SEO for Restaurants
Search engine optimisation (SEO) refers to the means of raising your rankings on organic search results. There are two major components: on-site optimisation; and off-site optimisation.
On-site optimization includes these elements:
content & keywords
HTML
site architecture
Off-site optimisation includes these elements:
trust - in terms of domain authority & page authority
links
social
Keywords
Keywords are fundamental to the search process. They are the building blocks of language and search engines. Search engines store and structure web pages centred on a particular keyword term or phrase.
So, for example, if you want your page to have a chance of ranking in the search results for “organic food”, you should make sure the word “organic food” is prevalent on that web page.
You should compile a list of keywords that you want to rank for, relevant to for your restaurant, as the starting point of your SEO strategy. You can compile your keyword list by brainstorming themes relevant to your restaurant concept.
A few keywords to include in your keyword list could be:
restaurants in <your city>
happy hour
brunch
lunch
dinner
private dining
catering
You can also use the Google Adwords Keyword Planner tool to suggest more keywords to you. And research your chosen keywords further by finding the estimated search volume.
When it comes to keyword research, you should consider the keyword demand and keyword difficulty. Broad terms get a lot of results. Whereas specific terms get considerably fewer results for the specific result. But broad terms come with a high level or competition. As you make your keywords more specific, you narrow the competition for search results, and improve your chances of achieving a higher ranking.
Website
Your website and its underlying HTML is another major factor of SEO. HTML refers to the tags within the code of your website. The main elements include:
title tag - The title tag on pages of your website tells search engines what the page is about. It should be 70 characters or less and include your business or brand name and keywords that relate to that specific page only.
meta description - The meta description on pages your website gives search engines a little more insight into what your page is about. You want to write your meta description with your audience in mind with a short description that includes the page’s main keywords, as the meta description does show up in search results.
url
The title tag, meta description, and url show up in the search results.
More elements of HTML include:
header tag - Different levels of HTML header tags help break the content into sections as well as let search engines know more about what each section of content is about. Use h1 header tags around the post title, and h2 and h3 header tags around subheadings on the page. Using header tags helps both readers and search engines break up your content into digestible sections.
image name & alt tag - If you use images on your website, you should think of good keywords for both the image name and the alt tag. This helps search engines find good images for their image search based on the keywords specified.
internal links - You can help search engines learn more about your website by internally linking to other pages on your website within your content. Good links should be based around a descriptive keyword.
Content
Content is great for both your website visitors and search engines. The more content you have, the more likely your visitors will stick around on your website. And the more content you have, the more likely search engines will be to put more of your website’s pages in the search index. The key to pleasing both search engines and visitors is to have quality content on your website. Quality content can include a variety of things, including, but not limited to the following:
blog posts
infographics
videos
podcasts
Structure your content strategy around your chosen keyword list, by planning topics that match each keyword you want to target, and writing a piece for that particular keyword.
Links
Organic links are links you don’t have to ask for, and they are the best kind. If you get them on sites with high authority, such as major news outlets and other well-recognised websites, it will greatly boost your search rankings.
There are two types of links:
whitehat - Whitehat basically means good, quality link building; the kind you should strive for.
blackhat - Blackhat means spammy, low quality link building; the kind you should avoid.
Most websites will have a hard time generating enough organic links to raise their rankings in search engines. This is why link building is a major activity as a part of your SEO program. You can get started on building quality links by doing some of the following:
submit guest blog posts to your popular blogs
reach out to related businesses
crate local search profiles and social media profiles
submit your website to relevant directories
create link worthy content and allow others to use your content on their website
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Digibites is a digital agency for Bars, Cafes, and Restaurants. We specialise in digital marketing and creative solutions that will get new customers to your door and keep customers coming back.
Our services include: consulting, online marketing, website design, branding & graphic design. We also provide an online course.