Google Local Guides have been celebrating July with food pics at their favorite restaurants. You may have noticed some extra activity in Google Maps and your Google My Business account. I’ve certainly noticed some more reviews and photos for my restaurateur clients.
In terms of search marketing, people looking for a “restaurant near me,” want to see: the menu, the reviews, the location, delivery options, and directions. Most likely in that order.
If they don’t like your menu the reviews don’t matter, and if they don’t like the reviews the location doesn’t matter, and so on. Even for a popular restaurants like McDonald’s, Subway, and Denny’s, people still want to know what is on the menu.
Setting up a professional shoot is expensive but worth it to show your menu items in a consistent framing and light. Photography isn’t easy, it’s a skill that takes time to learn and get good at, including editing. There are some great tips in this video to take interesting photos that show the uniqueness of your food. Here’s some more food pic tips from Google Local Guides.
Pictures are really what sell your food. Look at the lengths McDonald’s goes through to present their Quarter Pounder. It takes several hours to prep the shoot, not to mention post production work. Do you know why McDonald’s goes through all of this effort and expense? Because it is worth it. We’ve all seen a commercial that made us hungry and find a drive-in.
Your restaurant may not have the budget for this kind of photo shoot. It’s not just the cost of the photography, but making every item on the menu probably isn’t cheap, and paying a cook to make it. And you probably can’t do all of this while your business is operating.
Great writing and great photography both require great editing. Content creation is more about what you take out and not necessarily what you put into it. Take lots of pictures and find the best one.
Spoiler alert: you can’t make food porn without breaking some yolks.
The tips in this video are less technical, and more stylistic tips; helpful for taking photos with smartphones. Make the food the star, hold the camera still, don’t clutter your shot, and have some fun with your food.
Google Local Guides must be the dessert first type, they didn’t post a “How to Take the Best Dinner Photos” video yet. Probably have a big meetup feast planned. If the point is enticement, it’s working. I’m writing this after skipping breakfast and having coffee. Want macaroons so bad. And that Rubik’s Cube Cake…
Your next potential customer wants to see your menu, but you can show them your food and hopefully their next meal. If you want to showcase your menu on your website or in Google Search, all of our Local SEO Packages include Yext, which lets you control and update your menu content on Google, Yelp, Allmenus, & MenuPages