Restaurant SEO and Digital Marketing for 2022
The most successful restaurants know how important it is to improve their online presence. Due to disruptions caused by the pandemic, increased competition, or changes in the importance of having a strong online presence, we know we need to elevate our game.
It is important both for carryout and in-person dining to improve visibility at the local level. But coming up in google searches for people planning trips to your city is very important as well. Especially with the majority of people seeking out online menus before ever setting foot in your doorway.
For gaining traffic, there are many options for paid ads, partner services, and referrals. In terms of the organic search results, being at the top of Google is an effective, often lower-cost way to get the most relevant and direct traffic to convert into customers.
These 7 restaurant SEO tips will help you gain more visibility, traffic, and customers.
Restaurant owners have invested time in search engine optimization so that their business appears on Google and other search engines.
Although it sounds technical, SEO doesn't have to be complicated! Your online presence can become a major driver of traffic for your restaurant if you put some simple practices in place.
But First, What is SEO?
A search engine optimization strategy involves optimizing a website so that it appears on the first page of Google, Yahoo, and other search engines when a user searches for terms associated with your core business. Getting more traffic to your website is the goal of this process. A greater number of customers means more revenue.
If your restaurant is a deli in Chicago, you want to have your website optimized for keywords such as "deli in Chicago" or "best deli in Chicago." If your website appears on the first page of Google for those keywords, then people will be more likely to click on it and, in turn, visit your restaurant in person. This is especially true if your site offers online ordering or reservations.
Are you wondering if your restaurant's website is optimized for search engines? Let us help.
The Benefits of SEO for Restauranteurs
Even though restaurant SEO can be a long-term play, it can yield major benefits for your business when you put the time and effort into it. Here are some of the advantages:
- Increasing the number of people visiting your site
- Increasing online reservations and orders
- Creating brand awareness
- Enhancing customer engagement
- Increasing your income
The benefits your restaurant receives from showing up for related terms, like our deli example, can be factored into your overall restaurant marketing strategy. In addition, a good marketing strategy will make it easier for new customers to discover your restaurant.
Your restaurant business can benefit from SEO as an organic (i.e. free) on-ramp for new customers and growth.
Here Are 7 Restaurant SEO Tips to Help You Rank #1
Every day, people are trying to improve their website's ranking in search results - and they're all based on a secret scoring system that Google holds behind closed doors. It's not entirely clear what determines that number one position, but we do know that there are over 200 factors that go into that decision, and those factors are always changing.
Having said this, Google has provided a pretty good idea of how the formula works.
We explain how SEO experts optimize websites in this section. Find out how to optimize your restaurant website below:
The Best Restaurant SEO and Digital Marketing Tips
1. Develop a Keyword Planning Roadmap
Building a restaurant SEO roadmap with keyword planning should be the first step. We have experts who can help with this step.
What Exactly is Keyword Planning?
Choosing the target search terms you want your restaurant's website to rank for is called keyword planning. Typically, these are two, three, or more words ("best bagels in New York City"), but they can also be single words (e.g. "bagels").
Using a free keyword planning tool will help you brainstorm other keywords that are similar to the ones you've outlined. Based on how many people search for that term (on average) each month, this tool can help you prioritize certain search terms over others.
Keyword Targeting 101
You should divide your targets into three categories when researching keywords. High-intent broad restaurant terms, branded keywords, and niche keywords.
High-intent broad restaurant terms
These are broad but useful keywords such as “restaurants in Nashville,” or “best Nashville dinner places.”
Niche keywords
Your restaurant's niche keywords are specific to what you offer. They can include keywords such as "Craft Beer Nashville" or "Nashville wing night."
Branded keywords
Your restaurant's name and related keywords are optimized here. Restaurants do not often hold the top results for their restaurant names, but rather Yelp appears in the top slot.
Create a list of the terms you think will help your restaurant appear in search engine results, and then use the keyword planner to verify that people are actually searching for these terms.
Determining Keywords Based on Your Clients
Create a list of potential customers for your restaurant. You can identify pain points for each one and look for keywords that are specific to them.
Here is an example for our deli:
Potential Customer:
Parent taking the family out to dinner
Potential Keywords:
“deli family deals”
“dine-in deli specials”
“family-friendly deli”
“family dinner Chicago”
Potential Customer:
Someone in their 20s looking for a place to watch football with friends
Potential Keywords:
“deli places that serve beer”
“sports pub deli Chicago”
“where to watch the game Chicago”
“game-day specials Chicago”
“Game-day deli delivery Chicago”
You should then use a keyword research tool to compare terms to ensure that you are optimizing for keywords that are being searched.
Restaurants can achieve long-term growth and success by developing a foundation of keywords to focus on that drive real value to their business.
2. Make Local SEO a Priority
With the Google Map carousel, location-based searches almost always yield results.
You can optimize your results by adding the same, standardized company information to all directories, restaurant review sites, and social media platforms.
You can start by adding your business information to pages such as:
- Google My Business
- Yelp
- TripAdvisor
- Yellowpages
- Foursquare
Building your brand identity and presence in this manner will help establish your restaurant's reputation amongst Google. Additionally, you will be able to defend against your major local competitors by appearing before theirs in the local area.
3. Promote Your Restaurant on Review Sites and Encourage Reviews
Research has shown that search result reviews increase CTR (click-through rate) to those pages. In other words, more traffic = more potential customers.
Google also considers reviews when ranking local search results. Many local search results feature restaurants and businesses with high ratings. You can even display your restaurant's rating on the Google search results page to help you attract more customers.
Do you need another reason to get more reviews? According to research, 68% of respondents said they chose a restaurant based solely on positive online reviews. That's a lot of new business
The Best Restaurant SEO Establishes Credibility and is User Friendly
4. Ensure That Other Websites Link to Your Restaurant's Website
Link building, another element of search engine optimization, is also influenced by online reviews.
It may be a good idea to go beyond reviews and improve your search engine optimization through link building if you have a marketing person on your team.
What is Link Building?
Link building is the process of getting other websites to link to your site.
What Are the Benefits of Link Building for Restaurant Websites?
Other websites linking to your restaurant's site act as a sign of trust, which shows Google that your site is an authority on whatever topic the linked page is about. In Google's eyes, every link to your site is another endorsement. Think of it as LinkedIn endorsements.
Linking to other reputable sites will increase your chances of appearing in searches for your target keywords.
5. Optimize Your Website for Mobile Devices
In 2018, more than 80% of the population used their mobile devices to access the Internet. This number has been increasing steadily for years and is predicted to continue rising. Even though laptops and desktops are still popular for browsing, mobile devices are gaining in popularity.
How Does this Affect Your Restaurant's Website?
According to this mobile trend, Google made a large switch to its search formula in 2018. Your mobile site is now more important than your desktop site.
The bottom line is that if a site is not mobile-friendly, it is less likely to appear in search engine results.
Is your website mobile friendly? If not, how can you make it so?
Ensure your design is "responsive," so the content on each page adjusts to the size of the visitor's device if you have someone else build or update your site.
When building or updating your DIY website, consider responsive frameworks. Nowadays, many popular WordPress themes come prepackaged with responsive frameworks, which make the pages mobile-friendly and desktop-friendly.
6. Have Your Online Ordering System Tested
As online ordering has grown in popularity, it's no surprise that so many restaurants have added an online ordering system to their websites.
While online ordering is important, it is also important that it is easy for diners to use - otherwise, people will abandon their cart for a simpler ordering experience with another restaurant.
It's not only a loss of revenue and customers for businesses, but it also hurts your search engine rankings. Google recognizes when a frustrated user leaves your page, which hurts your ranking on Google. Websites and pages with lower bounce rates rank higher on Google.
In this case, user testing is required. The ordering system can be built yourself or outsourced to a website builder or UX designer, but make sure that multiple people go through it step by step. That way, you'll be assured the process goes smoothly - without glitches or confusion. 
7. Launch a Blog
A typical restaurant website has just a few pages: a homepage, about us, menu, upcoming events, contact information, and maybe a review section.
How About a Blog?
Consider adding a blog to your site if you have someone on your marketing team who is interested in search engine optimization. Your search rankings will improve, your traffic will increase, and you'll have more customers.
How Would a Restaurant Write About Itself? Let's Get Creative.
You may want to discuss topics that are important to the mission statement of your restaurant, such as locally sourced ingredients or community involvement. Your blog could also be used to promote marketing campaigns. What if you held a series of trivia nights or an open mic night for live music? Write about it! Suppose you're opening a new pop-up restaurant. Write an article about the best pop-ups in your city, and yours can be number one.
By implementing these seven restaurant SEO tips, you will be able to drive new revenue and awareness to your enterprise.
How OMG Marketing Can Improve Your Restaurant's Online Presence:
OMG Marketing invested heavily in putting together a team of experienced web designers and developers who are knowledgeable about SEO and can design websites that are SEO friendly. We help you create custom WordPress themes that are SEO-optimized and built for conversions. Don't let the design of your website negatively impact your traffic online. By working with us we can ensure that you have a website design that is not only optimized for SEO but a website that users can trust and keep coming back to over and over again.
Apart from designing a SEO friendly website, OMG Marketing uses tools to determine user-friendliness. As we mentioned already, the longer users stay on your website, the more search engines recognize your content as being relevant and useful and this makes you rank higher on all search engine result pages (SERPS).
Why Go With OMG Marketing?
We are a credible and experienced California SEO Agency and have positioned ourselves as one of the most trusted White Hat SEO Agencies in California. Just ask Better Business Bureau, UpCity, or the chamber of commerce. Our company has helped many businesses build lucrative online businesses using our proven SEO tactics and techniques. We specialize in Web Design, Social Media Marketing, Google Pay Per Click, and Search Engine Optimization.
We can help you achieve these goals.
Call Us Today!
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