How to create and optimise your restaurant's Google My Business listing

Your restaurant's Google My Business profile is now one of your most important online storefronts. It is the information on this profile that Google offers the most visibility in search results. In addition, it’s what will allow your restaurant to appear on Google Maps.

How can a Google My Business account boost your business? How can you create your Google My Business account?

Follow the steps in this article to find out more about Google My Business optimisation.

Why list your restaurant on Google My Business?

Boost your visibility on Google 

Google is the most used search engine in the world. 84% of people use it.

Having a Google My Business listing is a free and quick way to attract new customers to your restaurant. There are many ways to boost your visibility on the internet: social networks, SEO optimisation of your website—but the fastest way is to create a Google My Business account. 

Have direct contact with your customers

With Google My Business you can answer directly to customers in the "Reviews" section.

If a customer types your business name into Google, you will appear first on the search page thanks to this feature, but also on Google Maps.

How to create a Google My Business account for your restaurant

What is Google My Business?

Google My Business, previously Google Business Manager, is a free service from Google that allows all restaurants and businesses to create their own business listing. The information shown here is particularly well-referenced by Google and receives a natural visibility boost.

Two locations are dedicated to it on the Google search results pages:

🌎 The local pack: Refers to the location used by Google to present local results (map and business listing). This location is displayed when a search includes elements allowing you to "localise" your search. For a more vague search, this pack appears with elements relating to shops near the place where the search is carried out. It has the advantage of being placed above the classic, naturally first results.

🧠 The knowledge graph: a box on the right-hand side of the results page that is displayed when a specific search is done for a restaurant, a personality or a known fact.

11 steps to create a Google My Business account for your restaurant :

1. Sign in to your Google Account

2. Go to page

3. Click on "Add your establishment to Google".

4. Enter the name of your restaurant, then click "Next".

5. Enter the category of your activity, then click "Next".

6. Click "yes" when prompted to add a location

7. Add the address of your restaurant

8. Indicate if you offer your services outside the establishment

9. Add your phone number and the URL to your restaurant's website

10. Choose whether or not to receive recommendations from Google

11. Click on "Finish" and you're done! (You will receive a confirmation SMS or email)

All you have to do is optimise this page with more information: 

• Description (include keywords that are likely to be searched by your audience)

• Timetable

• Photos

• Logo

• Service area

• Menu

• Type of payment allowed

• And more

Provide as much information as possible so that customers do not have to look elsewhere for answers to their questions.

5 tips for optimising your Google My Business listing

1. Add as much information as possible

"Less is more" does not apply to Google My Business. If a consumer is lucky enough to come across your restaurant in a Google search, they will need all the information they can get to be convinced to come to your place. 

Price range, menu, timetable: don't take the risk of leaving something to chance, at the risk of losing that customer who was very interested at first.

Photos, photos, photos: add as many good-quality photos as possible to your account. We advise that you present your best dishes and the general vibe of your restaurant. 

2. Choose the right category 

The majority of the views on a restaurant or business's Google My Business listing come from discovered searches. In other words, by indicating a specific category such as "Mediterranean restaurant", you have a better chance of being discovered by a web user.

3. Standardise all your information online

Inconsistency in a restaurant's online information is a disqualifying criterion in a search.

If Google detects an inconsistency between the times you indicate on your listing, your website, or your Tripadvisor account (or other), it will penalise your restaurant. By penalise, we mean that your ranking on Google will be lower and that other restaurants will be favoured in the first results.

4. Respond to notices and questions (for best results)

If you have just created your Google My Business page, you will notice that it is difficult to optimise your page as long as the restaurant does not have a review (a rating out of 5). These ratings are very important since the first conversion factor on Google My Business is the quality of customer reviews (rated between 4 and 5/5).

The first thing to do is to ask your current customers to leave a review on your listing. The majority of customers will leave a review if you ask them to.

Once you have accumulated a dozen reviews it will be easier to attract new people online. 

Now that you have more and more reviews, respond to them. Whether positive or negative, it’s important to show your customers that you care about their experience with you and you are willing to challenge your business offering if it has not been ideal.

5. Add attributes related to COVID-19

Changes you can make to your listing to avoid losing customers during and in the aftermath of the health crisis:

• New opening hours

Exceptional times require exceptional hours.

If you have had to change your opening hours, indicate this on your Google My Business listing.

• Health and safety attributes

These attributes ("Staff wear masks", "Staff get temperature checks") are intended to inform your customers of the safety measures that have been put in place in your establishment and to reassure them.

Be careful, if your restaurant is closed but you are still delivering or selling takeaways, avoid the words "Temporarily closed".