Knowing how to optimize SEO for restaurants and food businesses should be a very important aspect of a restaurant marketing plan.
There are key essential SEO strategies or best practices that SEO specialists or digital marketers can implement to increase food and restaurant business search visibility.
Whether the search is done on search engines or in search forms on food ordering and delivery platforms like GrubHub, UberEats, and DoorDash,
What is SEO for restaurants?
SEO for restaurants is the process of making your restaurant business information, content, or food menu appear at the top of search results whenever people are searching online for terms related to the services or foods your restaurant offers.
This optimization does not end with only being visible on dedicated search engine searches like Google or Bing, but also for food ordering and delivery in app searches too.
Do restaurants need SEO?
Yes. There is no time to take optimizing SEO for restaurants more seriously than now. Most food and restaurant businesses are now click-and-mortar by nature. Click-and-mortar simply means businesses that have both physical stores and an online (website) operational presence.
Most people now search online first before making a physical visit to the store. Therefore, in order to get your restaurant business to appear first when they are doing such searches, you will have to optimize your online presence for that.
In order to optimize SEO for restaurants, you need to focus attention on these key essential areas: keyword research, restaurant website optimization, online and mobile food ordering and delivery platform optimization, and local SEO. We are going to look into how you can perform the processes in these key areas one by one.
How to Do SEO Keyword Research for Restaurants
Keyword research for restaurants is the process of identifying relevant keywords and phrases that potential customers might use when searching for restaurants or food-related services.
For you to be able to reach your customers when they are searching for your services online, you will have to create content or menu descriptions that solve their search needs. For you to achieve that, you must first know the terms your customers use while searching.
Below are step-by-step productive methods on how to do keyword research for restaurants.
Step 1: You Need to Identify Your Restaurant’s Unique Selling Points:
Before you dive into keyword research fully, you will have to identify what makes your restaurant different from other restaurants in your area. This you can do by first noting your restaurant strengths;
You can identify your restaurant’s strength by asking questions like, What type of cuisine do you specialize in? Is it unique or uncommon in your area? Do you have dishes that are loved by your customers? Is there a unique atmosphere your restaurant is known for or that you intend to create? Do you use special organic or locally sourced ingredients? Etc.
Also, you can ask questions that can help you identify customer preferences for your restaurant, like, What is the customer’s positive talking point for your restaurant? What are their popular menu choices? What are the memorable experiences customers can only have at your restaurant?
After identifying those things that set your restaurant apart, you can create a catchy tagline for your business, and that will guide your keyword research.
Step 2: Brainstorm Relevant Topics:
You will have to brainstorm relevant topics related to your restaurant’s unique selling points from the questions you answered above and make a list of seed keywords. For example “best subs in Virginia”, “authentic all-organic restaurants,” etc.
Also, consider brainstorming local keywords like “best subs in Virginia Beach” or “subs near Virginia Beach.”
Step 3: Generate More Keyword Ideas:
There are different ways you can do this. First, you can use keyword research tools like Google Keyword Planner and SEMrush. These tools will help you find popular and relevant keywords.
Another way is by watching the autocomplete recommendations as you start putting your seed keywords into the Google search field. These recommendations are based on actual user searches and might provide you with information about trending search phrases.
You can also generate more keyword ideas by looking at the “People also Ask” section in your Google SERP.
Step 4: Analyze search volume and competition.
Use keyword research tools to get insight into the search volume and competition for specific keywords. Put your keyword lists on a spreadsheet and award them a scale of points from 1 to 10 to represent high and low search volume. Consider also adding search volume, relevance, specificity, and intent as the column headers and scoring them in accordance with your marketing goal. This will help you identify the most relevant keywords for your marketing goal.
Step 5: Competitor Research:
You can carry out this research manually or by using tools like SEMrush. Manually, you can look at the websites of similar restaurants in your area. Check their meta tags, headings, and content to identify keywords they are targeting and how they are presenting their content. This practice can also give you additional keyword ideas and an idea of what works content-wise.
Step 6: Prioritize and do keyword clustering.
Put the keywords into groups or categories. This will help you develop comprehensive content around particular subjects.
Step 7. Remember that keyword research is a long-term strategy, and as trends change, customer preferences evolve too. Therefore, you will have to continue to refine your keyword strategy to stay relevant and competitive. If you need a dedicated team for your keywords and SEO for your restaurant in the United States, the Virimark LLC team is the best to contact.
How to Get Your Food and Restaurant Website to The Top of Google Search
In order to optimize your restaurant website to rank on Google, there are key things you will have to implement. They include;
- Make sure your restaurant website is responsive, mobile friendly, crawlable, has a good user experience, and passes the Google Rich Result Test. There are tools you can use to test them.
- Produce compelling, informative content that highlights your restaurant’s cuisine, chef’s specialties, and distinctive offerings. Use your chosen keywords naturally throughout the material, including in page names, headings, and meta descriptions.
- Add a blog section on your website and regularly publish articles related to food, recipes, cooking tips, restaurant news, and events. Content marketing can attract organic traffic and establish your authority in the industry. Remember, the freshness of the content on your website is now part of the Google ranking factor.
- Embed Google Maps on your website to improve local SEO signals.To do this, go to the Google Maps website and search for your restaurant’s address. After finding your restaurant address on the map, click on the share button, and on the pop-up window, select “Embed a map.” Then adjust the map size, copy the HTML code, and paste it on your website.
Related Post: How to Make Your Website Rank on Search Engine
How to Optimize SEO for Online and Mobile Food Ordering and Delivery Platform
SEO for restaurants does not end on the restaurant website alone. There is a big need to optimize the food ordering and delivery platforms. To do that, you have to perform the following tasks:
- Make sure you use relevant keywords in your restaurant’s name, description, and menu items. When people search for restaurants on Grubhub or DoorDash, they’ll often use keywords that describe the type of food they’re looking for, the cuisine, or the location. Make sure to use these keywords throughout your restaurant’s listing so that it’s more likely to show up in search results.
- Write a compelling menu description. Your restaurant’s menu description should be clear, concise, and informative. It should highlight the best things about your restaurant, such as your food, atmosphere, and service.
- Make sure your restaurant’s name, address, phone number, hours of operation, and menu items are all accurate and up-to-date. This will help ensure that people can find your restaurant and order food from you.
- Encourage customer reviews and use high-quality photos and videos.
How to Perform Local SEO for Restaurants
Optimizing local SEO for restaurants is critical to making your restaurant rank well on local search results. Ranking on local searches is relevant to attracting nearby customers searching in your locality. To optimize local SEO for restaurants, you have to perform the following tasks, which include:
- Add your restaurant information to online directories and review sites for restaurants. For restaurants in the United States, you can leverage the following directory listings:
Google My Business (GMB): This is a global free directory run by Google. Making sure the information you place on Google My Business is accurate and up-to-date, including address, phone number, business hours, and photos, helps improve your local ranking. Also, encouraging customers to leave reviews on your GMB profile can boost your local rankings when the reviews are positive.
Yelp and TripAdvisor: These are both popular review sites where people can leave reviews and ratings for restaurants.
MenuPages: This is a website that allows people to view menus from restaurants in their area.
Make sure that the information you put in these directories is consistent across them.
2. Seek Local Backlinks: Look out for local partnerships, sponsor events, collaborate with other businesses, and participate in community activities to earn backlinks from reputable local websites.
3. Localize your content by making use of the local keywords you listed during your keyword research activities.
Conclusion
SEO for restaurants is an ongoing effort; therefore, consistency, engaging with customers, monitoring analytics, and making necessary adjustments when needed are the keys to success. If you need help with SEO for your restaurants, please contact Virimark LLC.