In today’s fiercely competitive landscape, where every local business is striving for visibility, optimizing your Google Business Profile (GBP) has never been more critical. Among the many facets of GBP that often fly under the radar, one stands out for its potential to significantly boost your visibility: naming your menu items.
Strategically naming your menu items can elevate your search rankings, making it easier for potential customers to discover your culinary delights. This isn’t just about listing what you serve; it’s about meticulously crafting each menu entry with search optimization in mind.
In this post, I’ll dive into some fascinating findings on ranking signals and share actionable insights that can help any local restaurant make meaningful improvements. While the focus will be on menu items, the principles discussed can be applied across other categories, enhancing your overall search visibility through deliberate and strategic optimizations.
Why Third Party Integrations On Your GBP Are More Important Than Ever!
Feeding information to Google effectively is crucial, and integrating your Google Business Profile (GBP) with third-party partners is the best way to do this. Running a small business often leaves little time for managing multiple platforms. Integrations not only save time but also ensure the accuracy and integrity of your GBP.
For information about removing third-party vendors, read here.
Having a single source of truth for your business that syndicates across your GBP and other platforms simplifies management. Google trusts these third-party integrations, which provide data on products, services, and menu items to help Google better recognize your business offerings. It also means users don’t have to leave your GBP to find the information they need.
GBP integrations in general, but for the sake of this article, integrations with menus, are part of Google’s strategy to keep searches within their ecosystem. Sparktoro’s study on Zero-Click Search highlights that “searchers are considerably more likely to find themselves back in Google’s ecosystem after a query.” It appears the more integrations a business has within this ecosystem, the better the outcomes for their rankings.
Top Takeaways and Tips for Optimizing Your Menu on GBP
After uncovering that menu items are a significant ranking factor, here are my top takeaways and tips for optimizing your menu on your Google Business Profile (GBP):
1. Menu Items Rank, Period!
The following ranking image is for the menu item “Jaraku roll.” When searching the exact menu name the business dominated the rankings.
Keep in mind that the searched keyword matched the menu item exactly—no other sushi restaurant carries this particular item. It’s also worth mentioning that not a single review mentions the name of this roll in the review comments.
2. Match Menu Item Names to Exact Search Queries
Conducting this exercise on menu items revealed that the name of the menu item truly matters. In my previous blog, I noted a restaurant with 47 reviews mentioning the keyword “Caesar Salad.” Many reviews also had images of Caesar Salad and a Menu Highlight with the different menu name. Despite all these mentions, the business didn’t rank. Once the menu item was updated from “Caesar Kitchen” to “Caesar Salad,” the restaurant was able to achieve a significant increase in ranking.
So, if you’re a trendy restaurant with cute, trendy menu names, consider matching the names of your menu items to specific keywords. “Insalata” may be an authentic Italian menu item, but will it rank as well as “salad”?
3. Keywords In Reviews, Do They Influence Rankings?
As highlighted above, the business did not rank for a specific food item despite having several mentions of the menu item in reviews. Does this mean that keywords in reviews do not matter? Not exactly—they do matter, and I’ll explain why.
Recommended dishes mentioned in reviews often feature as menu highlights on your Google Business Profile. These menu highlights are derived from reviews that specifically name the dish and the images attached to those reviews.
I updated a menu highlight from “Steak” to “Tomahawk Steak” by updating my review to include “Tomahawk Steak” instead of just “steak”. Once approved, the recommended dishes section that you see when leaving a review also reflected the new menu name.
Menu highlights can change, and editing the menu highlight name isn’t always accepted. Google uses other trust factors to update the dish name. I was able to edit a menu highlight only after the review comments were updated from “steak” to “tomahawk steak.” The tomahawk steak was a special that was later removed, and as soon as it was taken off the menu, the menu highlight and recommended dish also disappeared.
4. How to Boost Your Ranking for Competitive Menu Items Like “Sushi”
Competing for popular menu items like “sushi” can be challenging, but there are strategies to boost your rankings. Multiple signals need to be in place due to the high competition and prevalence of the keyword in many local menus. Despite having numerous sushi items, photos, and one menu highlight, one particular restaurant still struggled with rankings. Here’s what was done to improve its visibility:
- Updated all menu items to include the word “sushi,” e.g., “California Sushi Roll.”
- Changed the primary category from “Japanese Restaurant” to “Sushi Restaurant.”
- Added “Sushi Takeaway” as a secondary category.
These edits significantly improved the listing’s ranking for “sushi,” as demonstrated in the ranking images below.
5. Primary Category is Still the Dominating Ranking Factor
In the above example, it was straightforward to help this business rank for “sushi.” They had all the signals needed to rank: several sushi rolls on the menu, numerous images of sushi in reviews, menu highlight for a sushi roll and “sushi” in the business name. The main contributing factor for their improved ranking was updating the primary category. Changing it to “Sushi Restaurant” made a significant difference.
6. Understand Your Competitors
The sushi restaurant also has a menu item for Kobe Sliders. I wanted to see how they would rank for “sliders.” Here’s what I found: they have four menu items that mention sliders, 20 reviews that mention sliders, and 11 photos of sliders. The menu highlight had an image of the slider but was labeled “Tapas.” I tried several times to update the name from “Tapas” to “Slider,” but it was rejected.
Although they rank for “Kobe slider,” they did not rank for “slider.” Despite having most signals in place to rank for the keyword “slider,” achieving this seems unlikely. The top 20 restaurants that rank for “slider” had “slider” or “hamburger” in their name, and their primary categories were more relevant, such as “Hamburger Restaurant,” “Fast Food Restaurant,” or “American Restaurant.” Many of these restaurants had slider menu items, multiple menu highlights labeled “sliders,” and numerous images of sliders or burgers.
After a few days the menu highlight changed from “tapas” to “wagyu slider.” I requested the name change to just “slider”. Edits to menu highlights can be done in the “NMX” or by suggesting an edit on Google Maps.
None of the menu items include the term “Wagyu,” nor do any of the reviews mention “Wagyu” before “slider.” However, Google’s moderators or AI tools labeled the menu highlights as “Wagyu Slider.” Intrigued by this, I ran a keyword scan for “Wagyu Slider,” and it ranked! It’s worth noting that menu highlights take 5-7 days to review according to Google.
It appears that the name of a menu highlight is just as trustworthy a signal as the actual menu item name. If a menu highlight name does not rank, examining competitors can reveal the obvious reasons why other restaurants are outranking for that particular keyword. Take, for example, the menu highlight for “Crispy Chicken.” There was no ranking data for this keyword due to the highly competitive nature of the term.
7. Reviews, Menu Highlights and Photos Are Trust Signals
Menu Highlights names are relevant. In my analysis, I noticed that a restaurant’s menu highlight was simply “Ramen,” while other restaurants had more specific highlights like “Kai Ramen” or “Spicy Tofu Ramen.” As a result, the restaurant with the simpler highlight ranked better for the keyword “ramen” compared to those with more descriptive highlights.
Photos also play a significant role in ranking restaurants. While the exact details of how Google uses photos in its ranking algorithm aren’t fully understood, it is clear that having a well-maintained photo gallery can positively impact your restaurant’s visibility. Google may use AI to analyze images on a Google Business Profile (GBP). However, AI isn’t always perfect, so it’s important to monitor the labels Google assigns to your menu highlights to ensure accuracy.
Reviews are fundamental as they drive photo uploads and keyword mentions. Without reviews, a restaurant wouldn’t generate as many photo uploads or get the keyword and menu highlight mentions that Google uses to feature prominently on a GBP. Reviews provide direct feedback from customers and contribute to the overall ranking by offering valuable insights and authentic content.
Conclusion
No single ranking factor can stand alone. Achieving high rankings for a competitive menu item requires multiple layers of optimization and trust signals to Google. Unique menu items might rank on their own without photos or menu highlights, and vice versa, outranking another business for a competitive keyword takes much more than just the menu item name.
You need a combination of strategic menu naming (think query searches), relevant photos, accurate primary categories, the right business name and consistent menu highlights. These signals work together to build trust and signals to Google that your business is the most relevant choice for potential customers. Each location has to navigate its own set of competitors, and this is where understanding the various signals mentioned here can help influence rankings.
If you need assistance with improving your local business rankings, reach out to us.