Top 10 Quick Restaurant SEO Tips For Squarespace To Boost Your Exposure
Image Source: Unsplash
Many restaurants took a hit this past year due to the pandemic. Those that were able to adapt and reinvent themselves by offering more take-out and delivery services, along with distanced dining and other safer options, were able to survive and even thrive.
Now that restrictions are lifting in many areas and people are venturing back into the dining scene, it’s important to do what you can to bring more exposure to your business. The climate will be competitive as restaurant managers and owners vie for the attention of local customers and visitors to the area alike.
Table of Contents in Detail Hide
The Power Of A Sound SEO Strategy For Restaurants
One way to get this attention is by implementing an SEO strategy for restaurants that works.
We regularly work with clients who run food-related businesses and want to improve their Squarespace website’s SEO to enhance their online presence and attract more customers.
Squarespace search engine optimization can help your business in the following ways:
Bring more traffic to your site
Keep visitors at your website longer
Help your online listing climb to higher rankings
Get you to a coveted spot on Page One of engine searches
Help new customers find you easily on their mobile devices
Enable customers to share info about you seamlessly on social media
If you find yourself wanting more exposure for your business, read our ten quick Squarespace SEO tips your restaurant, bar, café, diner, food truck, coffee shop, or other food and beverage-related establishment can benefit from.
SEO Tip Number 1: Define Your Online Content Strategy
Image Source: Unsplash
It’s not enough to create website pages, post them, and walk away. You have to create ongoing content to keep your site relevant and interesting to customers, and to give search engine crawlers more information to work with. By adding new content on a regular basis, you improve your chances of showing up on organic searches.
But don’t make the mistake of filling up your site with garbage content. Make sure your online content is relevant and engaging. For example, create an article on a new dish you’ve just introduced, and explain why it goes well with a certain drink on your menu. Through your enticing descriptions, make the reader want to drop everything and go to your restaurant to try your new item!
Post Blogs Consistently
Create a blog series that expands upon what your business brings to the community. Are you one of the few local restaurants to offer food from a specific region? Do you use locally sourced ingredients? Do you offer plant-based and gluten-free menu items?
As you develop your blog series, consider your publishing strategy. Will you be posting new blogs monthly? Twice a month? In terms of Squarespace SEO ranking results, posting new, high-quality content on a consistent basis is a great strategy for showing up more prominently on organic searches.
SEO Tip Number 2: Optimize Your Local SEO
Most of your repeat customers will come from the local community, so it makes sense to create an SEO strategy for restaurants that focuses on showing up locally.
When somebody in your city does a search on restaurants, you want to make sure your Squarespace site shows up for as many key search terms as possible.
Google My Business
One way to optimize your local SEO to show up on local searches is to fill out the different sections of Google My Business thoroughly with high-quality, keyword-optimized content. Specify your geographical regions of service to include your local area and the surrounding communities.
You can also make use of other local listings. For help with this, contact our specialists who can help you maximize Google My Business features and show up on other listings as well.
SEO Tip Number 3: Engage Customers On Social Media
Image Source: Unsplash
In addition to having an attractive Squarespace site that’s SEO-enhanced and user-friendly, you need to give your customers ways to engage via social media.
Create a Facebook page for your business and build your audience. You can write quick, engaging posts to build excitement for new menu items, extended hours, expanded seating, new promotions you’re running, or anything else that’s happening with your business. Customers can share posts within their circles to expand your marketing reach.
Add a Twitter account, too, and post there. Add beautiful images that anyone can easily share on Instagram or post on Pinterest. Social engagement expands your reach.
SEO Tip Number 4: Invite Reviews On Multiple Platforms
People don’t always take the time to write reviews. Either they don’t think about it, or they’re too busy. In short, you have to ask for reviews, every chance you get.
Ask for reviews on your menu. Ask through your online pages, and include a link to make it convenient for your customer to leave a review. Ask for reviews through your email and text communications.
While Google is one of the best platforms for leaving reviews, don’t overlook other restaurant review sites, including these:
Yelp
TripAdvisor
Facebook
Zomato
OpenTable
SEO Tip Number 5: Track Customers Using Analytics
We can’t emphasize enough how valuable analytics tools are. The data supplied by Google Analytics and similar tools gives you accurate insights on how many people are visiting your site, and when you’re getting these visits.
With Google Analytics, you can track the following and more:
Traffic your Squarespace site received this past week, month, or across custom time ranges
Trends by active users
What percentage of traffic comes from organic searches versus paid searches
What time of day your users visit your website
Geographical regions your visitors come from
The percentage of users from mobile devices versus laptops and desktop systems
Which pages receive the most views
How your ads campaigns are performing
With this information, you can make necessary changes to your site for improved Squarespace SEO and more targeted traffic. Analytics tools give you a window into your customers’ behavior.
SEO Tip Number 6: Make It Easy To Engage With You Online
Image Source: Unsplash
There is so much you can do to make it easier for your patrons to engage with you online. The more time they spend on your site, the better your Squarespace SEO will be. These are just a few ideas for how to improve customer engagement with your site:
Create an engaging, non-PDF online menu
Add a feature to allow patrons to make online reservations
Let customers order directly online for take-out and delivery
Why are PDF menus not recommended? Search engine crawlers can’t read PDF text. Also, mobile devices have a hard time displaying PDFs.
SEO Tip Number 7: Optimize Your Email Outreach
Make it easy for people to sign up for email updates. This benefits your patrons, since they will receive email notifications whenever you run specials or update your menus. This also benefits you, since a growing email list increases your reach.
As part of the email outreach efforts of your SEO strategy for restaurants, be sure to share relevant news with restaurant influencers and bloggers so they can help spread the word through their channels.
SEO Tip Number 8: Ensure Your Squarespace Site Is Mobile Friendly
More people are searching for places to eat through their mobile devices rather than their desktop computers or laptops. You have to make sure you or your developer designs your Squarespace site for ease of use with Smartphones and other mobile devices.
According to consumer data provider Statista, over half of web traffic globally comes through mobile devices. If your site isn’t mobile-friendly, you will miss out on a lot of potential business for your restaurant.
SEO Tip Number 9: Don’t Overlook Security
If your site is not secure, you will eventually run into issues. What’s more, people will not trust your site and may stop visiting.
There’s a quick and easy way to tell if your Squarespace website is SSL secure. If it starts with http://, it is not secure. If it starts with https://, it is secure.
SEO Tip Number 10: Make The Most Of Your Images
As a restaurant, you have several key elements to work with. They include menus, images, and of course, text.
In addition to including photos that draw people in, be sure to tag your food pictures so the search engines can find them, too.
Include photos of your restaurant’s interior to showcase your unique ambiance and special decorative touches that make it a pleasure to dine at your establishment.
You can also share great images of your restaurant and menu items through Google Posts, available through Google My Business. Up to 300 words and a call to action can be included with each of your Google Posts. These posts are a great way to advertise specials and publish news about your restaurant.
Need Help With Your Local SEO Strategy For Restaurants, Cafes, Food Trucks, And More?
We know you have better things to do with your time than spend hours upon hours optimizing your Squarespace site for improved SEO. If you want to get it done quickly, contact us, we live and breathe Squarespace SEO.
