Restaurants are a good business to be in. The industry has been booming for years, and the demand for food is on the rise. But how do you attract new customers and keep them coming back? Local SEO can help! It’s not just about ranking well in search engines. You also want to make sure your online presence is strong so people know exactly where you are and what you have to offer when they’re ready to buy.
1. Google is taking local seriously
Google is now an essential part of the local marketing mix, but it doesn’t stop there: Google has taken its role in the local space to a new level by becoming the most important tool for finding and ranking businesses. With Google’s search engine optimization (SEO) tools, local search rankings can be optimized in order to increase visibility and drive traffic to your business’ website or physical location.
Google has a lot of data on businesses that allow them to better target ads based on data such as location and interests. This helps them attract more customers than ever before because they know exactly what people want before they even ask! As you can see, this gives Google a lot of power over small businesses like yours!
2. Dominate the search results with a strong GMB profile
You can use Google My Business to create and manage your business listing in Google search results, as well as on Google Maps. That means you’ll want to make sure your GMB profile is accurate and complete by filling out all the information fields on the page, including hours of operation, photos of the restaurant interior or exterior (if applicable), menu items and prices (if applicable).
To set up a GMB profile: Go to Google Maps and click “Edit” at the bottom right corner of your map pane; then select “Add new business” from your list of options. Once that’s done, fill out all relevant information about yourself as an owner/operator—for example name, address info like phone number(s) or street address, website URL (if applicable), categories that describe what kind of business you are (e.g., restaurant type), etc.—and submit it! If there are any errors in this process don’t worry—just contact us here at LocalVox so we can help fix them ASAP.”
3. SEO your website content for local keywords
It may seem obvious, but it’s important to know that local keywords are different from generic keywords. Generic keywords are the ones that every business in your industry is using to try and attract customers. These can include things like “best coffee shop” or “best restaurant.” Local keywords are more specific to your business and its location. They’re the words and phrases people in your area would search for when looking for businesses like yours. For example, if you own a pet grooming spa with locations in multiple cities across the country when someone searches on Google for “pet grooming near me” they’ll get a list of all the other pet grooming salons within their city—not yours!
So how do you find out what these local keywords should be? You can use tools like Google Keyword Planner or Moz Pro’s Keyword Tool (which also shows an estimated monthly search volume) but these will only give you generic results based on what everyone else is bidding on; not specific enough for SEO success! If possible we recommend reaching out directly through social media platforms such as Facebook groups where other small business owners might share similar challenges and experiences with their audience; this way people who own restaurants near yours might share some insight into which terms they’ve seen work best in attracting customers from their community.”
4. Generate reviews to generate trust
Reviews are one of the most powerful tools you can use to generate trust and build your restaurant’s reputation. A good review is a trusted source of information, and it can lead to more sales. Reviews help build trust between customers and businesses as well as provide an unbiased perspective on a particular product or service.
In fact, Google has been known to rank local businesses higher when they have more reviews posted on their pages! You need to have a system in place that helps you generate reviews from customers who have recently visited your restaurant so that you can take advantage of this opportunity right now instead of waiting until later (when it may be too late).
5. Keep an eye on your competitors’ local strategy
- The fifth and final step is monitoring your competitors’ local strategies. There are several things you can do to do this, including Keeping an eye on their website for any changes to the copy or content on it. You can also monitor the keywords that they are targeting as well as links going into their site from other sources. This will help you determine where your competitor is getting SEO traffic from.
- Check out what review sites and directories they’re using, if any at all. This can give you insight into where they’re getting organic traffic from, which could hint at new opportunities for adding inbound links back to your website through guest blogging or contributing articles yourself! And even better yet…
- Look at what other businesses are listed under by-category pages like those found on Yelp or Facebook—you may find some good leads there too!
Local SEO for Restaurants can be a driver of new business, but only if you take the time to nurture it.
Local SEO for Restaurants is a long game. Your efforts will take time to produce results, so don’t expect to see an immediate boost in business right away. To ensure that your SEO strategy is effective, you need to be patient and consistent with your approach—it’s easy for restaurants who have not yet optimized their website for local keywords or generate reviews on sites like Yelp! or Foursquare! (or even other review sites) fall behind if they’re not doing these things consistently over time.
It’s also important to keep an eye on competitors’ strategies; if one of them starts doing well locally, it could mean trouble down the road for you if they take market share from you in the process.
Conclusion
There’s no doubt that local SEO can be a valuable asset for restaurants. With the right strategy, you can boost your brand visibility and attract new customers who are looking for a local business like yours. But it takes time, effort and commitment to get results from any type of marketing or advertising campaign. If you want the best chance at success with local SEO, make sure that you treat it just like any other part of your marketing strategy—and that means planning ahead before diving into any changes!
