Optimize your online profile and food menu on Google my business free listings to reach food lovers.
16 of the most important ways to optimize your local restaurant on Free Google My Business Listings in 2022 To Grow Your Restaurant Business.
To BE THERE when the hungry customers search for the food items you serve.
The beginning
You are passionate about food or you love to serve good quality and tasty food. Or you have been to a lot of restaurants and you have bad experiences about their quality, taste and customer service. And you think and you are sure, you have this vision to serve a better quality, best tasting food and can give the food lovers a great eating out experience.
You are certain what you serve will make them love your food and they will be come back for more.
The more they love the food items you serve there is more than enough opportunities to branch out or franchisee your business.
Maybe your restaurant is already profitable, but the growing population of eating out or online ordering customers are not increasing and your foot traffic and your business is not growing the way you expected.
Competition at the gate
No matter what kind of food you serve or how many branches and franchisees you own, if you are not visually present your products on the digital platforms, where people spend their time, you are leaving money on the table. A mouth watering food menu will bring the smartphone toting customers to your doorstep in no time.
Which thousands of competitors do and they are waiting to grab the customer’s attention lightning fast.
Competition is also increasing day by day in all business categories.
Especially new Restaurant and hospitality businesses are sprouting day by day like wild mushrooms in every kind of food business in all geographies.
Get ahead of the competition
To stay ahead and stand out from the crowd, you business must be present online and up to date on this digital economy. You must have a brand strategy to keep up and promote and raise your brand awareness and increase brand equity.
This is the first and foremost thing you need to ‘BE THERE’ where your potential customers searching for the food items you serve.
There is a lot of discoverable opportunities to surface your business profile on local search results. Also stay top and center of your customer’s mind.
Few of them are highlighted here to get started to build your profile on Google search and maps.
Default Mentions – Health and safety measures you have on your premises ,mask requirement, staff wear masks and staff get temperature checked should be mentioned in these COVID times.
Here is the 16 ways
These 16 relevant elements are displayed in search results to help customers on Google Search Results for a local (regional) business. Also they are opportunity to surface your business on Google Search.
- 1. Location Based Search Results
- 2. Grab Attention With Stunning Menu Images On Top
- Branding Opportunity
- Ratings & Reviews Influences Customers
- Business Hours & Driving Directions
- An Opportunity To Show Your Printed Menu
- Up to Date Information
- Contact Options
- Website Linking Opportunity
- Posts on Google My Business Profile
- Highlight Options
- About Restaurant
- Service Options
- Video Content
- Reserve A Table
- Online Order
1.Location based search results
Restaurants are regional local businesses. Even if they have multiple branches or franchisees, the top search results always shows the local businesses. (restaurants near me) is most popular keywords used by customer.
Map shown with business names with markers and In some cases shows in regional languages too.
An opportunity to surface on the top of the search results. Start now to optimize your business on Google My Business Listing with your precise business location to be seen on search and Maps.Make sure it is the number one priority.
2.Grab Attention With Stunning Menu Images On Top
Whether you serve vegetarian, vegan, non vegetarian, multicuisine or fast food, it is important to add eye catching food menu you serve on your business profile.
Add a high quality image of your restaurant entrance (store front) on your cover image.
Take advantage of this smashing and attention grabbing scrolling images on top of the page opportunity. No other element has the power to bring the customers to your physical location or order items from your restaurant in an instant. Pay attention and take your food menu items with professional photographer.
These days a smartphone has all the power of the good camera and use it too.
Make sure when the customer visit your restaurant or order online, your food items reflect the images.
If an image is equal to 1000 words, what can we say about videos.
Highlight your menu and place with attention grabbing videos to drive visitors to your restaurant to try your food menu and become a long time customers.
You can different of videos in your profile to attract new customers and keep the existing ones.
3.Branding Opportunity
Have a beautiful logo that reflects your restaurant business and a catchy slogan that matches your business philosophy.
It is displayed in all your profile elements and make it memorable to help the potential customers remember whenever they think of the food like you serve.
For instance if a customer thinks of ordering a burger what brand will come to their mind? McDonald or any new comers brand. If they like to order a pizza Dominoes or which other brand will be top of their mind?
They have already nailed their brand image and slogan on burger lovers and pizza eaters mind strongly.
Even if some of the customers order from other new brands which can be better tasting and more loveable than the former brands, their name automatically crops on the customer’s mind.
Be sure to brand your signature dish on the food lovers mind with a eye catching memorable logo and slogan that reflects the food you serve.
4.Ratings & Reviews Influences Customers
Customer Experiences will break or make a business profitable and generate consistent revenue in this competitive world.
Be great at helping customer get a positive and happy experience from the ambience of the place, service and hygienic to taste of food items.
Nowadays a customer check ratings and reviews of the businesses, before they start to consider or visit the restaurant or make a purchase.
These ratings and reviews of the restaurant or their food menu items sometimes influences their purchase decisions. Positive reviews and higher ratings will certainly drive customers to your website to check out the menu or consider online order.
5. Business Hours & Driving Directions
Clearly stating your business attributes like family friendly, drive-in. take-away, In-store or curbside pick-up and no contact delivery information’s are not only customer friendly customers have come to expect the information should be prominent in a restaurant search result.
Update business hours often and add special hours of business hours up to date.
Exact address and landmarks are most helpful for the customers find you quickly. Check the profile as often as possible to update map location of your physical address.
6. An Opportunity To Show Your Printed Menu
This is an extended opportunity to show your printed menu for the customers view all of the items you serve. Whether it is breakfast menu, lunch menu, snacks and drinks and dinner menu.
It is the most helpful information for the customers choose other items they may not have seen on the photo collections or top of the scrollable image list.
Make sure the information’s like which menu are available at what time and whether they are available on only special occasions.
7.Up to date
There is an element called “latest” in photos. It is obvious you have to update your menu or photos of them as often as possible. Even if you have already posted your menu items, It is a great idea to take pictures of your customers having meals or with a food menu items that is latest.
8.Contact Options
Add phone or mobile numbers to help customers contact you instantly with requiring information about your business or order instantly.
Be sure to turn on messages on your Google My Business Free Listings to customers message you instantly. Make sure someone reply the customers instantly or your specified time. Never ignore or forget to reply them.
Messaging option is an opportunity never to miss.
9.Website Linking Opportunity
A Mobile first restaurant website is an opportunity to drive visitors to your digital store front. A free listing opportunity to link your website to drive customers and build your brand online.
Get your business online with a mobile friendly website and brand your restaurant business with links that helps to increase your brand awareness.
10.Posts on Google My Business Profile – A Content marketing opportunity to turn visitors to paying customers.
Best opportunity to convert your visitors on Google profile and turn them to loyal customers for your food items is an easy task with posts on your business profile.
What to post on your business profile?
Posts about the history of your business, why you started the food business, what is special about your menu, what sets your menu items apart from your competitors and origin of your signature dishes etc.,
There is more than hundreds of content ideas you can think of to post on your business profile to entyce your customers to buyers.
Also you can link your posts to drive customers to your website to help them more about your restaurant, food items and services you provide.
11.Highlights for a restaurant business
You have the opportunity to highlight your menu with stunning menu images.
Also you can highlight ‘all you can eat, woman owned, casual, vegetarian options’ etc.,
Check out what you can highlight in your business profile builder to do it.
12.About Restaurant
This is another opportunity to tell customers about your business, why you started the business, what is special about your business and your signature dishes and a good and interesting facts about your restaurant etc.,
13.Service Options
Delivery, takeaway, dine-in and no contact delivery options you can mention. If you are providing catering service for events, special occasions, weddings, conferences, corporate catering and birthday party celebrations on your premises, you can explain them clearly and what kinds of service you provide and how you serve and many more things.
There is fantastic opportunity to impart these on your service options.
14.Video Content Marketing
Short form video content is most popular and they are gaining billions of views and hours of watch time.
Never lose this opportunity to show off your menu items in video format.
Behind the scene video of how a particular food prepared on your restaurant will be more interesting to food lovers and they will appreciate it. What is more, it will certainly bring more business.
Have a video marketing strategy and add the videos on your Free Google My Business Listing.
Video of a menu will be more than a welcome addition on your business profile.
15. Reserve a table
If your restaurant requires table reservation, it should be mentioned on your profile and a relevant link should be added to your profile to help the customers reserve the table right from your profile.
It is not only a good practice, it shows the customers your understanding of your customer needs.
Do not forget to add a relevant link to the table reservation form page or third party booking platform link.
16.Online order
A linking opportunity available to drive customers to your digital commerce website or third party food delivery app page.
If you are not using online ordering system to deliver food to customer place, in store pick-up or curbside pick-up, you will be loosing the additional income and increasing your brand and customer base opportunity.
People expect their favorite food delivered to their door step. It is the trend not going to stop in the near future.
If you can create your own food delivery network, a robust digital commerce process, do so and link it on your restaurant business profile to increase customer base and build your business a profitable venture.
Who knows, your restaurant may attract the growth hungry investors to reach out to you for a partnership.
All it requires is creating a best profile of your restaurant online and giving a great experience to the food lovers.
Go ahead! Build your restaurant business profile on Free Google My Business Listing to improve sales and build a business you can be proud of and delight the food lovers.
Dessert
These are some of the opportunity and tools to promote & grow your restaurant business online
