Restaurant SEO is Easier Than You Think (4 Big Wins)

When it comes to getting more customers, most restaurant owners focus on social media, ads, or flyers, but the most powerful tool is often overlooked: restaurant SEO. Ranking high in Google searches puts your restaurant in front of people who are already hungry and ready to order.

SEO doesn’t have to be complicated. Most guides are written for marketers, not busy restaurant owners, but with the right approach, even a small team can see real results. Local SEO for restaurants is simpler than you might think.

In this post, I’ll cover the basics of restaurant SEO, reveal 4 big wins that can drive more orders, and show exactly how to put them into action.

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What is Restaurant SEO?

Restaurant SEO is how you get your restaurant to the top of your local search results.

When someone searches "chicken and waffles in Chicago," good restaurant SEO helps convince Google that your website should be at the top of the search rankings.

When done right, your website shows up first when locals search for nearby food or restaurants. Restaurant websites with strong SEO get more visibility, which drives more traffic and more sales — both offline and online. If you take online reservations, you’ll get more bookings; if you offer online ordering, you’ll see more direct online sales.

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Do All Restaurants Need SEO?

Some restaurants need more SEO than others. Let’s say your restaurant does a lot of takeout. This makes SEO essential because likely thousands of people in your area are searching for food online.

For many restaurants, SEO is the most effective way to attract new customers. Social media like Instagram or Facebook may get attention, but the real revenue comes from search.

Here’s data from a restaurant using Owner.com showing where their new customers come from—a breakdown typical across most of our clients. Notice how Google drives far more traffic than any social platform.

If you do restaurant SEO well, Google will send you traffic. You do that by focusing on these 4 big wins.

The 4 big wins of restaurant SEO

1. Perfect your Google Business Profile for local SEO

Great restaurant SEO can help restaurants reach many different goals. Your goal may be to drive more online orders. Or get more reservations. It could be to get more catering customers. Whatever your goal, it all starts with getting to the top of the rankings. These SEO tips will help your restaurant website get there.

Accurate Contact Info: Name, Address and Phone Number

Make sure your restaurant’s name, address, and phone number are accurate in your Google Business Profile (GBP) and consistent across all online directories. Many competitors skip this local SEO strategy, but consistency signals to Google that your business is legitimate and trustworthy, helping you show up for more potential customers.

This simple step is so effective that we help all our Owner.com customers get it right when they sign up, which drives more traffic and more online orders.

Upload Photos of your Restaurant and Food

Add high-quality pictures to your Google Business Profile. Show your restaurant's interior and your most popular dishes.

In our experience, unless you're a fine dining restaurant, you don't need a fancy photoshoot. Pictures taken with your phone are fine, as long as they're clear and well-lit. So, don’t overthink this.

Fill Out Your Attributes

Do you offer food delivery? Do you have parking? Is your entrance wheelchair accessible? Do you have vegetarian options?

Adding as many relevant attributes to your GBP differentiates you from other local businesses. The more up to date information you can give Google, the better. See this short video for how to do this.

Add Your Menu

People will sometimes search for specific cuisines or dishes that they’re craving. You want to appear on the local search rankings when that happens. Adding your menu items to your Google Business Profile helps Google recommend your website to people who are looking for a certain dish or cuisine. This makes it more likely that you’ll show up first in the rankings for the food that you serve.

Get More Reviews on Google

Don't ask people to leave reviews on Yelp, Tripadvisor, or other review sites and online directories. This might have been the right marketing strategy in 2017, but times have changed.

You should focus on getting reviews on your Google Business Profile instead. Google reviews directly impact your local search rankings and influence how likely new customers are to choose your restaurant over competitors. More positive reviews make your restaurant look trustworthy and popular to Google and diners alike.

Good news: if you use a direct online ordering system like Owner.com, you can automate this. You can automatically email customers to ask for reviews after they order. I explain how to do this here.

Free guide: Improve your restaurant’s website and Google ranking in just 90 seconds.Try now!

Add these cuisine phrases to your homepage

How else can we make it easy for Google to recommend your website?

After you optimize your Google Business Profile, the next big win is to put relevant phrases and keywords on your homepage. These are the terms that people type into Google that relate to your food and location.

This is a big win because it’s so easy. I'm always excited to share this with restaurant owners because it's such an obvious way to get more local customers.

It is really as simple as putting the right keywords on your homepage.

Here’s what I mean. See these examples from our customers. You can do a Google search on your own to see how they look. Type these into Google:

• “Best birria in miramar”
• “Best italian in lakeside”

You'll quickly find our customers Talkin’ Tacos and Ottavio's Italian Restaurant. That’s because we helped them add those cuisine keywords to their restaurant homepage when they signed up with us. 

You can do the same for your restaurant. Here’s how.

Add these specific dish keywords to your restaurant’s homepage

Here’s how to use this table. If you run an Italian restaurant in Lakeside, add “best pasta in Lakeside” to your homepage. If you have a Mexican restaurant in Miramar, add “best tacos in Miramar.”

Be sure to choose keywords relevant to your cuisine and the dishes you actually offer.

It’s important to add this keyword in two places: first, in the page title, which is what people see on Google, and second, in the main homepage headline.

We handle this automatically for Owner.com customers, but most restaurant website builders make this quick and easy; you usually don’t need a developer.

Add website features that your customers are looking for

Alright. So now you’ve done a great job perfecting your GBP listing. And now you've added relevant keywords to your homepage. Let’s make it even easier for Google to recommend you by improving how people engage with your website.

Why does this matter? Google pays attention to how visitors behave on your site. If people click around and leave quickly, it signals a poor experience, and Google will show your website to fewer potential customers. But if visitors stick around, explore, and use your site’s features, it signals a positive experience, and Google will rank you higher.

So how do you give visitors what they want? Most people visiting restaurant websites are looking to:

• Make reservations
• See the menu
• Order food

Adding features that make these actions easy not only improves the user experience but also sends positive engagement signals to Google — driving more traffic to your site.

Online Reservations

This is especially important if you have an in-person concept. When people can’t book a table on your website, they’ll get frustrated and leave.

Google hates it when it sees that people visit your website and then leave right away.

Don’t force your customers to fill out forms to make reservations. Instead, use tools like Resy or OpenTable to help manage your reservations.

In addition to getting more Google traffic, you’ll get more foot traffic and more customers overall.

Online Ordering (OLO)

Do you offer delivery? People go to your website to look at your menu, and ideally, a way to order from you directly. If you already do a lot of volume on third-party delivery apps, offering OLO could unlock a new revenue stream. I see this all the time with restaurants that start using Owner.com, like Metro Pizza.

One of the worst SEO mistakes is to send your website visitors to an online ordering system on a different website. More on this later.

4. Make your website mobile-friendly

Mobile-friendly websites are essential for attracting and keeping visitors. Mobile devices now account for 62.54% of global website traffic, and Google primarily uses mobile-first indexing when ranking sites. If your site isn’t optimized for mobile, you risk losing both traffic and customers

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Did you know? 91% of guests prefer to visit a restaurant’s website before deciding to order takeout or delivery.

Fast loading times

Speed matters on mobile. Visitors expect pages to load quickly, and slow pages frustrate visitors and make them leave. Focus on optimizing images, minimizing unnecessary scripts, and streamlining your site’s design to make it load in seconds.

Easy navigation

Simplicity is key. Menus should be easy to read, buttons easy to tap, and essential pages—like your menu, reservations, and online ordering—quick to find. Avoid cluttered layouts or features that require pinch-and-zoom.

Clear menu & calls to action

Your menu should be prominent and easy to read on any device. Include clear buttons for “Order Online,”“Reserve a Table,” and “View Menu” above the fold. Sticky headers or floating action buttons can help users take action without scrolling.

Pro tip Test your mobile site regularly using a mobile-friendly test platform to ensure it performs across devices.

The Worst SEO Mistakes Your Restaurant Should Avoid

Restaurant owners make these mistakes because no one told them they were wrong. That’s okay: you’re a restaurant owner. You didn’t study digital marketing!

This advice applies to restaurants that do a lot of delivery. But any restaurant website will improve when you avoid these mistakes. I’ll explain why these are a problem, then show you how to fix them.

1. Linking to an OLO on a different website

Many restaurants use online ordering platforms on a different website. For example, an “Order Online” button might send customers to DoorDash instead of keeping them on the restaurant’s website.

Here’s what Google sees in that case:

• People visit your website.
• They leave immediately for the third-party site.
• They complete orders elsewhere.

This makes Google think your site provides a poor experience, while the third-party site looks “better.”

Instead, keep online orders on your own website. 

This mirrors how top e-commerce sites like Amazon handle purchases—all on their own websites.

At Owner.com, this approach drives more SEO traffic and higher conversions. When people browse and buy directly on your site, Google sees positive engagement signals and is more likely to recommend your restaurant to others.

How to fix: Use an online ordering system that keeps customers on your website to boost both search visibility and direct sales.

2. Too many images and videos

Overloading your website with giant images and videos might look great, but it slows down page loading. Slow sites frustrate visitors, who leave quickly, which is a negative signal to Google that can hurt your search traffic.

The problem isn’t just SEO. Customers browsing on their phones will get annoyed, especially if they want to order. If your site takes too long to load, they’ll abandon it and go straight to delivery apps. Sure, you’ll still get the order, but now you’re paying a 30% commission.

How to fix: Time how fast your website takes to load. If it takes more than 2 seconds, reduce the file size of your images with a compression tool like TinyPNG and cut back on the number of videos.

3. Menu is a PDF or JPG

Quick question: grab your phone and visit your website. Go to your menu, what do you see?

If it’s just a picture or a PDF, that’s a problem. While it might look fine on a laptop or a monitor, PDFs are often hard to read on mobile devices. They can take too long to load, and the text is usually too small to see clearly.

Remember: Most visitors are browsing from their phones, so your menu needs to be mobile-friendly and easy to read.

Remember, Google sees that people bounce right off your website, thinks you’re not giving people a good experience, and so will recommend you less.

To make things worse, those people will just go to Uber Eats or DoorDash instead, where the menu items are clear and easy to read. 

When restaurants start using Owner.com, one of the first things we do is add their menu to their online ordering system.

This is great for customers who want to browse your menu. But it’s also great for Google: your menu is now in text, which makes it more searchable.

How to fix: Publish your menu using text or use an online ordering system so it’s easy to browse.

How to fix: Publish your menu using text or use an online ordering system so it’s easy to browse.Advanced SEO Tips For Restaurants

n this last section, we’ll give you SEO tips to supercharge your Google traffic even more. These advanced search engine optimization best practices will give your restaurant an even bigger competitive edge.

But don’t let “advanced” fool you – while these take more effort, you can do a lot of these without ever talking to a developer. And I’ve identified the highest ROI tips for restaurant SEO to make sure you get the most from your effort.

Tip #1: Build backlinks

A backlink is like a digital thumbs-up from one website to another. Every time another website links to your restaurant’s site, they’re saying, "Hey, check this place out, it's great!"

These backlinks are a positive signal to Google that your restaurant is trustworthy.

The more high-quality backlinks you have, the more likely you are to be ranked above your local competitors.

For example, let’s say you run a pizzeria in Lewiston, Maine. If your site has 250 backlinks, but a competitor only has 5 backlinks, Google will most likely rank you above your competitor.

So, how do you build backlinks?

Submit to local directories and community sites

Every community has online directories, noticeboards or review sites.

These are great places to list your business in order to connect with customers and generate valuable backlinks. These directories are often free to list your business in, too. For example, in Kansas City, 816Area is a free directory of local businesses.

Contact food bloggers and critics

To catch the eye of local bloggers and food journalists, you’ll have to first give them a reason to write about you. 

Maybe you just launched a strange or unique new dish. Maybe a local celebrity is a fan. Maybe you’re opening a new location. 

Once you’ve got your angle, email them or send them a DM on Instagram and pitch your story. If they write about you, they’ll likely include a link to your website.

Get local media coverage

Create a newsworthy story by joining forces with other businesses or taking part in community events.

Whether it’s charity fundraisers, local festivals, or cooking demos, these moments are perfect for earning features in local media.

Local journalists are always looking for stories. Look for the journalist that’s most relevant to your story, find their email, and send them a pitch.

Tip #2: Add alt text on images

Short for alternative text, ‘alt text’ is a crucial element in SEO.

In basic terms, alt text provides a text description of the images featured on your website. This helps Google (and other search engines) to understand what’s in your images.

For instance, an image of a pizza on a restaurant's site could have alt text like “fresh vegan pizza at [Restaurant Name],” this can enhance a restaurant website’s SEO by building further association between the restaurant’s site and the food it offers.

For instance, an image of a pizza on a restaurant's site could have alt text like “fresh vegan pizza at [Restaurant Name].” This can enhance a restaurant website’s SEO by strengthening the association between the restaurant’s site and its food.

Most restaurant website builders let you do this when you’re adding images to your website, so you don’t need to edit any code.

Tip #3: Add these pages to your website

Single-page websites are easy to manage, but if you want more customers from Google, you need multiple pages. A single page doesn’t give Google enough information about your restaurant, while competitors with pages for menus, delivery areas, events, and reviews get more traffic.

When restaurants sign up with Owner.com, we help them build the perfect website, like:

• A homepage highlighting specialties.
• An “About” page telling their story.
• An online menu in text form.

At a minimum, add a page about your restaurant’s history and a text version of your menu to boost visibility and SEO.

Start ASAP: SEO is your biggest opportunity

Search engine optimization is the biggest opportunity for most restaurants. 

We see restaurant owners constantly getting distracted with social media, but time and time again, we see that SEO is where the customers are.

Here’s the full checklist to help get you started.

And as you can see from the tips we gave in this post, restaurant SEO is not complicated. You don’t need a developer to dive into the details of technical SEO. You don’t need to hire a digital marketing agency.

We’ve automated a lot of these processes at Owner.com. If you want to learn more about our restaurant SEO services, book a demo here. But you don’t need to use our platform to take action on any of the tips we covered today.\

Restaurant SEO FAQ

Here are answers to some of the most common questions we hear from restaurant owners about SEO. These tips focus on local search, keywords, and website structure to help your restaurant get more visibility and orders.

How do I optimize my Google Business Profile for local searches?

Make sure your name, address, and phone number are accurate and consistent across Google and all other online directories. Add high-quality photos, keep your hours up to date, respond to reviews, and use relevant keywords in your business description. These steps help Google understand your restaurant and show it to local diners.

What are the best keywords for a small Italian restaurant?

Focus on keywords that combine your cuisine, signature dishes, and location, like “best pasta in [City]” or “authentic Italian restaurant in [Neighborhood].” Include these in your homepage title, main headline, and menu pages to capture local search traffic.

How should I structure my menu pages for SEO?

Use text-based menus rather than PDFs or images so Google can read your content. Organize items by category (e.g., appetizers, entrees, desserts) and naturally incorporate your keywords into dish names and descriptions. Make sure each menu page is easy to navigate on mobile and includes clear calls to action, such as “Order Online” or “Reserve a Table.”

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