build guest marketing programs.
I help hospitality tech companies with lead generation and content marketing.
