Skip to content

Guide for restaurants and cafés

How to rank your restaurant higher on Google

When someone types "restaurant near me" or "Italian restaurant Aalst", Google shows a map with a few places and their profiles. This guide explains what Google itself says decides that order, and what you can do about it this week without paying anyone.

Updated 6 October 2026. Google's pages were read on that date.

What Google says decides the order

Google publishes a short help page on local ranking. It says local results are mainly based on three things:

Relevance
How well your Business Profile matches what someone searched for. Google's advice is to give complete and detailed information, so it can understand what your restaurant is and match it to the right searches.
Distance
How far your restaurant is from the person searching, or from the place named in the search. You cannot change this one, and nobody else can either.
Prominence
How well known your restaurant is. Google says this is also based on how many websites link to you and how many reviews you have, and that more reviews and positive ratings can help.

The same page also says, in so many words, that there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. Everything below follows from those three factors and from Google's own rules for business profiles.

Nine things you can do this week

None of these needs a developer. Most take less than an hour, and you can do them from your phone in the Google Maps app or by searching for your restaurant's name while signed in.

1. Claim and verify your profile

Search for your restaurant on Google Maps. If the profile offers to let you claim it, do so and finish the verification. Google says a verified profile tells it that you are allowed to represent the business, which makes it more likely to show up. Keep one profile per location: a second profile for the same address causes problems and is against Google's guidelines.

2. Fill in every field that applies

Name, address, phone number, website, opening hours, and the attributes Google offers for restaurants, such as terrace, wheelchair access, takeaway, delivery or vegetarian options. Google states that businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up in local results. Only tick what is true on an ordinary evening.

3. Choose the right primary category

The primary category tells Google what kind of place you are. Pick the most precise one that describes your core business: "Italian restaurant" or "Brasserie" says more than "Restaurant". Google asks you to use as few categories as it takes to describe the business, so add a second one only if it is really part of what you do.

4. Keep opening hours and holiday hours correct

Wrong hours are the fastest way to lose a guest who drove to a closed door. Set special hours for public holidays, your annual holiday and private events in the profile, so the normal hours are not shown on those days. If you close for a renovation, mark the profile as temporarily closed instead of leaving the usual hours up.

5. Add your menu and what you offer

Add a link to your menu, or photos of the current menu card, and update them when dishes or prices change. A menu that matches what a guest actually finds on the table helps Google understand what you serve, and it saves you the phone call asking whether you have a children's menu.

6. Add real photos, and keep adding them

Photograph the front of the building so people recognise the door, the dining room, the terrace and dishes as you serve them. Take them yourself in daylight, and replace them when the interior or the menu changes. Stock photos and pictures of food you do not serve set the wrong expectation.

7. Ask every guest for a review, and answer every review

Put the review link on the receipt, in the booking confirmation email and on a small card at the till. Ask every guest, not only the ones who seemed happy: Google does not allow selective asking, it does not allow a discount or a free drink in exchange, and it says you should not pressure people to write one while they are still at your place. Then reply to every review, short and specific. For a bad one, thank the guest, say what you changed and give a way to reach you, without personal details about the guest.

8. Link your own website and booking page

The website field should point to your own site, on a page that shows the menu, hours and address. Add your booking link if you take reservations online. Because Google counts the websites that link to you as part of prominence, it is also worth asking to be listed where your town is already described: the local tourist office, the trade association, event pages you take part in.

9. Use the same name, address and phone number everywhere

Google asks you to represent the business as it is known in the real world, on your sign and your website. Check that the name, address and phone number are the same on your website footer, Facebook, Instagram, your booking tool, review sites and directories. An old phone number on one directory is a small thing to fix and an easy way to lose a booking.

Want to see where your profile stands first? Our free Google profile check walks through the points Google recommends and stores nothing.

Do the free Google profile check

What does not work, or breaks the rules

Some shortcuts are offered to restaurant owners every week. These are the ones to refuse.

Fake or bought reviews

Google removes reviews that are paid for, posted in exchange for a discount or gift, posted from several accounts by one person, or written by staff, family or competitors. In Belgium it is also a legal matter: the FPS Economy's guidelines on online reviews state that writing reviews while posing as a customer, or asking staff or others without a real experience to do so, is in any case a prohibited misleading commercial practice (Code of Economic Law, art. VI.100).

Keywords in the business name

A name like "Your Name | Best steak in Ghent | Takeaway" is against Google's guidelines. The name on the profile must be the name on your sign and your website. Google says adding unnecessary information to the name can lead to the profile being suspended, which costs far more than it could ever gain.

Paying for a promise of first place

Google writes that there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. Anyone who guarantees you the top spot in the map results is selling something Google says does not exist. Google Ads can place an advertisement above the results, but it is labelled as sponsored and stops when the budget stops. That is advertising, not ranking.

A second profile or a made-up address

Google allows one profile per business location. Extra profiles for the same restaurant, or an address where you do not receive guests, can get every profile you manage suspended.

Frequently asked questions

Can I pay Google to appear higher in the map results?

No. Google's help page states that there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. You can buy advertising through Google Ads, which is shown with a sponsored label, but that does not change your position in the normal results.

May I offer a free coffee or a discount in exchange for a review?

No. Google's content policy does not allow incentives such as payment, discounts or free products or services in exchange for a review. You may ask every guest for an honest review, without offering anything and without telling them what to write.

Can I remove a bad review?

Not a genuine one. You can report a review that breaks Google's policy, for example one that is fake, written by a competitor or off-topic, and Google decides whether to remove it. For a genuine negative review, a calm and specific reply is what other guests will read.

How long before these changes make a difference?

Google does not publish a timeline, and we will not invent one. Distance and the searches people make are outside your control. Look at the performance figures in your Business Profile over a few months rather than day by day, and keep the information correct in the meantime.

If you want help with it

Fluxive sets up and maintains Google Business Profiles and websites for restaurants and cafés in Belgium, within Google's rules. The first step is a free 30-minute online call. After that we come on site if it's needed. You get a written price before any work starts.

Local SEO and Google Maps serviceIT and online presence for restaurants and cafésDo the free Google profile check

Sources

This guide is general information, not legal advice.