Understand what the guest is trying to find
A search for the restaurant’s name has a different purpose from a search for a particular cuisine in a town, Sunday lunch or private dining. Build the pages your actual offer needs: the menu, reservations, location and any genuinely distinct dining or event experience.
Describe the restaurant naturally, using its real location, cuisine and service. If you offer a tasting menu or private room, explain the practical details that help someone decide whether it suits their visit. Avoid creating many near-identical town pages for places where you do not have a venue or a meaningful local offer.
Keep Google Business Profile useful and current
For an eligible restaurant, Google Business Profile is a place to maintain business details, hours, menu information and available booking links. Compare those details with the website, especially after a menu change, a move or a revised service schedule.
Use the correct restaurant location and appropriate destination for each link. A menu link should open the menu, and a booking link should take the guest to the reservation route for that venue. Google’s restaurant guidance also covers special hours and supported booking-provider options; eligibility and available features can vary.
Make the website’s important pages useful
Put the menu in readable page text and make it easy to reach from the navigation. Explain when different menus are served. Give the location page the actual address, directions, contact details and relevant visit information. A private-dining page should answer the questions an organiser would need to ask, such as capacity and the enquiry process.
Use a descriptive title for each page, a clear main heading and a concise description of what the visitor will find. Write for the guest rather than inserting the same phrase into every sentence. Google’s content guidance encourages useful, reliable information created for people; word count alone is not the objective.
Connect the pages with clear links
Use ordinary links with useful wording. From a page about private dining, link to the relevant menu and enquiry route. From a seasonal menu, explain when it is available and how to reserve. These connections help visitors move through the website and help search engines discover related pages.
Avoid leaving an important page reachable only through a search box or a button that depends on an unsupported script. Google’s link guidance explains how crawlable links and descriptive anchor text make a site easier to understand.
Check the live site can be found
Make sure the public pages load successfully, use a consistent preferred domain and are not accidentally marked noindex. A sitemap should list the real pages you want discovered, rather than previews or fictional concepts. When a redesign changes a useful address, agree a relevant redirect from the former page.
Search Console lets the site owner inspect URLs and review indexing information. A sitemap helps discovery, but submission is not a guarantee of indexing or a ranking increase. Check actual status rather than treating a submitted file as a finished search result.
Measure search visits and completed bookings separately
In Search Console, look at the queries and pages receiving impressions and clicks. Separate searches for the restaurant’s own name from broader cuisine, location or occasion searches. Compare consistent time periods and consider seasonality, special events and changes to your opening schedule.
Website analytics can help show which pages lead to a booking-button click or an enquiry. Those actions are useful signals, but a click is not a confirmed reservation. Where the booking provider supports reliable completed-booking reporting, use that alongside the website data. Analytics can also miss visitors because of consent choices or blocking.
Start by recording a baseline, then make changes that address observed problems. A page attracting impressions but few clicks may need a clearer title or better alignment with the search. A useful page that has not been indexed needs a different investigation from a working booking page that visitors cannot find.
What First Sitting includes
Our £500 website package includes basic search setup: useful page titles and descriptions, a sensible page structure and restaurant information within the agreed brief. The build also includes a mobile-friendly menu, one supported booking integration or request form and the other listed package features. Hosting and care cost £35 per month.
That is a website foundation, rather than an ongoing SEO campaign. Continuous content work, outreach, advertising, extensive migration work and third-party provider fees are not included in the base package. Rankings and bookings depend on more than a new design, so the right starting point is a clear website and a realistic measurement plan.
If your current website makes menus, hours or reservations hard to find, share it with us. We can confirm whether a focused update or the agreed redesign package fits your restaurant.
A website for your restaurant
Start with a conversation.
Share your restaurant, current website and plans. We will confirm the scope and booking setup, with the full cost agreed before work begins.
Discuss your restaurant website
Or email hello@firstsitting.agency.