An outdated menu, incorrect bank-holiday hours or a broken booking button can put diners off before they arrive. This restaurant SEO checklist helps you spot problems with your website and Google presence, then decide what needs attention first.
You’ll need access to your website, Google Business Profile and Google Search Console, or help from whoever manages them.
How to use this checklist
Mark each check Pass, Fix, Unsure or Not applicable. Record any problem, the affected page and who will resolve it.
Use Fix now for misleading information or broken essentials, Fix next for improvements and Monitor for checks that pass. Seek specialist help where the cause or solution is unclear. These are practical priorities, not Google requirements or a scoring system.
Check whether Google can find your important pages
1. Confirm you can access Search Console
Check that your restaurant has access to its Google Search Console property. If only a former employee or supplier can sign in, arrange access so you can inspect your site’s search performance and indexing information.
2. Inspect the pages diners need most
Enter your homepage, menu and location/contact URLs into Search Console’s URL Inspection tool. Investigate important pages reported as not indexed. A successful live test alone does not confirm indexing.
3. Investigate unexpected indexing exclusions
Review the Page indexing report, especially after a redesign. Ask your website manager to investigate important pages excluded by accidental settings or errors. Some exclusions, including duplicate URLs, are normal and need no correction.
4. Follow the links to your key pages
From the homepage, find the menu, location and reservations pages through normal links. If an important page is reachable only through an old email or QR code, add a useful website link. Use descriptive labels such as “Dinner menu” rather than “Click here”.
Check your pages, menu and location information
5. Make each page’s purpose obvious
Can a new visitor identify the cuisine, location and next action? Replace vague wording with useful details. If two pages serve exactly the same purpose, ask your website manager whether they should be combined.
6. Review page titles
Check each important page’s SEO title in your website editor. Replace vague or repeated titles with specific descriptions, for example, “Italian Restaurant in York | Restaurant Name”. Give the menu page its own descriptive title. Google may display a different title in search results.
7. Check the main heading and page structure
Use a clear main heading and useful subheadings. “Our Food Menu” tells diners more than “Discover”. Replace unclear headings without repeating cuisine and town keywords throughout the page.
8. Read the menu as website text
Open the menu on your phone. If it requires zooming into a photograph, add readable website text. Keep a downloadable PDF if useful: Google can index PDFs, but the menu should also be easy for diners to use.
9. Check that the menu is current
Compare online dishes, prices and sittings with what you actually serve. Remove expired promotions or clearly label archived menus. If lunch and dinner menus differ, show when each applies so guests know what to expect.
10. Check location and contact details
Your visit page should show the full address, postcode, telephone number and opening hours. Add useful entrance or travel details. For multiple venues, check that each location’s page points to its own menu and booking route.
11. Review restaurant photographs and their descriptions
Replace photographs that no longer represent your food or venue. Give informative images short, accurate alternative text; decorative images can have empty alt text. Avoid adding location keywords where they do not describe the photograph.
Check the mobile booking journey and technical basics
12. Use the website on a real phone
Open the homepage and menu, including on mobile data. Look for tiny text, sideways scrolling, overlapping banners and awkward buttons. Send your website manager the affected URL and a screenshot, noting which phone you used.
13. Test the reservation journey
Follow “Book a table” from the homepage and menu. Check the venue, dates and party size, and confirm the booking confirmation arrives correctly.. Use your provider’s test process or arrange a test reservation with the team and cancel it afterwards. Fix failures promptly.
14. Test telephone and enquiry actions
Tap the phone link and check the number. Send a controlled enquiry and confirm the right person receives it. Correct broken links or inbox settings, and make the alternative clear if you do not take online reservations.
15. Look for broken or misleading links
Check navigation, menu downloads and links on your main pages for errors or wrong destinations. Repair outdated links after menu or provider changes. A working homepage does not mean every route through the website works.
16. Check performance on important pages
Run the homepage and menu through PageSpeed Insights. Flag slow loading, delayed responses or jumping layouts to your website manager. Prioritise serious usability problems; chasing a perfect score should not come before fixing a broken booking journey.
17. Check Restaurant structured data
Ask your website manager whether Restaurant structured data, a machine-readable description of the business, matches the visible name, address and hours. Ask your website manager to validate the existing markup and investigate any errors. Accurate markup does not guarantee rich results or review stars.
Check your Google Business Profile
18. Confirm ownership and management access
Check that the restaurant controls its verified profile and the current team can manage it. Resolve lost access through Google’s ownership process rather than creating another listing.
19. Check the name and duplicate profiles
Search your restaurant’s name and town on Google Maps. Correct added promotional wording and flag duplicate or outdated profiles through Google’s process. The name should reflect the real business.
20. Check the address, map pin and phone
Inspect the public profile for the correct premises, map location and telephone number. Correct errors that could misdirect diners; minor punctuation differences matter less than a wrong postcode or number.
21. Review the business categories
Choose the most specific available primary category that accurately describes the restaurant. Remove irrelevant secondary categories: they should describe the business, not every dish or search term you want to target.
22. Check regular and special hours
Compare published hours with actual sittings and upcoming bank holidays. Correct exceptions using special hours. Where kitchen or takeaway times differ, explain them clearly and use suitable additional-hours options where available.
23. Open the menu shown on Google
Follow the menu link and inspect any menu details displayed on the profile. Correct expired menus, wrong prices or venue mix-ups. Check the public result afterwards; website changes may not update separate listings.
24. Follow the website and booking links
Check that the public profile links to the right venue page and current reservation service. Use the available management or support process to correct broken, outdated or incorrect destinations.
For a deeper look at improving your restaurant’s local visibility, see our guide to local SEO for restaurants.
Check reviews and important listings
25. Review how you invite feedback
Invite genuine customers to share their experience without influencing the rating. Google’s review policies prohibit incentives and selectively soliciting positive reviews. Remove discounts-for-reviews, requests aimed only at happy customers and pressure to leave particular feedback.
26. Check that someone monitors and responds
Assign responsibility for reading reviews and replying helpfully. Keep private booking details out of public replies and pass recurring complaints to the team. Responses show attention to guests; they are not a guaranteed ranking tactic.
27. Correct important listings and local citations
Check profiles diners can find, such as Tripadvisor, OpenTable if you use it, and local visitor guides. Correct outdated contact details, hours and links. Prioritise useful existing listings rather than joining dozens of directories.
Check what your measurements actually mean
28. Review website visibility in Search Console
Open the Performance report. Compare impressions (appearances in search results), clicks, queries and pages over comparable periods. Separate searches for your name from cuisine or location searches. If performance changes, investigate affected pages and consider seasonality before attributing the change to an edit.
29. Separate profile actions from outcomes
Review available Business Profile performance data and label it accurately. Call-button clicks are not answered calls; direction requests are not confirmed visits. Use these actions to understand interest without reporting them as diners or revenue.
30. Check whether completed bookings are recorded
Confirm what your booking provider measures. Separate booking clicks, confirmed reservations and seated covers (guests actually served), allowing for cancellations and no-shows. If source tracking stops at an external booking site, resolve that gap before claiming a reservation came from SEO.
Decide what to fix first
Prioritise the consequence of each problem, not the number of unchecked boxes.
| Priority | Examples | Next action |
| Fix now | Wrong hours or address; failed bookings; important pages accidentally excluded from search | Assign an owner, correct and retest. |
| Fix next | Vague titles; difficult menus; poorly linked pages | Schedule the improvement. |
| Monitor | Accurate listings; working journeys; search and booking trends | Record the check date and revisit. |
| Specialist help | Unexplained indexing, widget, schema or tracking faults | Send the URL, problem and expected behaviour. |
If mobile reservations fail and Restaurant schema is missing, fix reservations first. Guests trying to book need a working journey before the site needs an additional enhancement.
Keep the checklist current
Use this routine for your ongoing restaurant SEO audit, adjusting it to how often your information changes.
| When | What to revisit |
| When details change | Update menus, hours, contact details and relevant profiles; check public versions. |
| Weekly management routine | Review feedback and reported website problems; test important booking links. Handle urgent faults sooner. |
| Monthly | Review Search Console and booking data; spot-check key pages and listings. |
| Before bank holidays or seasonal launches | Confirm special hours, menus and reservation dates. |
| After website or provider changes | Retest indexing settings, mobile journeys, links and tracking; check affected structured data. |
If you need help resolving the issues you find, explore DigiZee’s Restaurant SEO support or contact us to discuss what needs attention.
