How to get more Google Restaurant reviews: 5 easy tips to encourage positive ratings

Before the internet played such an important part in our lives, you could only get restaurant reviews and recommendations from friends and acquaintances. But now that technology is a common occurrence, word-of-mouth has transformed into Google restaurant reviews.

98% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses, and 81% use Google to either read or leave a review. Therefore, if you want to increase your restaurant's visibility and attract more clients, you need to go where they are, on Google.

In this article, you will find out how important restaurant reviews on Google are, how to get more, and why you should make a habit of replying to them.

Why Google restaurant reviews matter for your business

The restaurant industry is incredibly competitive, and you must jump on every trend that can help your business stand out. There are many review platforms out there that can help your restaurant grow, but Google is the one people use the most, so you should focus your attention on optimizing your Google My Business profile.

Compared to other review platforms, Google is also the most popular search engine, and good reviews can help with a lot more than making a good impression on review readers. Let's see what the benefits are for encouraging Google restaurant reviews:

Positive Google reviews for a restaurant will help you rank higher

Google reviews are used as a ranking factor for both Map Pack and Local Ranking. Let's see what each of them does.

When you search for a business using location-specific keywords such as near me or the name of the city, you will see a map with place marker icons at the start of the search. Map Pack is the most sought-after position on this map, and reviews account for 17% of the ranking factors. Google considers the high star ratings, the positive sentiment in review text, and the quantity of Google reviews.

Local ranking is how high your website will be shown in the same local searches as above. Reviews only make up 5% of the local ranking factors, the rest focusing on on-page and off-page optimization.

Google reviews allow you to manage your reputation

Google reviews are not a one-sided street. While people get to voice their opinion of your restaurant on the platform, you also get the chance to respond and mediate the situation, maybe even change their mind.

It is important to reply to every review, be it positive or negative, so other readers can see you value clients’ opinions and are open to change for the better.

Google reviews bring more traffic to your website

Most people type a simple keyword on Google when searching for a place to eat, such as "indian food near me" or "pizza place in Boston". After finding your Google My Business profile and checking out the reviews, they want to see what your menu looks like.

This will lead them to click on your website link, creating more traffic for your restaurant’s website. Make sure you have a sales-optimized website, like the one provided by GloriaFood, that will offer clients a seamless browsing and ordering experience.

More restaurant Google reviews, more sales

People read google restaurant reviews because they believe them to be an accurate description of the restaurant. One person may have disliked your food, but if many others praise your restaurant, you will constantly get more clients.

Reviews aren’t relevant just for the search engine, but for the large audience that reads them and will be encouraged to become customers.

5 ways to encourage clients to leave restaurant reviews on Google

How to get google reviews for your restaurant? The first step to getting Google restaurant reviews is to claim your business on Google My Business and complete your profile with as much relevant information as possible, such as:

• Location: include directions to help people easily reach your restaurant;
• Working hours: avoid bad reviews by having updated working hours available, complete with national holidays or vacation days;
• Link to website: drive traffic to your traffic website by making it easy for people to find your menu;
• Many pictures: include images of your menu, menu items, the location from the inside and outside, and candid pictures of your staff to show how great the atmosphere is at your restaurant.

Google restaurant reviews are the recommendations you need to build trust with potential clients and are the most important search engine. Not all people make a habit of leaving reviews, so you may need to give your clients a little nudge to review your business. Here are five efficient ways to encourage clients to write positive reviews:

1. Link to Google reviews on your website

First of all, you need a website that offers people a great experience and easy access to all the relevant information about your restaurant. Here are some of the essential features of a high-ranking website:

• Mobile-responsive: the mobile version of your website should load as fast and be as responsive as the desktop one because you don’t want to lose the clients that prefer to browse from their phones;
• Easy to navigate: you don't need a complicated website with many hard-to-reach pages. Go for a simple, intuitive design, with all the important information easily accessible (location, working hours, and especially, a menu link);
• SEO-optimized: if you want to see your website on the first page of Google, you must ensure your content is full of relevant keywords.

If you want to skip a step and get a sales-oriented website in just a few minutes, become a GloriaFood member! No need to stress about technical knowledge. You get access to the easiest website builder that is all visual. Click here to see a demo of our sales-optimized website.

The best part is you will receive a personalized website with customized texts and images, already SEO-optimized! Sign up on GloriaFood, go to admin -> Setup -> Publishing -> Sales Optimized Website, and you are ready to impress visitors with a seamless browsing experience.

You can personalize the sections on your website, so you can add a banner where you encourage clients to review your restaurant. Here is an example of a message you can add to entice people to add Google restaurant reviews:

“Did you enjoy your experience dining in or ordering from Pizza Pronto? Spread the word! Share your opinion on Google reviews [Insert link to the review page here] so we can continue improving our business and offer you delicious food daily!"

2. Have a card placement on every table to ask for Google reviews

Make it visible to your clients that you have claimed your business on Google and would like their help getting more positive reviews. A card placement with details on how to reach your page and leave a review is a very subtle hint, without being intrusive.

The best part is that the card will be in their line of view the whole time and will subconsciously remind them they should leave a review. You could also offer a small incentive to encourage them, such a free dessert or soda.

This tactic can also be applied to online orders. Every time you prepare an order, add a small flyer asking people for positive reviews if they enjoyed your food. If you want to be creative and prevent waste, print your Google info on the napkin will a small message such as “Please leave us a review!”.

3. Train your employees to encourage clients to review

Your employees interact the most with your clients, they seat them, bring them the menu, and give them recommendations. So, you can say they form a connection with every customer in the small amount of time they are in the restaurant.

The staff can notice when somebody is having a good time and estimate the perfect timing to ask the client to leave you a review, be it when bringing the check or when they are leaving the establishment.

Train your team to do it in a natural, friendly way, for example, "If you enjoyed your experience at Pizza Pronto, you could leave us a review on Google. We would appreciate your help as we are constantly trying to improve our business." No need to insist if the customer doesn't seem receptive, as it could have the opposite effect.

4. Start email campaigns to increase Google reviews

You could use an email campaign for many purposes, such as announcing a new menu item, a new location, increasing the number of repeat customers or orders, and encouraging Google restaurant reviews.

We have the perfect tool for you to help you send out email campaigns easily and quickly, without stress. When you get the online ordering system from GloriaFood, you can also access the Autopilot module.

The Autopilot allows you to only set up the Encourage Second Order campaign applicable to new customers campaign once, and they will be sent on autopilot afterward. The system can segment clients according to their purchasing history, so it can deliver the most relevant and efficient email campaigns. You can find out more about how it works here:

To access the module, sign up on GloriaFood and go to admin -> Autopilot selling -> Autopilot, and start sending out campaigns encouraging clients to leave more positive Google reviews.

5. Ask for reviews on social media

Social media is where you can easily interact with your followers and build a community of loyal clients who enjoy your delicious food. You can share professional pictures of your dishes, behind-the-scenes images, tasty video content and…ask people to review your restaurant!

When you create a content plan for social media, ensure you add at least one post per week where you encourage people to leave you Google restaurant reviews. Here are a couple of ideas on how to promote them:

• A photo of one of your bestselling menu items: ask your followers if they have already tried it and encourage them to leave you a Google review if they enjoyed it;
• A video with a nicely arranged spread of food: “how many of our menu items have you tried? Please leave us a Google review so we can continue to create new amazing dishes for you”;
• Host a giveaway: the mechanism could be "leave us a Google review, send us a print screen in a private message, and we will randomly pick a winner that gets one free dinner for two”.

Why you should reply to every Google review, positive or negative

It can be tempting to ignore all negative reviews and only reply when you receive a great review that makes you smile. While replying to all Google restaurant reviews can seem tedious, be time-consuming and, other times, be truly annoying (if it is a very nasty review), the benefits outweigh the negatives.

If you start seeing more negative reviews, don’t automatically search for “how can I delete restaurant reviews on Google”, take a breather and take it as a learning experience.

When Google analyses your reviews for ranking, it also considers your replies. Therefore, if you want to improve your rank, you should make it a habit to reply to every review every two days because promptness also matters.

Moreover, clients will also look for your answers when reading restaurant reviews. Even if you receive negative reviews (often inevitable), potential clients will appreciate you taking the time to respond and offer a solution. Here is a simple formula to use when responding to negative reviews:

Thank them for their time - Say sorry – Empathize with their situation – Offer a solution – Invite them to discuss further in private

Read more: How to reply to bad restaurant reviews: easy-to-follow tips and examples

Conclusion

Encouraging Google restaurant reviews is imperative for your business's success. It can help increase your visibility on the most used search engine and attract more customers. Use every type of communication to let people know you need more restaurant reviews, starting from your website and cards on the tables to social media and email marketing.