Now that companies have reopened their doors to the local community, the objective of every restaurant is to boost foot traffic (and maybe online orders) to their establishment. Local SEO Tips for Restaurants may assist you to reach this objective and expand your online presence to be discovered by the appropriate clients. Whether you’re attempting SEO on your own or you’re ready to hire devoted specialists, here are our 12 best local SEO recommendations for restaurants!
Here are 12 Local SEO Tips for Restaurants;
6 ON-SITE ADVICE:
For those unfamiliar with the phrase “on-site” in SEO, this refers to any modifications you may make directly to your own website. We will discuss the top six on-site Local SEO Tips for Restaurants you should adopt immediately to give your restaurant’s website an edge.
1. Look for Local Keywords
The first piece of advice is to include local keywords throughout your website’s content. This covers location-specific keywords and “near me” phrases. Location-specific terms (also known as geotargeting) consist of the search query plus the state, city, or both. It may be “breakfast eateries in Salt Lake City” or “seafood in San Diego, CA.”
Even further, businesses may explore the potential for keywords that are particular to their expertise or cuisine, such as “Mexican restaurants near me” or “New York pizza shop.”
Tools like Semrush and Moz will offer you useful information, such as the average monthly search traffic, competition level, and SERP intent (search engine result page intent).
You should always personally check the list of keywords you want to target for intent. Use Google’s incognito mode to search for the list of keywords, and then analyze each organic listing to determine what function or aim the ranked sites serve.
For instance, if the keyword intent returns the Contact Us pages for local eateries, it would not be the greatest use of your time to develop an article evaluating the 10 finest pizza shops in town. This demonstrates that Google (and other search engines) favor a certain sort of website and content. Instead of writing an essay that compares and contrasts the benefits and downsides of 10 local pizza restaurants, consider focusing on a single restaurant.
On a highly competitive business, it may take some time for your restaurant to rank highly in the search engine results page for a widely searched term. Target keywords with low competition and strong intent to boost your chances of ranking quicker on Google. While these keywords have a lesser search volume, they convert better on average.
2. Add Keywords to Titles and Meta Descriptions
The meta title and description of a page are other advantageous local SEO tips for restaurants position for a location-based or “near me”-related keyword. The meta title is a ranking component and must always include the target keyword. Even if the meta description is no longer a ranking criteria, it is still a useful real estate for writing compelling descriptions to entice potential consumers to click on your listing rather to a local competitor’s.
Strong meta titles and descriptions may assist in boosting the organic click-through rate, hence influencing your SERP ranking. Remember to test variants and see which ones convert best!
3. optimize content for local search terms
Once you have your list of desired keywords, it’s time to carefully integrate them into your website’s content! Here are some possible approaches:
Our Contact Page
Local SEO Tips for Restaurants, companies are required to have a separate Contact Us page (and to provide an optimal user experience). This page may include vital information for potential consumers, such as your phone number, address, restaurant’s location, and an integrated map (Google and Apple Maps) so that visitors can locate directions promptly.
Creating a page devoted to a particular place might boost your chances of ranking well for location-specific search queries. This is applicable whether you have one restaurant in the state or several restaurants throughout the nation. However, if you have many restaurants and want to create a location-specific website for each location, you may have Google-unfavorable problems such as duplicate content and doorway pages.
To prevent producing a negative user experience and losing the confidence of search engines, you should always provide unique content for each page. Incorporating local landmarks, routes, neighboring companies and buildings, and photographs into the page can help make the material distinctive and assist search engine crawlers in better comprehending the region to rank your website for (a win-win!).
Check out how Visionworks’s Littleton, Colorado location does this if you want to see an illustration of how to do so! Each of their shop locations’ websites includes regional and distinct information.
Increase the effectiveness of your location-specific keyword by including it in the URL structure these are the best local SEO tips for restaurants. However, a word of caution: always err on the side of providing the best user experience; never mislead or confuse site visitors only to include a term in the URL. By examining the URL, users should be able to determine the purpose or context of the website before it loads.
4. Utilize Keywords in Image Alt Text
Do not overlook picture search! In the previous two years, picture searches on mobile devices climbed by 60 percent, according to a 2018 research, and this trend is likely to have continued. The search environment has become very visual, and the language and image processing capabilities of search engines are advancing rapidly.
And as local SEO tips for restaurants the visual presentation of the food is a significant part of your company, so why not highlight it on your website? There are two methods to include keywords in images: alt text and the filename.
While the primary function of image alt text is to provide a description of the picture so that visually impaired users can still comprehend the content, it may also be used to include a keyword. Only do so if adding the keyword still adequately describes the picture. If adding the term might compromise the picture description, do not include it.
When naming your picture file, avoid using the default naming convention that your computer generates automatically. Rename the picture file to contain the target term for the page on which it will be shown. As a general guideline of local SEO tips for restaurants, you should avoid utilizing the same image on various pages of your website, particularly if the alt text or image file contains a keyword (or both). It may dilute the importance of the keyword and confuse search engines as to which picture should rank for which page.
5. Develop an Effortless User Experience
Creating a smooth user experience is vital for a successful local SEO tips for restaurants, however, this is not exclusive to SEO. in particular for local enterprises! The user experience of a website comprises more than its functionality alone. It contains:
- Mobile-Friendliness: Is your website designed for smooth display and operation on mobile devices?
- How simple is it to move across the site and locate information?
- How soon can you locate the answers to your questions?
- Readability: Is the content simple or difficult to read and comprehend?
- How rapidly do your website and/or web pages load?
- Are your website’s photos, videos, graphic assets, design, and formatting aesthetically attractive and of high or low quality?
example of a mobile responsive website
Most websites are designed to perform effectively and appear professional on desktops, but mobile devices should not be neglected. Google examines, crawls, and indexes webpages based on the mobile experience first since mobile device use has long and significantly outpaced desktop usage. If your website’s mobile user experience is not up to par, you should make it a top priority to enhance it immediately!
6. Include Schema Markup on the site
Schema markup (or structured data) does not directly impact your results, but it helps search engine crawlers better comprehend your website and webpage, which may aid in determining which page to rank depending on the query and purpose.
Fortunately, there is a schema markup that is particular to restaurants for the food sector! This schema markup is part of the Local Business schema and enables the specification of local components such as location and contact information, as well as local SEO tips for restaurants specific information like as a menu URL, reservation information, hours of operation, and more.
6 OFF-SITE ADVICE:
Off-site SEO Tips for Restaurants, as opposed to on-site SEO, involve techniques and practices implemented on third-party websites and platforms (not your own). Follow along for additional information on how to enhance your local results with these off-site local SEO tips for restaurants guidelines, which are just as vital as the on-site advice!
7. Get Listed in Directories
In order to build upon the previously stated citations, the next SEO Tip for Restaurants is to include your restaurant in a variety of relevant directories. Users and search engines benefit from directory entries because they:
- Increase your brand recognition
- Increase your audience coverage
- Introduce your company to a certain audience
- Establish a solid Prominence to aid in local rankings.
As local SEO tips for restaurants, having your restaurant listed in numerous directories may increase the number of prospective consumers who can find you. Restaurants should strive to get their company included in industry-specific directories like OpenTable and Zomato. It is also a good idea to be featured in bigger directories, such as Manta Business Listings, TripAdvisor, and Foursquare, which reach a broader audience. Diversify your menu just like you would any other aspect of your business to ensure the longevity and success of your restaurant!
8. Keep the NAP Accurate and Consistent
Local SEO tips for restaurants, NAP refers to a person’s name, address, and phone number. This is often related with local business citations, which include a NAP reference. It’s the first stage in directory construction (which we’ll discuss in the following tip), and it’s essential to keep an exact and consistent citation and NAP across all directories in which your restaurant is listed.
Why is this essential? Inconsistent company information not only causes a bad user experience (which is horrible for both site visitors and local rankings) but may also result in disgruntled potential consumers abandoning your website in favor of a competitor’s.
9. Build and Optimize Your Google Business Profile
Google’s business directory, formerly known as Google My Business, has been renamed Google Business Profile. It is a free resource that should be used by all businesses, whether they are local or international. Google Company Profile enables companies to show essential information, like business hours, NAP, website URL, and Google reviews (more on this in the next tip).
Businesses may give even more particular data, such as accessibility information (e.g., wheelchair-accessible parking and building), reservation information, a link to the menu that users can browse instantly, whether or not they provide delivery and even a service radius.
restaurant Example of a Google business profile
Additionally, Google Business Profile is quite graphic. Customers and the profile owner (you) may post photographs to it. We highly suggest providing photographs and videos of your restaurant’s interior and outside, in addition to the cuisine. It is quite beneficial for potential clients to know what to anticipate before to their visit, and it also improves the online user experience.
10. Generate Authentic and Positive Reviews
Reviews are a key ranking element for local SEO Tips for Restaurants, and both the amount and the quality of reviews are important! Every website, but particularly a local eatery, should aim to constantly increase the number of genuine, good evaluations of their business. This cannot be a one-time job; it must be a regular duty with a high priority.
Not to worry if you have any unfavorable reviews. Instead of removing them (DO NOT DELETE Poor REVIEWS), take the time to talk to the person who posted the negative review and attempt to resolve the issue. It not only helps reestablish community confidence in your business, but also helps restore search engine trust, as they are able to see your efforts.
Nonetheless, if you discover reviews that seem to be spam and/or unrelated to your company, you may report them. Google will investigate further and let you know whether or not they will be deleted.
11. Be Consistent with Link Building
Link building is crucial for any local SEO Tips for Restaurants activities, whether local, national, ecommerce, etc. Link building is the process of establishing partnerships with third-party websites that mention your company (or a page) and link back to your website (this is called a backlink).
The objective is to get backlinks from trustworthy, high-authority websites that are related to your sector. How does this assist? A backlink is a vote of confidence from search engines for your website’s credibility and trustworthiness. The greater a search engine’s perception of your website’s trustworthiness and credibility, the higher your ranks might get!
Similar to reviews, this is a continual procedure rather than a one-time endeavor. Obtaining high-quality backlinks is time-consuming and frequently challenging since it involves discipline, resources, and software, as well as the development of partnerships with reputable industry sources. As a result, many company owners seek the assistance of specialist SEO agencies for their small businesses.
Try contacting local websites, directories, news sites, and companies an local SEO tips for restaurants to seek a backlink to your restaurant’s website. Other small companies are often more eager to include this hyperlink than bigger firms and sources that get a daily rush of requests.
12. Positive Engagement on Social Media
Developing good social signals and interaction on your restaurant’s social media channels is our last local SEO tips for restaurants. Although this isn’t SEO per, the two channels may support one other’s success.
Similar to directories and citations, social media networks may serve as indexes and citations. This is an additional channel for distributing your company’s NAP, website URL, menu items, etc. to a bigger, often more focused audience than standard organic search. Putting your website and content in front of a focused audience (i.e., individuals who are aligned with your brand and products) is incredibly beneficial since a targeted audience is more likely to convert. This increases the likelihood that they will dine at your restaurant!
Similar to backlinks and reviews, positive social signals and interaction serve as an additional vote of confidence for your website. People may also write reviews on a restaurant’s social media platforms, which search engines will continue to scan and index. And the more authentic, positive reviews a restaurant gets, the greater its authenticity and trustworthiness in the eyes of potential consumers and search engines, resulting in a rise in your local web rankings!
In a nutshell, restaurant businesses are presently in a boom. However, given the increasing number of restaurants opening every now and then, marketing has become crucial. And when we talk about digital marketing, your website is the first thing that has to stand out. Optimizing your website according to the SEO metrics and making it SEO-friendly can thus help you reach out to more potential customers and expand your brand presence. We hope you found these 12 best local SEO tips for restaurant insightful!
