One of the most effective ways to ensure that your customers can easily find you and learn about your services or products is through Google My Business (GMB). Especially for restaurants and cafes, the creation and viewing of your menu in GMB can be extremely beneficial. Let's see why.
Easy access to information
Your customers use Google to find restaurants and cafes in their area. With the addition of Menu your in GMB, provide them direct access to the information they are looking for, such as the dishes available, prices and options for vegetarians or allergy sufferers.
Better user experience
An updated and complete menu in Google My Business improves the user experience. Customers can see what you offer before they even visit your premises, making it easier for them to make a decision about where to eat or drink their coffee.
Increase of visibility
Google uses the information from GMB to display relevant businesses on its maps and search results. The more information you provide, the more likely you are to get your business to appear high in the search results.
This is the part that we want to focus on today more than any other. Improving your ranking in Google Maps search results is vital to increasing your customer base. The more people who see your business the more customers will visit you.
The Google Local Pack is a special feature of Google's search results that displays a group of three local businesses relevant to the user's search. The main purpose of the Local Pack is to provide users with direct and useful information about local businesses, such as address, telephone number and opening hours (the so-called NAP - Name, Address, Phone), making it easier for them to find what they are looking for quickly and efficiently. A business's appearance in Local Pack depends on factors such as proximity, relevance and visibility, making it an important tool for boosting local awareness and attracting new customers.
One factor is the menu of the business. See the image where we searched "burger athens". The first result Google shows us is TGI Fridays in Syntagma. But the interesting thing here is Google's so-called "justification". In other words, the justification of why it shows us this result. As you will see it is marked in bold font on the burger ("On the menu: burger"). So he's seen the search term we used and from here we can see how a full menu has a direct effect on your ranking.
Optimize Google Menu and keywords
In order to get the greatest possible benefits, it is necessary to do a keyword study beforehand. See in this study what happened when a user changed the name of a dish on the menu from "Caesar Kitchen" to "Caesar salad". The reason it was changed was that after researching key words they saw that people were searching for "Caesar salad" and not "Caesar Kitchen". The ranking and visibility of the business for this search term skyrocketed.
Images and menu descriptions
Adding photos and descriptions also increases the visibility of your menu and therefore the ranking of your business. Be sure to upload professional photos (which you can also use in the your posts on Google) but also put description on each plate, again targeting popular keywords.
It is probably your menu that will make the user choose your business. So don't neglect it.
Greater confidence
A well-structured and up-to-date Google My Business profile shows customers that your business is professional and trustworthy. Your menu can convince them that you offer quality products and services. Just follow the steps we just mentioned. Putting photos that don't flatter your dishes will probably have the exact opposite effect.
Menu creation instructions
First, find your company profile on Google. If you don't know how, just follow our instructions.
Menu creation option
Once you find it, select the "edit menu".
Create submenu
Select after "create menu"
Start by creating categories in your menu. Add the necessary fields. For example, you can put "Appetizers" and "Cheesecakes". You can additionally fill in the price and remember what we mentioned above. A more detailed description and image will increase the visibility of your menu.
Dietary restrictions
You can also select some dietary restrictions such as "Vegetarian" or "Vegan". Just like we fill in all the business attributes in your Google company profile, we do the same here. Remember to use all the features that Google gives you.
Final decision
Customers often rely on the information they find online to make purchasing decisions. An attractive menu with photos of dishes can entice customers to choose your restaurant over another. So what are you waiting for? Start today, fill out your entire menu and of course make sure to update it every time it changes.
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