The Lazy Restaurant Owner's Guide to Using SEO

In today’s email:

• Words to live by- how SEO brings more customers to your door and keeps them coming.

SEO: the headlights that cause you to freeze in your tracks. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Here it is explained to 5 year olds: (Thanks, ChatGPT)

That’s it.

The right words, pictures, audio, that people are looking for.

Having those on your website and social media accounts so that people in your local area can find it improves your chances of:

• Increased web traffic- leads to more customers

• More trust and authority- leads to those customers sticking around

• More cost effective marketing- leads to less money leaving your wallet

If you’ve ever been confused on how to use SEO for your restaurant, then keep reading. You can start improving your local ranking in search today to get more customers.

It won’t take much to start.

When I first started with content marketing, SEO seemed like a vast maze easy to get lost in. But once I started, the way out became clearer.

Your customers have things they’re interested in. And if you talk about those interests often, they’ll be drawn to your business. From there they become loyal customers as long as you keep on giving.

And after that they start bringing their friends.

Here’s how.

Google My Business

Showing up on Google Maps should be your first priority. Google my business will be your best friend.

Not only will this put you on the map (heh), but it will also allow you to post higher quality photos of your menu since most photos are taken by customers.

Make sure all of your contact info is updated.

You’ll also be able to reply to reviews. And believe me, potential customers are checking those reviews and how you handle them.

So you’ll want to stay on top of those.

Try this.

Go to Google and type in something related to your brand.

“neapolitan pizza near me”

You’ll see an ad or some Google Maps listings right away. That alone should show the power of your Google My Business profile- showing up on the first page of search.

Don’t forget about other platforms like Bing Local. Your competitors have probably laughed at using different platforms, but that doesn’t mean your customers aren’t using them.

Imagine when they search what to eat in the area and your brand keeps showing up.

Facebook Ads

Facebook advertising is often an unused tool for SEO. Facebook has so much data about its users that you can create ads for your target audience and have it reach only them.

Keep in mind that when someone comes across an ad on Facebook, they’re not necessarily in a buying mood at the time they see it.

Ads that are more educational or entertaining will work best.

If the right people are getting the right message on a regular basis they’ll interact with it.

I just want to say that again:

Contrary to the name, running Facebook ads when your goal is getting more customers isn’t the time to advertise your products.

Use these ads to grab the attention of those potential customers with topics they’re interested in.

If it looks like an “ad” they’ll swipe away before they read the first word. And your money will be down the drain.

Build trust and authority

Google focuses on the concept E-E-A-T:

• Experience

• Expertise

• Authoritativeness

• Trustworthiness

The idea is that the more a website provides a great experience for its viewers, knows what they’re talking about, and is trusted by its audience then the more favourable its position in search will be.

How, you ask?

It starts from knowing as much as you can about your target audience. You can read more about creating buyer personas in an earlier article.

Once you know what they want to talk about, you can start creating.

Everything from your website to your socials should mention the topics that are important to your audience. Remember that the topics won’t always be directly related to your product.

But the magic hides in the “People also ask” section of the Google search page.

These are questions and phrases that customers who are already(!) looking for (insert your cuisine here) have searched for.

As you click on them and close them more show up.

Include these questions, phrases, words in your content and you’ll show up more often when those questions are asked again.

Use this tactic, and let me know how it works for you.

The more long tail you go with your keywords the less competition you’ll have.

‘Pizza near me’ is broad. ‘traditional Neapolitan pizza in (insert neighbourhood)’ is more specific.

Don’t take my word for it

Quote experts or influencers in your work. This will prove you’re not just making it up as you go. Then @ mention those experts with links to their website or social accounts. You never know where this may lead.

They may share it with their audience or reach out for a collaboration.

But even if it leads nowhere, you still have reliable content that people will continue to see in the future.

People searching for those experts, who wouldn’t otherwise hear about your business, will come across your article or social post.

• Do guest posts and articles for other businesses

• Ask to be on podcasts

• Start your own podcast

• Tweet daily about local news and events

• Do regular Twitter Spaces with similar brands

• Is your business all about Trappist ales? Collaborate with a cheese shop about beer and cheese pairings

• Create Instagram carousels or YouTube videos

Cost effective marketing

I’ll put it this way. If you create an ad you need to pay to put it out in the world.

If you create quality content that over-delivers people will find it at no additional cost.

Plus they’re more likely to trust organic content over an ad. On average, Google Ads will have a click-through-rate of 20 people per 1000, compared to SEO at almost 400.

Content created with local SEO in mind answers directly to the already existing demand by your customers.

That’s where the beauty lies.

If your customers aren’t interested, then you don’t have to think about it.

Focus on what they want.

88% of local searches- on mobile devices by the way- go on to visit a store within 5 miles that same day.

So make your website mobile friendly!

Conclusion

If anyone tried to sell you a fast way to great SEO they lied to you and wanted your money. You’re not going to rank #1 in a week.

SEO is a game of consistency. You gotta show up on a regular basis for as long as you care about your business.

As I said earlier, a big component of all of this is how your Google My Business profile is set up which we’ll talk about next.

Meme

What do you hope to get out of your restaurant marketing?