Online visibility can make or break any kind of business, and in an especially competitive restaurant industry, being seen on the web is especially critical to success.

With a few key ingredients, you can whip up a web strategy that will boost your restaurant’s presence in the search engines, and get customers into your dining room.

SEO

Some basic search engine optimization (SEO) techniques can go a long way in helping to boost your restaurant’s presence online.

Your website’s URL structure, meta descriptions and page titles are all important components of SEO, as well as the inclusion of key words and phrases that searchers might use to find a restaurant such as yours in your website’s on-page content.

Is your website mobile friendly? Google is dinging sites that aren’t, so if your design isn’t responsive, it’s time for a redesign.

Content Marketing

Fresh, relevant content is always a plus for your visibility (and search engine rankings). A good content plan is a part of well-executed SEO strategy, so think of ways you can keep things current and relevant on your website.

A restaurant blog can be a key player in helping you with this goal. Blogging can give your brand a bigger voice online. It’s a great way to share information and events related to your restaurant, and gives you extra content to share through your email and social media channels.

Good content increases traffic to your website. More traffic means your restaurant will rank higher in search engines.

Food Photography

Sometimes it’s easier to just let your food speak for itself. Social media posts with images get more attention. So share, share, share those yummy, professional food photos!

Social media management company Buffer found that adding images to social media postings can significantly increase engagement with your page.  Twitter updates can generate 150% more retweets than straight text updates.

And looking at more than 100 million Facebook updates in a three-month period, the content analysts at BuzzSumo found that updates with images had 2.3 times more engagement than those without.

As an added SEO benefit, Google ranks images, so if someone is searching for a picture of your particular cuisine, they are more likely to go to your site to find the original image. More traffic = more credibility for your site = higher visibility

Social Media

Not only does having a good social media presence build customer loyalty, it builds rank in the search engines. Social media sites like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are fantastic outlets to share content that brings patrons back to your website.

Share your blog content, daily specials, new menu items and pictures of food featured on your website to help establish rank and gain traction with the search engines.

Your social media pages can (and will) show up in search results, so take advantage of these pages to further your mission of online visibility domination.

Review and Restaurant Listing Sites

When diners search for restaurants online, review sites and online listings dominate the results – sometimes outranking your own website. Make sure your restaurant can be found among them.

Get started with a listing on Google My Business. Getting good reviews on your Google listing will help you show up in their top results and helps with mobile search optimization

This is an important step to getting found in local search results, so when your hopeful future patrons seek out a nearby restaurant, yours shows up. If your restaurant has more than one location, make sure each one has its own listing.

Claim and establish accounts on Yelp, Trip Advisor and Zomato, to name a few. Not only do these sites help make your restaurant more visible, they are important for managing your brand’s reputation.

Take advantage of the increased visibility and SEO boost these sites provide.

Get Started

Boosting your online presence doesn’t happen magically overnight, but with the right mix of strategy and implementation, your restaurant can soar to the top of the search results.

Enchanted Dish can cook up a strategy that works for your restaurant. Contact us to see how we can help.