How to Do SEO for a Restaurant

For a search like “italian restaurant near me,” the map results can sit at the top, and a diner can choose, call, book and get directions without visiting your website; search your own “near me” queries to see the layout in your area. That makes the Google Business Profile the first surface to get right: category, hours, attributes, photos, menu link and reviews. The website supports it with a menu diners can read on a phone, structured data that states the restaurant’s facts, and pages the Profile’s links can point to. Work in that order. A polished website behind a stale Profile leaves the surface diners see first unattended.

What decides where the restaurant appears

Google’s local ranking help names relevance, distance and prominence. Distance to the diner is fixed. Google ties relevance to complete, detailed Profile information. Prominence draws on information like how many websites link to the business and how many reviews it has. For a restaurant, the levers within reach include a complete, accurate Profile and a steady flow of real reviews.

The Profile: category, attributes, hours, photos

Category. The primary category should name the kind of restaurant. Google’s own example in its category help is a restaurant: a business with the primary category “Pizza restaurant” might show when people search for restaurants, Italian restaurants or pizza. Pick a specific category for the core business, and add others only for real departments.

Attributes. Google’s attributes help describes them as details such as whether a business offers outdoor seats or Wi-Fi. They answer questions diners have before they go: outdoor seating, takeout, delivery, reservations, dietary options. Fill in every attribute that applies.

Hours. Google’s local ranking page lists business hours, “including special store hours,” among the information to keep complete. Set holiday and event hours before the date. A Profile that says “open” on a night the restaurant is closed can send diners to a locked door.

Photos. Current photos of dishes, the dining room and the exterior show diners what they are choosing, and the exterior shot helps a first-time visitor find the door. Replace them as the menu and room change.

The menu: readable first

Google can index PDF files; PDF is on its list of indexable file types. The case for an HTML menu page isn’t that a PDF is invisible. It is that the diner may be on a phone:

• An HTML page reflows to the screen; a PDF makes the diner pinch and zoom.
• Dish names and descriptions sit on a page of the restaurant’s own site, in text, next to prices and dietary notes.
• Updating a price or a seasonal dish is an edit, not a new file upload.

Point the Profile at that page. Google’s local business links help lets a Profile carry a link to check a menu, make a reservation or place a food order.

Restaurant structured data: what it does and doesn’t do

Google’s LocalBusiness structured data guide asks you to “Use the most specific LocalBusiness sub-type possible,” with Restaurant as an example. The required properties are the name and the address. For food establishments, the menu property takes “the fully-qualified URL of the menu,” and servesCuisine takes the type of cuisine. Add opening hours and the telephone number. Google says aggregateRating “is only recommended for sites that capture reviews about other local businesses,” so a restaurant marking up its own rating on its own site falls outside that recommendation.

Set expectations on the display. The same guide says “The Restaurant carousel is currently limited to a small set of restaurant providers.” A single restaurant adding markup to its own site shouldn’t expect a carousel. The markup states the restaurant’s facts in a form Google reads; treat any enhanced display as outside your control.

Reviews: ask everyone, ask plainly

Google’s local ranking page says more reviews and positive ratings can help local ranking, and a diner comparing places can see the rating and how recent the reviews are.

Google’s prohibited content rules set the limits on collecting them:

• No incentives: no discount, free dessert or drink in exchange for a review.
• No selective asking: don’t ask only the tables that looked happy.
• No requested content: don’t ask guests to mention a dish, a server or a keyword.

One method that stays inside those limits is a plain ask to every guest: a card with the check, a link on the receipt, a follow-up after an online order.

Posts and featured posts

Posts on the Profile can announce a seasonal menu, a holiday closure or an event. Google’s posts help says “Posts older than 6 months are archived unless a date range is set,” so a single post from last year isn’t keeping the Profile current.

One detail matters to restaurants in particular. Google describes featured posts, drawn from the restaurant’s social channels or its Profile posts, as available in English for single-location food and drink businesses in the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and says that where they appear, customers find them in place of reviews on the mobile Profile, with reviews still reachable by tapping the star rating or the Reviews tab. For an eligible restaurant, what it posts can be the first thing a diner sees there. Google’s local ranking page doesn’t list posting as a ranking factor; the case for posts is what the diner sees.

Booking and ordering

The Profile can carry booking and ordering links. The local business links help notes that turning off “Accept orders on your profile” hides all ordering options and links on the Profile, first-party and third-party, so check that setting before you add links. For reservations and orders completed directly in Search results, the LocalBusiness guide points to the Maps Booking API.

Audit the Profile first

A failure to check for is a Profile claimed years ago and left alone: old hours, a category that no longer fits, dated photos, no menu link, no recent reviews. Before any website work, go through it:

1. Primary category specific to the restaurant.
2. Regular and special hours correct for the next holiday.
3. Attributes filled in.
4. Photos current.
5. Menu, reservation and ordering links working.
6. A review ask in place for every guest.

Frequently asked questions

Should my menu be a PDF or an HTML page?

Google can index PDFs, so a PDF menu isn’t invisible. An HTML page is easier to read on a phone, easier to update, and puts dish names and prices in text on the restaurant’s own site. Link it from the Profile’s menu link and from the menu property in your structured data.

Can I offer a discount for leaving a review?

No. Google’s rules prohibit incentives for reviews, selective asking and requesting specific content. Ask every guest the same plain way.

Will Restaurant structured data get my restaurant into the carousel?

Not on its own. Google says the Restaurant carousel is currently limited to a small set of restaurant providers. The markup states name, address, cuisine, menu and hours in a form Google reads; treat any enhanced display as outside your control.