As much as Americans hate to admit the fact, popularity is a fundamental building block to success- especially in the restaurant business. Google, Yahoo, Bing, and countless other online search engines provide consumers with infinite pages after pages of results for any phrase or keyword they search for. When using an online search engine, people tend to visit the websites listed at the top of the page; these are the sites they perceive as the most popular in regards to relevance to their query. These rankings are a result of SEO, or search engine optimization. SEO is a technique that helps search engines find and rank a website higher than the millions of other sites relevant to a search. Therefore, SEO assists in creating popularity for a website by providing online traffic to that site through search engines.
Restaurants should become familiar with the SEO process in order to enhance their online status, which will subsequently enhance their primetime reservations. There are several ways a restaurant owner can conquer the SEO process and earn a spot among the hierarchy on the coveted first page of search results.
First and foremost, a restaurant's website should always incorporate important and relevant keywords in various places. Webconfs.com outlines numerous essential areas where keywords should be placed including: page titles, URLs, headings, and tags. Although keywords are crucial, always try to avoid overusing them; any magnified keyword density (10 percent and over) can result in banning your website from search engines.
Links are another way to SEO your restaurant's website. Building links to your site shows people that it has a significant online presence. Search engines look for how many websites link directly to your site; they view these links like votes or recommendations. If another site links to your site that means it likes you and your website must be important.
A website's content is also taken into consideration. Having more unique content is a boost for your restaurant's website. Make certain you update your content regularly; steady new content is great, it shows your restaurant is moving forward. Furthermore, bold, italics, and font size are ways to emphasis the importance of keywords and phrases; but, do not overuse these features.
Most restaurants like to include fancy coding and a variety of pictures and videos showcasing the menu and specials. However, JavaScript, Images, and Videos make no difference in SEO ratings because they do not involve text. If your JavaScript code is confusing, websites like Google cannot make sense of it. Images and video also cannot be read. This does not mean do not have any pictures or videos whatsoever. Just always make sure you include ample amounts of text on your restaurant's website.
Mastering these three online aspects will ultimately lead to mastering Search Engine Optimization. It may be tricky at first, but it doesn't take long to learn. Knowledge of SEO will guide restaurant owners to prime placement on search engine pages; which will, consequently raise their restaurants nightly reservations.