Why should you take control of your Google My Business listing?
Google My Business is a free and easy-to-use tool that allows your restaurant
to manage its online presence on Google, for example, in Google search and on Maps.
By validating your establishment and modifying the information about it,
you can make it easier for customers to find you and tell your story.
Taking control of your Google listing has a direct impact on your online visibility and the effective management of your reservations.
→ 90% of your customers search for you on Google before coming to your restaurant.
Example of a good Google listing:
1. Take control of your image
The Google My Business listing is now the gateway for customers on the internet. It is necessary for the information to be up to date and accurate in order to offer the best experience to your customers.
Information to provide and keep up to date:
- opening hours and days
- contacts
- link to website
- reservation link
- menu link
- ordering link
It's your turn to take action!
2. Manage your booking channels
Reservations through the Google My Business listing represent 14% of total reservations! And the trend has been accelerating since the health crisis.
It is now a fully-fledged booking channel, as consumers have taken to ordering and booking online. It has become ingrained in their habits, and business providers have understood this well!
Control your business providers
The business provider is an intermediary who brings you customers.
In return, they receive a commission for each booking made.
Be careful, as business providers have become accustomed to adding their booking link directly to your Google listing.
Check the available booking channels on your listing!
Here is the procedure to check and modify the link if necessary:
- On www.google.com, type the name of your restaurant + city
- Your Google My Business listing will appear on the right, check if "reserve a table" button has appeared. Also, check if a reservation link has been added.
2.bis If the "reserve a table" button is present, click on the button to check
As a reminder, Zenchef does not take any commission on reservations, and we encourage you to insert the Zenchef booking link rather than another one.
If another system besides Zenchef is present, it must be removed
Google does not allow you to manage this directly. The only option is to request removal from the respective provider.
The request must be written by email or post to your provider.
An example of a request:
RESTAURANT NAME
Subject: Google removal request
Dear Sir/Madam,
I hereby request that you remove the reservation button that has been added to my
Google Business and please deactivate Google Reserve.
I am satisfied with your business referral services but I wish to remain in control of my own booking system.
reservation system.
Yours sincerly
Signature
If the request to the provider is not sufficient:
You must contact Google directly to request removal at the following address: reserve-support@google.com
An example of e-mail:
RESTAURANT NAME
ADDRESS
Hello,
after several exchanges with X, I can't remove the reservation link and the Google Reserve partnership with company X from my Google My Business listing.
I'd like only Zenchef table stocks to be displayed on my listing. Could you please arrange for this to be done?
Thank you in advance.
If Zenchef is not present on your Google listing
Simply send an activation request to help@zenchef.com (please specify the name and address of your restaurant).
3. Gain visibility on the Internet
Up-to-date, consistent information
We often think about updating the information on our site, but rarely the information on our Google listing. That's a mistake! Make sure your information is up to date. Internet users first look at your listing before visiting your site. If this information is wrong, you risk :
- Miss bookings
- Create frustration
- Collect unjustified reviews
The importance of reviews on your Google listing
Google reviews play a vital role in your restaurant's local referencing.
Not convinced? Type the word restaurant + your town / district into Google!
The first results are calculated according to the influence of the restaurant's Google My Business listing.
To improve your local influence, reviews collected on your listing are worth their weight in gold!
The problem is often the quality of Google reviews, which are sometimes unjustified. This is normal, as reviews can be left by anyone, even if they haven't been to your establishment.
That's why Zenchef helps you collect and send a Google review request after a reservation.
By offering your customers the chance to leave a review on Google after they've eaten, we continuously improve your local referencing!
For every reservation, an e-mail is sent requesting your customer's opinion. You can distribute these reviews on different platforms: your website, Google, TripAdvisor...
All the detailed information you need to distribute your reviews is in this article.