If you want to attract more attention to your restaurant and get more clients, you’ll definitely need to do a bit of SEO for your website.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) may sound a bit scary for somebody who hasn’t done it, however it is not that bad.
In fact, it’s one of the top strategies to market your restaurant online (as well as having an online ordering system). You simply need to learn the basics. And in order to help you out with it we’re sharing top 7 SEO tips every restaurant needs to follow on their website to get more traffic online and more customers through the door!
- Google+ Page
One of the primary things you need to do is to claim the Google+ listing for your restaurant. Google ranks listings with a Google+ page much higher in search results. So, how to claim your Google+ page?
First of all, do a quick search for your restaurant on Google. If you see that your restaurant is already listed on Google+, click on it, select “Manage This Page,” and after that sign-in with your Google account. After this you will need to undergo a process of verification. There are two ways you can confirm your ownership: either by phone or via regular mail. In case you don’t see a listing for your restaurant at all, you can set up your own Google+ page, which is totally free!
- Keyword Research
In order to rank higher in search results it is better to use some specific keywords related to your business. Luckily, there are a couple devices that can help you out with it, including the Google Adwords Keyword Tool.
You can start with searching the name of your city along with “restaurants.” It will help you see the number of times that particular keyword was searched each month and what competition it has. The main objective here is to choose keywords that receive a lot of searches, but in the meantime have low competition.
- Homepage Optimisation
If you want to attract more visitors to your website and, eventually, more clients to your restaurant, you need to make sure your web page is visible in search results. Nowadays people are more likely to find out about you this way. Thus, once you chose the keywords you would like to target on your website, you can optimise your homepage accordingly.
At the point when search engines crawl your website, they don’t see the nice design of your page, that you and your site visitors can see. In fact, what those crawlers see is the HTML code of your web page. Later on search engines will use that data to figure out what your website is about and will decide exactly which keywords you need to rank for in search results.
Therefore, it is recommended to concentrate on only one or two keywords when optimizing your page, rather than trying to rank for a huge variety of keywords. By the way, if your website is built on WordPress, you can use Yoast SEO plugin for this purpose.
- Optimising for Mobile
Optimising your website for mobiles is one of the most important aspects. Bearing in mind so many people use their smartphones to do so much online, it’s no surprise that your website should function properly and look awesome on mobile. In addition to that, Google ranks mobile-friendly websites much higher in their search results.
If you want to get promoted in search rankings, make sure you have a mobile-friendly site as soon as possible. For this purpose, you can actually check your website with Google’s Mobile-Friendly Testing Tool.
- Processing images
Optimising images for SEO is not difficult at all. First of all, before uploading an image on your website choose appropriate file name for it (ideally including your keywords). The next step is scaling the image to the size you want to show it. However, make sure that the scaled image is served in the smallest file size possible. For this purpose you can use tools such as ImageOptim, JPEGMini or PunyPNG. The next thing would be choosing a proper caption,which accompanies the image, and Alt text and title text, which describe it.
However, even if you do everything correctly in terms of SEO, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you will succeed with promotion of your website, because the quality of the image itself also matters.
Chris Edwards, owner of First Aid Box, says “Quality, relevant and beautiful high resolution images of food and drink will put the customer at ease straight away knowing that the establishment is of a high standard. Especially when starting out images can help drive your business forward even before you open. Marketing is so important these days so you want people salivating about the prospect of coming to your venue. Quality high resolution images can do this and more.”
That is why all successful restaurateurs hire professional food photographers to show off their newest menus and to make photos of their food look even tastier from the web. That’s where Splento can come in handy. This London-based company specializing in professional photography offers exceptional service at fixed and incredibly affordable rates. Just choose your location and time, pay as little as £98 for two hours – and they will do the rest.
- Reviews
Reviews are clearly a good way to attract new clients for your restaurant, but they’re useful for search engines as well. You are much more likely to get a boost in search rankings relevant to your business, when Google sees that you’re getting positive reviews.
Just create a “Reviews” page on your website, so that it is easier for search engines and your potential visitors to discover. Encourage your clients to leave reviews and clearly highlight the best ones on your web page.
- Publishing Restaurant Menu
In case you don’t have your menu published on your website, you are definitely losing a great opportunity for attract new clients. Every day thousands of people use search engines to find menus for a specific restaurant, so make sure you have one on your website and it has been crawled by Google.
The easiest way to do so would be to include a “Menu” page on your website. However, don’t use a picture of your menu for this purpose. Instead it is better to use HTML code, which is how search engines crawl your page.
Chris Edwards, Restaurant Manager at First Aid Box, says “Menu clarity is key when looking on a website. Size and simplicity of font is also important as The consumer should immediately understand and get a feel for the food and be enticed. Up to date and seasonal menus are essential as well.”
All these tips have already helped thousands of restaurant managers to promote their websites in terms of SEO. If you have any comments or suggestions, please feel free to let us know.
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