TECHNICAL · SEO GLOSSARY
Restaurant SEO
Local SEO practice applied specifically to food service businesses — optimising Google Business Profile, Restaurant schema, cuisine-type and location keyword targeting, review acquisition velocity, and mobile performance to rank in the local pack and organic results for dining-intent queries.
Definition
Restaurant SEO is a specialisation of local SEO with properties specific to food service: dining-intent searchers are predominantly mobile, have immediate conversion intent (they want to eat tonight), and use cuisine-type and location modifiers rather than service-name queries. Restaurant SEO has five primary focus areas: (1) **Google Business Profile (GBP) optimisation** — GBP controls local pack appearance. Restaurant-specific GBP elements include menu link, ordering integration (DoorDash, Uber Eats), reservation link (OpenTable, Resy), cuisine-specific category selection ("Italian Restaurant" outperforms "Restaurant" for cuisine queries), photos (food, exterior, interior, regularly updated), special hours, and complete attribute set (outdoor seating, LGBTQ+ friendly, Wi-Fi, parking). (2) **Restaurant structured data** — the `Restaurant` JSON-LD type (a subtype of `FoodEstablishment`, itself a subtype of `LocalBusiness`) with `servesCuisine`, `hasMenu`, `acceptsReservations`, `openingHoursSpecification`, `geo`, and `aggregateRating` properties. Missing `servesCuisine` reduces relevance for cuisine-specific queries. (3) **Keyword strategy** — cuisine + location (\'Italian restaurant Soho\'), near me (proximity-resolved), occasion-based (\'birthday dinner Bristol\'), and specific dish queries. (4) **Review acquisition** — consistent review velocity (1-3 per week for a busy restaurant) through post-visit QR codes, email requests, and staff prompts to the GBP review link. (5) **Mobile performance** — restaurant gallery hero images are the most common LCP failures (unoptimised JPEGs from photographers); reservation widgets cause CLS; PDF menus are mobile-hostile and uncrawlable.
Why it matters for SEO
Restaurant searches are high-intent, mobile-first, and conversion-rich — a restaurant that doesn\'t appear in the local pack for "best [cuisine] near me" is invisible to the most valuable dining discovery channel. Local pack clicks for restaurant queries overwhelmingly go to GBP listings, not organic blue links — GBP optimisation has higher ROI for most independent restaurants than on-page content work. Restaurant schema enables knowledge panel features (reservation buttons, menu in the panel, star rating in organic results) that directly affect CTR and conversion.
How DeepSEOAnalysis checks this
DeepSEOAnalysis audits the restaurant homepage and menu page for: Restaurant JSON-LD presence and server-rendering, required properties (servesCuisine, hasMenu, acceptsReservations, openingHoursSpecification, geo, aggregateRating), CrUX p75 for LCP, CLS, INP, canonical configuration, AI crawler access, and GEO score. The structured data check validates property completeness rather than just type presence — a Restaurant schema without servesCuisine passes type validation but fails relevance for cuisine-specific queries.
Useful tools and resources
GLOSSARY
Related terms
technical
Local SEO Ranking Factors
The three primary signals Google uses to rank businesses in local search results (the local pack / map pack): proximity (how close the business is to the searcher), relevance (how well the business matches the query), and prominence (how well-known and trusted the business is — based on reviews, citations, and website authority).
Read definition →technical
GBP Optimisation (Google Business Profile)
The ongoing management and improvement of a Google Business Profile listing to maximise visibility in local pack and Google Maps results — covering category selection, business information completeness, review management, photo updates, GBP posts, service listings, and Q&A management.
Read definition →structured data
FoodEstablishment Schema
The schema.org type for food service businesses — a subtype of LocalBusiness that includes the Restaurant, Bakery, BarOrPub, CafeOrCoffeeShop, FastFoodRestaurant, and IceCreamShop subtypes — with properties specific to food service including servesCuisine, hasMenu, acceptsReservations, and openingHoursSpecification.
Read definition →structured data
openingHoursSpecification (Schema Property)
The schema.org property on LocalBusiness (and subtypes including Restaurant) that specifies when a business is open — required for accurate hours display in the Google knowledge panel, local pack listings, and "open now" filtering. Uses OpeningHoursSpecification objects with dayOfWeek, opens, and closes in 24-hour format.
Read definition →structured data
Star Rating SEO
The use of aggregateRating JSON-LD (schema.org) to display star ratings in Google organic search results — the yellow star snippets that appear beneath page titles. Available for LocalBusiness, Product, Recipe, and Movie pages; requires a minimum review count threshold and must accurately reflect user-generated reviews displayed on the page.
Read definition →See how your site scores on Restaurant SEO.
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