A functional restaurant does not mean a successful restaurant even if you are doing the basics right – ambiance, food, service, pricing, etc. In today’s competitive business environment, you cannot survive simply by word of mouth. Any business requires the right marketing strategies to grow and earn profits.
Thus, if you are in the restaurant business and want to keep your restaurant packed, you have to invest in restaurant marketing, be it offline or online marketing. While most people are aware of offline or traditional marketing, online marketing for restaurants creates a digital presence for your restaurant.
Image Credits: Posist
Today, we will talk about how you can market a restaurant through Google ads and which extension is most important.
Google Ads for Restaurant Marketing
If want to take your restaurant marketing strategy to the next level use every channel available to get the audience’s attention at the right time. Google AdWords helps you rank better than your competitors in Google search results through Google Ads and PPC marketing. Here are five ways you can make your restaurant online through Google Ads at a low cost per click:
- Take restaurant searches within your local/geographical area
- Use profitable high search intent keywords
- Modify when restaurant ads show
- Use different ad extensions to increase your visibility
- Create a remarketing strategy to increase brand awareness
How Google Ads Work for The Restaurant Industry
Google Ads is one of the most effective ways to reach your target customers, generate brand awareness and grow your digital presence. It allows you to target more local searches.
Google gives the option to stand out from your competitors and define your restaurant based on your location, competition, restaurant type, business goals, etc. By investing in Google restaurant ads, you can reach a targeted group of local customers. However, while all of this sounds very pleasing, don’t forget that Google ads restaurant campaign can be expensive if not done right.
Image Credits: Digital Restauranteur
Creating a Google ads campaign alone is not enough; you have to optimize your restaurant ads. One of the best ways to get the most out of your Google ads investment is to use Google ad extensions.
What Is an Ad Extension?
Ad extensions allow you to increase the visibility of your ads by adding more relevant information. Adding more information is always good because it gives potential customers more info and a reason to shop with you. Extensions can also make your ad physically larger, which is more prominent on a search engine results page.
Google offers many ad extensions that you can use to increase the performance of your ad and drive a higher CTR (click-through rate). According to Google, many advertisers have seen 10 to 15% improvement in CTR after including ad extensions. Some popular ad extensions are:
- Sitelinks
- Call extension
- Message extensions
- App extensions
- Callout extensions
- Location extension
Image Credits: Karooya
This brings us to a critical question: which ad extension is the most suitable for restaurant marketing? Let’s find out!
Google Ads Extension for Restaurant Marketing
“Which ad extension would you use for an advertiser who has a chain of local restaurants”
This question is a part of the Google AdWords fundamentals exam. Advertisers were given the following options to choose from:
- Sitelink extensions
- Promotion extensions
- Seller ratings
- Location extensions
The correct answer is location extension.
What Are Location Extensions?
Location extensions are an optional feature and can be enabled directly in Google Ads. Location extensions display your restaurant’s address and business hours within the search ad. This is an essential extension for restaurants and requires you to set up a “Google My Business” account (something all local companies should have).
Once Google validates your business and location, you’ll show up in more places, such as the organic search results and within Google Maps. Location extensions encourage leads to identify, call and visit a business by telling them where the restaurant is physically located.
Image Credits:Strategy Beam
Why Are Google Ads Location Extensions Important?
Extensions on your ad are one of the most effective PPC marketing strategies for restaurants. Online users love ease and convenience, so adding Google ad extensions allows people to find you easily. Location extensions tell the customers exactly where you are located and give them more reason to visit your restaurant. Imagine that they have heard about us but can’t find it, how will they ever visit you? This is why location extension on average, boost click-through rate by 10%.
Image Credits:AdEspresso
Here are some reasons why you should add Google as location extensions to your restaurant ads:
- You get more real estate on SERP and provide relevant information to local searches, including contact information.
- AdWords offers aggressive location targeting that makes it all the more convenient for the searchers.
- 20% of all Google searches are for local information, and 40% of all mobile searches are for local info. This gives you a large swath of potential customers.
Conclusion
Thanks to digital marketing, running a restaurant business is very challenging, but you can now reach your target customers much more quickly. Establish a strong marketing and Advertising campaign to drive new customers. You can dominate the local competition by implementing SEO tactics like adding location names in URLs, building citations, and using location and extension.