8Dec

Restaurants Should Take Advantage of SEO

What is SEO?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of improving your website’s rankings on search engines like Google and Bing. The higher your website’s SEO ranking, the more likely it is to show up on the first page of search results where potential customers are more likely to see it.

Why is SEO important for Restaurants?

A higher SEO ranking increases visibility, and that increased visibility will lead to more customers. For restaurants, this is especially important.

Think about it this way: A customer is hungry. She’s got a craving for burgers but doesn’t know where to go. She takes out her phone and searches for “burger joints” in her city. She’ll most likely make her decision based on the first page of results because less than ten percent of people make it to page 2.

SEO that puts your website at the top of that first page will catch the eye of your potential customers.

It’s strange to think about competing with other local businesses in the vastness of cyberspace, where there’s a seemingly infinite number of options. In actuality, customers use search engines to find local information every day, and they’re more likely to act when searching local.

• 4 out of 5 consumers use search engines to find local information
• 50% of consumers who conducted a local search on their smartphone visited a store within a day, and 34% who searched on computer/tablet did the same
• 18% of local searches on smartphones lead to a purchase within a day vs. 7% of non-local searches

How you can improve your website’s SEO

• Be Informative. When searching local, the most common things people look for are business hours, directions, and the business’s address. Make sure this information is not only on your website, but also easily visible and obtainable.
• Be Mobile-Friendly. We live in a world where there are now more searches done on mobile than on desktop. Your website should be as easy to read on a phone as it is on a computer screen. This means no Flash, Java or other plug-ins that can bog down a phone. Google boosts websites that are mobile-friendly because they want mobile users to be able to access the same easy-to-read information as desktop users.
• Be Readable. Readability and mobile-friendliness go hand-in-hand. A slow website will turn off mobile users, but nobody will read your website if you’re using light yellow text on a white background. Both customers and search engines need to be able to read your website to get the desired information. Search engines can’t read Flash or Java, so text and alt-text optimized images are the way to go.
• Always use Keywords. Keywords are the bread and butter of SEO. Having a website with multiple pages containing text and alt-text optimized images will improve your SEO score if you use the right words. Make sure you’re using key phrases that involve things like the cuisine you serve or the neighborhood around your restaurant.

SEO is vital for any local business who wants to see an increase in customers and customer satisfaction, but is especially vital for restaurants since they need to take advantage of local searches. So why not make it a part of your marketing strategy by implementing some of the keys listed above?