The Complete Guide to ‘Near Me Search’ Optimization for Restaurants

‘Near Me Search for Restaurants’ is one of the latest and emerging trends replacing the typical SERP experience. Location-based SEO results are something that businesses have always dabbled in over the last ten years or so.

For instance, Google, Alexa, and Google Home are increasingly common among households. These platforms offer users optimized location results based on their proximity to any number of businesses. 

Meanwhile, by the next year or so, location-based results like Near Me Search for Restaurants will influence more than 1.4 trillion cellphone users. The question is if you are already operating a restaurant in your local vicinity, is it optimized for the Near Me experience. 

Of course, we aren’t talking about registering your restaurant or any other business on Google Search and similar platforms on other search engines. 

That’s pretty much an understood logic whenever someone is looking to set up a food business on location-based SERPs. Instead, what we are offering is more of a personalized experience to highlight the overall importance of Near Me Search for Restaurants and its different aspects. 

What’s So Special About Near Me Search for Restaurants?

It has to do with the rise of Near Me search trends on Google, Bixby, Amazon, and other areas of the industry. All of these companies are gigantic tech hubs with different technologies. However, the Near Me experience is one thing that offers the same results to everyone – i.e., suggest the best places to hang out or businesses to users on cellphone and portable devices. 

Over the last two years, the Near Me trend witnessed an exponential growth curve. 

• The search phrase ‘Near Me Now’ and other general queries, such as ‘Pizza Near Me Now,’ are the type of end-user inputs with a growth percentage of 150%.

 

• Other location-based queries, like the key phrase: ‘Now’ followed by ‘Near Me,’ have grown to a whopping 200%. A general example would be: ‘Stores Open Near Me Now.

 

• The same goes for dress-related searches. You can see the image below for ready reference. 

Needless to say, the Near Me Search for Restaurants is something that you should optimize your food business for if you haven’t done it already by now. 

Similarly, suppose you are a marketer working with a bunch of food businesses at the moment. In that case, you may have noticed them complaining about the restaurant not showing up in Google Maps or via Voice Activated queries. This happens mainly because sometimes, despite the GPS activation and everything, real-life events catalyze the search trend for a particular term. 

These temporary Near Me Search for Restaurants are based on real-life events around you. In technical terms, they’re called Micro-Moments, where users want to know, go, or buy something immediately. 

If there’s a massive gathering in your business’s area because of a renowned holiday, you can expect the majority of the crowd to use their cellphones for a quick Near Me Search for Restaurants. After all, people have to eat at some point. 

The resulting effect will cause your restaurant to show up in those users’ maps, pointing that your establishment is the best place ‘at the moment’ to grab a bite. 

Marketers must think about optimizing the Near Me Search for Restaurants experience from different angles. 

For the best results related to Micro-Moments vs. your food business, here are some tips to get you started:

1. Micro activities work based on the ‘In the Now’ phenomenon. If there’s a massive public gathering coming up, or a popular weekend is around the bend, it should be anticipated by your business’ marketers way ahead of time.
2. Mobile users are mostly millennials and Gen-Z-ers these days. They want to buy quickly – and that too without choosing from multiple options. There’s nothing to worry about if your restaurant is already set up for Near Me Search for Restaurants trend. 
3. Relevancy in Near Me Search for Restaurants experience is essential as always. You need to understand that despite being voice-activated and geo-tagged queries, the entire process works like the traditional version of Google Search Engine results. 

Whether it’s brand new or old, any restaurant can create relevancy by optimizing the business platform. This can be done in several ways that are critical to pivoting your customer’s user experience to the next level. 

3 Tips to Optimize Your Food Business For Near Me Search for Restaurants Experience

• Food Business Listing In Google

Start with a few listing procedures to ensure that your food business information is entered in the Google Location database. 

By doing so, if someone enters a query related to ‘Near Me Search for Restaurants,’ the results will look like the following image. Although this person has asked for suggestions about Italian Restaurants, the logic applies to your business the same way. 

As you can see, ‘Maggiano’s Little Italy’ is on the top, whereas ‘RPM Italian’ and ‘Quartino Ristorante’ are in second and third position, respectively. 

Why is that so? 

Despite a relatively higher number of customer reviews, why do you think ‘Quartino Ristorante’ is ranking on the third spot, whereas ‘Maggiano’s Little Italy’ is on the first spot? 

Most likely, the first result is based on the user’s location to ‘Maggiano’s Little Italy.’ If this logic is true, then it means that the total number of positive reviews or other information is not relevant to how and where your restaurant will show up in ‘Near Me Search for Restaurants’ SERPs. 

In many instances, even though a business is closest to users’ active location, the establishment’s name might show up on the second, third or fourth spot. However, that’s not the case. There are a couple of reasons for that.

Read on…

• Essential Steps To Ensuring Higher Ranking Against ‘Near Me Search for Restaurants’ Queries

1. When setting up your business for location-based results, ensure that the complete and the latest information is entered in the relevant fields. 

Incomplete and outdated information will take a month to update, which could cause your ‘Near Me Search for Restaurants’ rankings to suffer!

1. If you prefer Google over Bing for whatever reason, make sure that the complete directions are added to Google Maps. For more information on how to enter directions to your food business in Google Maps, read this guide. 
2. Entering the correct category for your food business is highly important. Whatever you do, always double-check the category entry before confirming it.
3. Don’t forget to add your restaurant’s photos in the Near Me Search for Restaurants archive. Google Maps, Bing, and other search engines have dedicated sections to maintain a photo gallery. Use it to your business’s advantage. 
4. Millions of people visit Yelp and places that are suggested by Google. If you are already catering to a slew of customers, ask them for reviews on your Google Reviews page. Ask them blatantly. But don’t forget to be polite and convincing while you’re doing it. 

• Take Full Advantage of Schema Markup for Your Restaurant

‘Schema’ was introduced a few years ago by Google and other search engines. The idea was to recommend suggestions based on very small but accurate business descriptions. Schema Markup also applies to websites.

These markups are like small snippets with the most accurate and relevant information against whatever search query that the users enter. 

The following image highlights holiday hours for a business to avoid any inconvenience to the patrons. If the business had not done so, users would have flocked to the establishment without prior knowledge about active work hours. As a result, many disgruntled customers would have left negative customer reviews on the said business’s Google Reviews page.

Putting It All Together

Location-based optimization is just as much important as search engine optimization for any website out there. As of this moment, Amazon, Bixby, and Google Home are already showing users the convenience of using voice commands for Near Me Search for Restaurants’ queries. 

The question is, have you completed the necessary steps to ensure that your business is listed in the SERP database? If you haven’t, then it’s already too late. 

We hope that this post helped you understand why Near Me Search for Restaurants is crucial for a food business’s growth. If you have any questions about entering the data or need some sort of assistance on how to properly optimize your food business for Near Me Search for Restaurants, feel free to use the comments section below. 

We look forward to hearing from you.