Web Design & SEO for Restaurants

Millions of times every day, people search online for food delivery and restaurants to visit in their local area. Regardless of the type of food a restaurant specializes in, it is essential to have a professional website and optimized Google Business Profile if you want new customers to order from your restaurant on a regular basis. The digital age is here to stay, and it is drastically impacting how consumers interact with all business, even those that don’t sell anything online. And there may not be an offline industry that has been impacted by the digital age more than the restaurant industry.

Restaurants with modern and up-to-date websites that appear at the top of Google search results when consumers in their area search for places to eat have a tremendous leg up on their competition. Web design for restaurants has never been more important than it is right now, and SEO for restaurants is the most effective form of marketing in a increasingly competitive industry.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for restaurants is the process of building a website, Google Business Profile, and online directory listings for a restaurant in a way that easily showcases what type of food and service the restaurant specializes in. When Google understands what your restaurant offers, it begins to trust that your restaurant provides quality food and service to its customers. Google is a referral business, and its goal is to provide online users with the best search results possible based on the food or services they are looking for. When your restaurant earns the trust of Google, it begins to appear at the top of online search results.

The terms consumers use to search online for restaurants are called keywords. Keywords are the foundation of every restaurant SEO campaign, and any restaurant that hopes to appear at the top of Google search results should build their website around the keywords most relevant to the food and service they offer. Examples of keywords that our team has helped restaurants achieve top search results for include:

In addition to broad keywords like the above, you will want to identify keywords specific to popular menu items and the type of food you offer. When these keywords are identified, you are ready to implement SEO for your restaurant.

Implementing best SEO practices involves building your website around the previously identified keywords, creating & optimizing a Google Business Profile, and creating & optimizing online directory listings.

When building your website, be sure to include the following:

• A Homepage and About Page that showcase your restaurant’s story. Quality photos of your food, dining area, and team are important on these pages.
• Your restaurant’s menu clearly linked in your main navigation. Include every item you offer on your menu and include a description about each item. If possible, include photos of your menu items as well. Consumers prefer to see photos of menu options to help with their ordering decision.
• Contact information. Have a dedicated Contact page where consumers can quickly click to find your restaurant location(s), and to call and place an order.
• Online ordering. Make this clearly accessible in the website navigation so consumers can easily order online. This can be done directly through your website, or by linking to a 3rd party service.
• If your restaurant offers delivery services or catering services, be sure to include a dedicated page for each.

When optimizing your Google Business Profile, be sure to add your restaurant’s menu to your profile. Additionally, add photos of your menu items and closely monitor and respond to your reviews. For more information on how to fully optimize your restaurant’s Google Business Profile, check out our article explaining everything you need to know.

Online directory listings include websites like Yelp, YellowPages and many more. The more online directories that your restaurant information is accurately included in, the better your restaurant will rank in online search results. For details on how to create and optimize directory listings for your restaurant, click here.

Fully implementing an SEO campaign involves several nuances. But here are five restaurant SEO tips that can be implemented today to help drive your online search rankings:

1. Include descriptions and photos of your menu items on your website.
2. Monitor and respond to online reviews, including the negative ones.
3. Optimize the homepage of your website for your restaurant’s primary keyword.
4. Include your full menu and photos on your Google Business Profile.
5. Provide online ordering through your website and Google Business Profile.

The quick answer is, “Very.” 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations (Search Engine Land). The internet has made it incredibly easy to research the quality of food and service that a restaurant offers, and Google is a top source for consumers to read reviews before choosing a restaurant to visit.

This is not to say that your restaurant needs to have all 5-star reviews on your Google Business Profile. In fact, that is not recommended. A restaurant with all 5-star reviews, especially as more and more reviews are accrued, can appear spammy. While a rating in the mid to high 4s (out of 5) is ideal, negative reviews are inevitable. No matter how great your food or service is, you can expect to receive a portion of negative reviews. But instead of ignoring them or getting upset, use this as an opportunity to address concerns of past customers, and to show new customers that you care about their experience and you will go above and beyond to ensure their satisfaction.

If you need to design a website for your restaurant – whether a fine dining restaurant, morning café, bar and grill, food truck, or anything in between – there are three common options to choose from:

1. Use a DIY website builder

There are free DIY website design tools available that provide templates for business owners to create their own websites. Wix and SquareSpace are two of the most popular, and they both provide restaurant-specific templates that can be used. If you are operating without a budget and have the time to build your own website, a DIY website builder may be your best option.

2. Hire a freelancer looking for restaurant website design experience

If you are on a tight budget but don’t have the time or knowhow to build a website yourself, you can hire a freelance web designer that will do the project at a discounted rate in exchange for helping to grow their web design portfolio. The downfall is that the capabilities of your website and its ability to rank within Google search results will be limited to the designer’s skillset.

At Reach One Local, our team has worked with 50+ restaurant owners to achieve page one rankings in Google search results with state-of-the-art websites. If you’re a restaurant owner in search of top-quality website design and first-class SEO services to dominate your local search results and bring new customers through your doors on a regular basis, our team is here to help. Email us at info@reachonelocal.com, or fill out the form below today. We are here to answer any questions you may have, and estimate are always free.

For information on other industries and professions that we specialize in helping to build state-of-the-art websites designed to dominate their local search results, visit our client industries page here.