It was Sunday afternoon at the National Restaurant Show, and a pair of leaders from the Checkers and Rally’s drive-thru chain were about to find out how their restaurant was doing on Google.
They were among a handful of operators who showed up to have their Google Business Profiles audited during a “Google office hours” session hosted by Google and Marqii, a tech provider that helps restaurants manage their online listings, including their Google pages.
A Google Business Profile is what shows up on the right side of the screen when you Google a restaurant. It includes information like hours, location, menus, pictures and reviews. And it can play a big role in determining whether customers order from a restaurant. Restaurants that have a robust profile on Google get 5 times more views and 7 times more clicks, and customers are 29% more likely to purchase from them, according to Google’s internal data.
Restaurants may not realize how important their Google presence can be. So, a pair of Google experts were at the Show giving operators some pointers on how to improve their profile.
Checkers and Rally’s profile was in pretty good shape, said Ashley Do, a strategic partnerships specialist for Google. It included menu items and pictures and even some information about limited-time offers—though Do recommended they add menu prices. Having complete menu data on Google is important because many consumers will search for a specific dish rather than a restaurant.
“Where this will help is if you search for ‘wings near me,’ Google knows you have wings,” Do said.
Google recently launched a new feature that pulls in information about a restaurants' events and specials.
Her second piece of advice for the Checker and Rally’s reps was to select a preferred ordering provider on Google. Google Business Profiles include an ordering button, which will take the customer to a list of different ways the customer can order from the restaurant, such as its own website or through aggregators like DoorDash. Restaurants can choose the channel they prefer, and that option will go to the top of the list.
Do said it can also help to add the option to place a reservation via Google. And she highlighted a new feature that allows Google Business Profiles to pull in special events, deals or specials that a restaurant posts on social media.
Restaurants' digital real estate is becoming more important as more transactions shift online and more consumers discover restaurants via Google or through social media apps like TikTok.
In general, the best practice for restaurants is to fill out their Google profile with all of the information customers might be looking for. “Make sure you have it all,” Do said.
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