Free resource
The Google Business Profile SEO checklist for restaurants
36 checks across the fields that actually affect whether your restaurant is found, chosen and booked from Google Maps. Every item is on this page in full — nothing is gated, and there is no mailing list. If you would rather have it run against your restaurant, request a free visibility review and a specialist will do it for you.
Last updated September 2026
01
Foundations
Nothing else works reliably until ownership and the core facts are correct.
Profile claimed and verified by the business, not a former agency or supplier
Unverified or externally owned profiles cannot be corrected quickly when something breaks.
A second owner or manager added at group or director level
Access survives a manager leaving.
Business name matches the signage exactly, with no added keywords or locations
Keyword-stuffed names attract guest edits and quality issues.
Address matches the address as written on the premises and on your website
Consistency across sources is a basic prominence signal.
Phone number is answered at the venue, not a redirected marketing line
Call tracking that hides the real number creates inconsistency.
02
Categories and services
The highest-leverage relevance decision on the profile.
Primary category is the most specific accurate description of your main trade
It decides which searches the profile is considered for at all.
Two to four secondary categories, each a service you genuinely deliver
Widens eligibility without diluting the core signal.
No category for a cuisine or service you have retired
Mismatched expectations cost reviews as well as relevance.
Service options set correctly: dine-in, takeaway, delivery, outdoor seating
Guests filter on these before they ever see your photos.
Attributes completed honestly: accessibility, groups, family, payment methods
Several appear directly in map results and filters.
03
Hours and seasonality
The single most common cause of a bad first experience with a restaurant.
Regular opening hours match reality, including kitchen close times where relevant
Wrong hours convert a discovery into a wasted trip.
Holiday hours entered in advance for every bank holiday and closure
Google flags unconfirmed holiday hours to guests.
Separate hours entered for distinct services where offered — kitchen, bar, brunch
Prevents arrivals for a service that has ended.
A calendar reminder to review hours quarterly and before each season
Drift is the norm without an owner.
04
Menus, links and booking
The path from map result to a booked table should be one tap.
Menu link points at an indexable page on your own site, not a PDF or image
Text menus can be read by search engines and screen readers.
Booking link points at the live reservation flow, not the homepage
Every extra step loses intent.
Website link points at the venue's own page, not a group landing page
Corroboration is venue-specific.
Ordering and delivery links reviewed for dead or deprecated providers
Stale links are common after a provider change.
05
Photography
Photos are usually the deciding factor between two restaurants ranking side by side.
Current interior photos showing the room as it looks tonight
Dated imagery misrepresents a refurbished room.
Food photography of dishes actually on the current menu
Menu changes date a gallery quickly.
Exterior and frontage shots that help a guest find the door after dark
Reduces arrival friction and no-shows.
A cover photo and logo chosen deliberately rather than defaulted
This is the first frame most guests see.
A cadence for adding new photography, not a one-off upload
Recency matters to guests comparing profiles.
06
Reviews
Volume, recency and response pattern all read as prominence.
A standing, compliant way of inviting reviews from every guest, not selected ones
Selective solicitation breaches Google's policies.
A named owner for responses, with a target response time
Unanswered reviews read as an absent operator.
Responses to negative reviews that are specific, calm and non-defensive
The response is read by future guests, not the reviewer.
Review velocity tracked monthly against comparable local venues
A stall is easier to fix than a deficit.
07
Posts, Q&A and upkeep
Low-cost signals that also answer real guest questions.
Seasonal or event posts published on a realistic cadence you can sustain
An abandoned posting schedule is worse than none.
Common questions seeded and answered in Q&A: parking, dietary, groups, accessibility
Unanswered questions get answered by strangers.
Guest-suggested edits reviewed monthly and corrected where wrong
Third-party edits can silently change hours or attributes.
Products or services used for set menus, private dining or tasting menus where relevant
Adds structured detail for high-value demand.
08
Measurement
What to check monthly so the work can be judged honestly.
Discovery versus branded searches compared period on period
Separates new demand from people already looking for you.
Directions, calls, website clicks and booking actions tracked as a trend
These are behaviours, not impressions.
Map visibility sampled from a fixed grid across your catchment, not your own phone
Map results are relative to the searcher's location.
Every profile change dated so movement can be read against it
Without dates you have correlation and no narrative.
Booking or covers data from your own system reviewed alongside the profile data
The only numbers that describe commercial outcome.
Where this fits
A complete profile is the start of map visibility, not the whole of it.
Working through this list puts your profile on equal footing with well-run competitors. What separates restaurants after that is relevance, prominence and a website that corroborates the profile.
The Google Business Profile pillar guide explains what each of these fields actually changes, and local SEO for restaurants covers the catchment the profile is competing in.