Getting a restaurant's Google visibility right: hours, map and photos
When someone is looking for lunch, they rarely open your website first. They type “lunch Kallio” into Google or look at the map. The first thing they see of you is your business profile: name, stars, hours, a photo and directions.
You can get that right yourself, for free, in one afternoon. We will tell you how, because it is work you should not pay anyone for.
Start with the business profile, not the site
A Google Business Profile is the box that opens beside the search results and on the map. Owning it requires verification: Google sends a card by post or verifies by phone. If someone else once created a profile for your place, you can request ownership in the same place.
Do these first:
- The name exactly as it is on the door. No keywords after it. “Café Aamu”, not “Café Aamu – best lunch in Tampere”.
- Category. Pick the most specific one that fits: café, pizzeria, lunch restaurant. Extra categories can be added afterwards.
- Address and the map pin. Drag the pin to the right door. On corner buildings the pin often lands on the wrong street, and then the customer stands at the wrong door.
- A phone number that is open. A number someone actually answers during opening hours.
- A link to your website. To the front page, not to a subpage that may change.
Opening hours are the single most important detail
Wrong opening hours are the one mistake that turns a customer away at the door. It is also the one that leaves a bad memory without anyone telling you.
- Mark exceptional hours in advance: Midsummer, Christmas, New Year, May Day, the summer holiday. Google asks for them as the holidays approach, and that prompt is worth answering.
- If the kitchen closes before the restaurant does, set separate kitchen hours. Google supports lunch hours and kitchen hours separately.
- Set the profile to temporarily closed during a renovation. Do not delete it — you would lose the reviews.
The same details must appear both on your site and in the profile. When they contradict each other, the customer does not know which to believe.
Photos decide more than text
The profile photos are often the only thing looked at before the decision. Take them with a phone, in daylight, without filters:
- The front. So the customer recognises the door from the street.
- The room. Once full, once empty.
- Four dishes. The ones that sell most. Plate in the middle, shot from above at an angle.
- The lunch menu or the price board. Readable, not at an angle.
Add a few photos once a month. The old ones do not need removing. If customer photos give the wrong impression of the place, the best cure is to add better ones of your own.
Fill in the rest of the details in one go
The profile has a set of fields most people leave empty. They are shown to the customer at exactly the moment they decide whether to come. Fill them once and forget them:
- Menu link. Point it at the menu on your site, not at a PDF. A PDF opens slowly and awkwardly on a phone.
- Payment methods. Card, cash, lunch vouchers, contactless.
- Accessibility. Is there a lift, are there thresholds, does a walker fit through. This gets asked a lot and is rarely answered.
- Other details. Terrace, dogs welcome, high chairs, wifi, whether booking is needed.
- Services. Takeaway, delivery, table service, catering.
Post an update now and then, too: the week’s lunch menu, a new dish or an unusual opening time. The post stays visible in the profile for a few weeks. It is no big deal, but it is free.
Reviews: answer, do not agonise
Answer every review, the good ones included. A short thank you is enough.
A bad review gets one calm, factual answer. Apologise for the experience, say what you did about it, do not argue. The answer is not written for the reviewer but for the next customer, who reads it six months later.
Do not buy reviews and do not ask for them in exchange for a discount. Asking as such is fine: a line on the receipt is enough.
What a website adds on top of this
The business profile says where you are and when you are open. The site says what you sell and why to come to you.
In practice people come to the site for the menu, the prices, allergens, details for larger groups, and whether the place works with a pram. None of that fits in the profile.
A good site also makes your profile more credible: the link works, the details match, the page opens fast on a phone. We make sure your site loads fast, that headings and descriptions are in order, and that the sitemap is readable by Google. Rankings in search results are something nobody can promise, us included.
Checklist
- The profile is yours and verified
- Name, category and map pin correct
- Opening hours and upcoming exceptions marked
- At least eight photos of your own, the newest under a month old
- Every review answered
- The details on the site match the profile
Do these six things and you are ahead of most of your neighbours. You do not need us for that.