1. ZOG Digital, Inc.
www.zogdigital.com
+1 480 281 7579
Learn More at www.zogdigital.com/learn
RESTAURANT DIGITAL MARKETING TOOLKIT

2. 01
In 2013, 92 percent of people searched
for a restaurant on a web browser, while
81 percent searched for a restaurant on
a mobile app. A comprehensive digital
marketing effort that utilizes a responsive
website design, paid advertising and local
search engine optimization (SEO) strategies
can have a dramatic and direct impact on
sales by influencing potential consumers at
multiple critical moments in the purchasing
decision funnel. Learn how the strategic use
of digital marketing can increase sales and
ROI for restaurants. We’ll break down what
every marketer needs to focus on:
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
1. Why local SEO impacts in-store sales
2. How to get started with local link building
3. Targeting tips for paid search
4. What options are available for paid social
5. Which website design updates restaurants should focus on
RESTAURANT DIGITAL
MARKETING TOOLKIT
ZOG Digital, Inc.
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3. 02
RESTAURANT DIGITAL
MARKETING TOOLKIT
RESTAURANT DIGITAL MARKETING TOOLKIT
Today, consumers are turning to digital channels more than ever
before making choices about where to eat, making a digital marketing
strategy a must for every restaurant brand. Visibility through search
engine rankings and social media are particularly essential for
customer acquisition and to increase sales.
Building online visibility for a restaurant requires using all of the
available digital marketing tools together as part of one comprehensive
strategy. When combined, digital marketing tactics have the ability
to increase visibility on search engines, create engagement and
drive in-store sales by reaching consumers at critical times during
the decision making process. In this report we’ll break down the five
strategies every restaurant marketer should utilize:
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RESPONSIVE AND
SEO-READY
WEBSITE DESIGN
LOCAL SEO
LOCAL LINK
BUILDING
PAID SEARCH
ADVERTISING
PAID SOCIAL
MEDIA ADVERTISING

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RESTAURANT DIGITAL MARKETING TOOLKIT
RESPONSIVE, SEO-READY WEB DESIGN
AND DEVELOPMENT
A restaurant’s website is its most valuable digital asset because it is the
epicenter of the business’ branding and works as the foundation for all of
its other digital efforts. It’s essential that a restaurant’s website is designed
to be search engine friendly and to provide an optimized user experience.
Regardless of entry point, a user’s experience must be seamless on desktop
and mobile devices.
1. USE A RESPONSIVE DESIGN:
Because local SEO is inherently tied to mobile search, restaurants should
utilize responsive design, which allows a website to adapt to any size screen
without losing functionality. Google specifically recommends responsive
design for businesses looking to improve their ranking in local searches.
In addition to improved search rankings, responsive design also allows
restaurants to keep a consistent brand image on almost any device.
2. CREATE LOCAL FOCUSED USER EXPERIENCES:
Restaurants need to think like a consumer when creating a content strategy.
Restaurants should prominently feature content that addresses local
searchers’ questions, which includes directions, pricing, menus, phone
numbers, reservation information and hours of operation.
3. UTILIZE INDIVIDUAL LANDING PAGES:
On-page SEO accounts for almost 20 percent of the factors that influence
local search rankings. Many businesses underestimate the power of on-
page optimization as part of their local and overall digital marketing strategy.
The most effective way to use on-page SEO for local search purposes is to
give each location its own, dedicated landing page. By adding dedicated
local pages — each with a unique geo-targeted URL — search engines can
crawl the content, which raises a brand’s search ranking and visibility to get
customers in the door more often.

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LOCAL SEO
Local SEO helps drive in-store sales by putting restaurants in front
of local customers who are actively searching for places to eat.
Restaurants are the most searched industry on mobile apps and
mobile browsers. SinglePlatform found that 81 percent of people
looked for restaurants using a mobile app, while more than 90 percent
searched for a place to eat using a web browser. Mobile searchers
usually turn into customers according to Nielson. Its research found
that 90 percent of mobile searchers convert within the day and 64
percent within one hour.
Local SEO is directly tied to mobile marketing because consumers
searching on their mobile devices are more likely to search for local
businesses. According to Google’s “Our Mobile Planet”, 94 percent of
people use smartphones to search local businesses. Local SEO has a
high return on investment compared to other marketing investments,
with 54 percent of marketers observing that local search optimization
positively impacted their businesses.
To get started with local SEO, restaurants should follow some basic
introductory steps. By investing in these strategies, restaurants allow
themselves to be discovered by local searchers.
1. CLAIM SEARCH ENGINE LISTINGS:
The three biggest search engines, Google, Yahoo! and Bing, all have
their own, unique local listing opportunity for businesses. Restaurants
should make sure to claim every listing possible, fill out the profiles
fully and keep all information consistent from one search engine listing
to the next.
2. EMPLOY DIRECTORY SYNDICATION:
Each directory is a mention of a business, and the more mentions
each specific location has, the more credibility it is given by search
engines. Like search engine listings, it is vitally important that each
citation is accurate and consistent down to abbreviations, because
slight changes will make the information seem less than credible to
search engines.
3. CREATE DIGITAL CONTENT FOR MOBILE AND
LOCAL CONSUMERS:
Local search is directly tied to mobile users; therefore restaurants
investing in local SEO should adapt digital content to appeal to mobile
users. Local searchers want different information, so businesses
investing in local SEO should adapt digital content, such as location
and contact information, to appeal specifically to those consumers.
Menu information is also a must for restaurants because Google
is now providing menu information in search results. Google is not
saying how it collects menu information, so restaurants should provide
it in a variety of places including OpenTable, Yelp, UrbanSpoon and
TripAdvisor.

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LOCALIZED OFF-PAGE SEO
Building links with credible, authoritative websites helps improve
search rankings for restaurants because search engines use links to
calculate the authority of websites and determine rankings for various
keywords. But, according to search engines like Google, not all links
are created equal when it comes to local SEO.
Local links are especially important for restaurants because of Google’s
desire to try and predict what people are looking for. When it comes
to restaurants, Google knows that people aren’t normally searching
for places 50 miles way; they want something nearby, so it looks for
the most credible results in the vicinity. Therefore, when people search
for local restaurants, search engines will give more weight to websites
with location tagged links, through both the content and link anchor
text.
There are several strategies restaurants can use as part of their local
link building campaign including:
1. ENCOURAGING REVIEWS FROM LOCAL BLOGGERS:
Being reviewed by newspapers has been a goal for restaurants for
decades because of the publicity. Cultivating reviews from local
bloggers can have the same effect by creating honest and authentic
feedback that potential customers will read that increases the visibility
of the restaurant. Local bloggers will usually also link to a restaurant’s
local landing pages, creating an inbound link that Google sees as
someone vouching for a restaurant, which can increase its local
search ranking.
2. UTILIZE LOCAL DEAL SITES:
Websites like Groupon and LivingSocial are primarily used to create
visibility and draw new customers because of a great deal at the
cost of a discount. But these sites could also be part of a larger off-
page SEO link building strategy. Local deal sites will usually link to
a restaurant’s home page or menu as part of the coupon posting
and syndicate those deals to other websites, which can help with a
link profile. Businesses that decide to engage in deal sites should
calculate the cost of the deal and compare it to any potential local
SEO benefits. Specifically, deal sites not only require a discount that
will get a shopper’s attention, but they also take a percentage of each
sale, potentially reducing profit margins. If the future SEO benefits
don’t outweigh the cost of the promotion, then this strategy may not
be ideal.
3. SPONSORING LOCAL EVENTS/CHARITIES:
Sponsorships are different than the other options when it comes
to local link building because they require an up-front financial
commitment. But, local sponsorships get a lot of visibility and can
be very successful at creating inbound links from reputable and
authoritative websites. Restaurants can also use grand openings to
garner links by actively inviting writers and asking them to either write
about their experience or spread the word about it on social media.
Local off-page SEO, while time consuming, is a vital part of any digital
marketing strategy because it can be directly tied to search engine
results. Businesses that invest in local link building should focus not
only on the number of links created, but also the quality of those links,
the anchor text that is connected to the links and the value those links
provide to local consumers.

7. A paid search advertising campaign is an effective way for restaurants
to increase visibility on digital offerings, connect with local customers
and increase sales.
Paid search provides the ability to target consumers using a variety
of criteria, including keywords and location. For instance, instead of
pushing ads toward people who search “Thai food,” they can target
searching looking for “Thai food in Phoenix.” Paid search has the
ability to get even more specific for restaurants hoping to capture local
and mobile searchers, promoting ads to people in a small geographic
radius or even those who are near a competitor.
The ads themselves can, and should, be customized as well using
these best practices:
1. KEYWORD RESEARCH COMES FIRST:
Pricing for paid search is based off of keyword centric bidding.
Therefore, restaurants should research into how potential customers
are searching before starting a paid search campaign. For instance,
are they searching for “burger restaurant” or “burger grill?” While
the difference might seem small, it can make a big difference in the
visibility and effectiveness of an ad.
2. CHOOSE WORDING AND CALL-TO-ACTIONS
CAREFULLY:
Searchers will read the ad just like what they see in a newspaper or
magazine. So, just because an advertisement is presented digitally
doesn’t mean that the basic rules of ad copy should be discarded.
The wording should be easy to understand, succinct, informative and
include a call to action.
3. UTILIZE AD EXTENSIONS:
Search engines allow businesses to customize their search ads
using extensions. For businesses looking to capitalize on moment of
interest, local and mobile searchers, extensions that include ratings
and reviews, links to maps and click to call options can provide
tremendous value.
06
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RESTAURANT DIGITAL MARKETING TOOLKIT
PAID SEARCH

8. 07
ZOG Digital, Inc.
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RESTAURANT DIGITAL MARKETING TOOLKIT
Creating social media profiles and actively engaging with fans is an
important strategy for businesses investing in creating a local presence.
Paid social advertising is one way to increase followers quickly, promote
restaurants to existing fans and create a buzz about upcoming openings
and announcements.
Advertisements on social media, much like paid search ads, can target
potential customers by location. What makes them unique is the ability
to target specific groups of people that a company knows is already
interested or has similar interests to current community members. The
two most popular and effective channels to advertise on social media
are Facebook and Twitter, but both come with unique challenges and
opportunities.
Facebook: There are two main options for restaurants looking to
advertise on Facebook. There are right hand side ads that go on the
side of the page and promoted posts that are pushed into newsfeeds.
Businesses have several options when it comes to targeting who sees
each ad. For example, restaurants can opt to target based on location,
such as city, state or zip code, or people with specific likes such as food,
eating out or fine dining. Restaurants can also use their fan page to find
target audiences. Marketers can opt to choose to promote ads to fans
only, or use Facebook’s data to find other people who are similar in tastes
to current fans and target them.
Twitter: Twitter allows businesses to promote posts in three main
arenas, hashtags, people to follow and in the feed. Generally businesses
like restaurants use promoted accounts to gather additional followers,
which can be helpful in identifying target audiences. Promoted hashtags
have the ability to tie in a company’s Twitter account to a traditional
media advertisement that mentions a hashtag or help steer the general
conversation. Ads that are pushed into feeds can be targeted much like
Facebook ads, by interests, followers or even location. Restaurants
should make sure to look into every targeting option before starting a
Twitter advertising campaign to avoid clicks from people who aren’t
potential customers.
Social media advertising allows restaurants to put themselves in front of
potential customers in a very specified way, allowing marketers to target
qualified users.
Facebook Advertising Examples. Source: Insidefacebook.com
PAID SOCIAL

9. 08 | Learn more at www.zogdigital.com/learn
ZOG Digital, Inc.
WWW.ZOGDIGITAL.COM
DIGITAL MARKETING IN 2014
In 2014, a successful digital marketing strategy can help a
restaurant gain a competitive edge and build an impressive list
of regular customers. Any restaurant’s digital marketing strategy
should include a heavy emphasis on local on-page and off-page
SEO, paid advertising that targets searchers and social media
users, and a responsive website design, which is favored by search
engine spiders because of its ability to adapt to any size device.
By combining these basic digital marketing techniques, restaurants
have the ability to capture consumers early in the decision making
cycle, influence their actions and drive sales.
www.zogdigital.com | +1 480 281 7579