Feed the Machine: Why GBP Profile Attributes are the Key for Restaurant Discovery

Nadine De La Fuente -

Not long ago, restaurant discovery followed a pretty predictable formula: guests searched, clicked a few links, browsed menus, and made a choice. “Location, location, location” ruled the world. This was the case both offline and online.

Fast forward to today, and that playbook is changing fast.

Recent data from 2025 shows that Google searches per person in the U.S. have dropped by nearly 20%. At first glance, that stat feels… not great. Fewer searches must mean fewer guests, right?

Not exactly.

People aren’t eating out less — they’re just searching differently. AI-powered search experiences like Google’s AI Overviews, voice assistants, and map-based discovery are giving guests answers faster, often without them ever clicking through to a website. We’re officially in the era of zero-click discovery.

For restaurant operators, especially multi-unit brands, this shift shouldn’t be seen as a threat. It’s an opportunity. But only if your business data is structured, complete, and easy for AI to understand.

And that’s where Google Business Profile (GBP) attributes come in.

The Shift from Search Engine to Answer Engine

Let’s start with what’s actually happening behind the scenes.

Ten years ago, someone hungry might have searched:

“Italian restaurant Chicago”

They’d scroll through links, click a few websites, maybe compare menus, then decide.

Today, that same guest might say:

“Find me a cozy Italian restaurant in West Loop with gluten-free options, outdoor seating, and a quiet vibe.”

Instead of serving a list of links, Google increasingly serves answers — sometimes a single recommendation, sometimes a short list. And those answers are powered by structured business data, not just website copy.

Google’s AI doesn’t read your website the way a human does. It looks for clean, machine-readable signals about:

  • What you offer
  • What amenities you have
  • What kind of experience guests can expect

The primary place it gets that information?Your Google Business Profile — especially your attributes.

If you haven’t marked “Outdoor seating,” “Good for kids,” or “Vegetarian options,” Google isn’t going to guess. It’s going to recommend the restaurant that did.

In the AI era, being discoverable isn’t about saying more — it’s about structuring better.

What Are GBP Attributes, Really? (The Language of AI)

Think of GBP attributes as your restaurant’s digital ingredients list — the structured facts that help platforms understand exactly what kind of experience you offer.

They generally fall into two categories:

1. Objective attributes

These are factual, operator-controlled details like:

  • Outdoor seating
  • Delivery or curbside pickup
  • Vegan or gluten-free options
  • Live music
  • Happy hour
  • Drive-through
  • Wheelchair accessible seating

These are the clearest signals you can send to search engines about what your locations actually offer.

2. Subjective attributes

These come from customer behavior, reviews, and Google’s own data, such as:

  • “Popular for lunch”
  • “Cozy”
  • “Good for groups”
  • “Trendy”

While you can’t directly control these, they’re heavily influenced by customer experience and by whether guests find accurate information before they arrive.

When you fill out your objective attributes, you’re essentially creating a structured fact sheet for Google’s AI. While a blog post about your “summer patio vibes” is great for storytelling, the “Outdoor seating: Yes” checkbox is what actually triggers your restaurant to appear when someone filters for patio dining.

Friendly copy is for humans.Attributes are for machines.And right now, machines are doing a lot of the recommending.

Why the 20% Search Decline Actually Raises the Stakes

Let’s go back to that stat: searches per user are down nearly 20%.

This doesn’t mean fewer dining decisions are happening — it means fewer chances for your restaurant to show up during the discovery process. Instead of five searches, someone might just trust the AI-generated answer and only make one search.

In other words:There are fewer chances to be seen, and each one carries more weight.

When AI Overviews appear at the top of results, they synthesize data across multiple sources to surface the most relevant businesses instantly. If your profile is missing key attributes — even ones you offer in real life — you’re invisible in that moment.

If you run 50 locations and 10 of them have heated patios, EV charging nearby, or gender-neutral restrooms — but those boxes aren’t checked — Google can’t include you. The AI won’t guess. It’ll surface the competitor who did the work.

This isn’t just about ranking higher. It’s about being eligible to appear at all.

Complete Profiles Drive Real-World Results

Beyond AI discovery, there’s a very human reason attributes matter: guests trust complete information.

According to Google:

  • Businesses with complete profiles are 2.7x more likely to be considered reputable
  • They’re 70% more likely to attract location visits
  • And 50% more likely to lead to a purchase

For restaurants, this is huge.

If someone sees a profile missing menu links, price range, service options, or amenities, they don’t just feel under-informed — they feel uncertain. And when people are hungry, uncertainty usually means scrolling.

Complete profiles reduce friction. They set expectations. And they increase the odds that discovery turns into an actual visit.

The Multi-Unit Reality: Where Things Get Complicated

For a single-location restaurant, updating attributes is a five-minute task.

For a multi-unit brand? It’s simply not. (spoiler alert: tools like Marqii widgets can help with this.)

Attributes aren’t static. Google regularly adds new ones based on:

  • Seasonal trends (outdoor dining, holiday menus)
  • Cultural shifts (accessibility, inclusivity, sustainability)
  • Consumer behavior (curbside, mobile ordering, contactless payments)

And the real challenge?Not every location is the same.

One store offers brunch. Another doesn’t.Some locations have patios. Some don’t.Some markets support delivery. Others are pickup-only.

A blanket update doesn’t work, and inaccurate data is often worse than missing data.

If a guest drives to your restaurant because Google told them you offer curbside pickup, only to find out that the location stopped this months ago, you didn’t just lose a sale. You likely earned a frustrated review. And those reviews feed back into Google’s algorithms, reducing your chances of being recommended again.

Inconsistent data doesn’t just hurt discovery — it hurts trust.

Zero-Click Search + Restaurant Discovery = Attributes Matter More Than Ever

In traditional SEO, success meant ranking high and driving clicks.

In modern restaurant discovery, success often means:

  • Appearing in map packs
  • Showing up in AI summaries
  • Being recommended in voice search
  • Getting surfaced in “Best of” lists

And many of those experiences happen without users ever visiting your website.

Instead, Google is pulling directly from:

  • GBP categories
  • GBP attributes
  • Structured menus
  • Photos
  • Reviews
  • Business hours
  • Amenities and service options

This means your Google Business Profile isn’t just a listing anymore — it’s your primary storefront in search.

And attributes are the labels on the shelves.

How to Audit Your Attributes for 2026 (and Beyond)

If you’re managing multiple locations, here’s where to focus first.

1. The “Basics” Aren’t Basic Anymore

Start with service options and core operational info:

  • Dine-in
  • Takeout
  • Delivery
  • Curbside pickup
  • No-contact delivery
  • Reservations
  • Online ordering

As third-party delivery fees continue to rise, more brands are leaning back into first-party ordering and pickup. But if those options aren’t reflected in your GBP attributes, Google can’t surface you when searchers filter for them, and you’ll keep losing traffic to marketplaces instead of your own channels.

If you offer it, mark it.If you stopped offering it, remove it.Accuracy beats optimism every time.

2. “Vibe” and Amenities Drive Discovery

Customers aren’t just searching for food. They’re searching for experiences.

Attributes like:

  • Good for kids
  • High chairs available
  • Outdoor seating
  • Bar on-site
  • Fireplace
  • Live music
  • Sports viewing
  • Wheelchair accessible seating
  • Gender-neutral restrooms

…help Google understand the context of your restaurant, not just the cuisine.

These are often the difference between showing up in a generic search and being surfaced in:

  • “Best family-friendly restaurants near me”
  • “Quiet places to work and eat”
  • “Good spots for watching the game”
  • “Romantic restaurants with patios”

If your attributes don’t reflect the experience you actually offer, you’re opting out of those moments — even if your food is perfect for them.

3. Treat Your Menu Like Data, Not a PDF

One of the most overlooked opportunities in GBP optimization? Structured menus.

Uploading a single menu PDF or photo might look fine to humans, but it’s hard for AI to parse. That means Google can’t easily understand:

  • What dishes you serve
  • Which items are vegan or gluten-free
  • What’s popular
  • What your price range looks like

Using GBP’s menu editor to list individual items, descriptions, and prices gives Google structured, machine-readable data.

So when someone searches:

“Best birria tacos near me”

…and you’ve listed “Birria Tacos” as a menu item?Your restaurant suddenly becomes much more eligible to appear.

Same food. Same kitchen.Different data structure.Very different discovery outcome.

Why This Is Especially Critical for Multi-Unit Brands

When you’re managing dozens — or hundreds — of locations, the challenge isn’t knowing that attributes matter. It’s executing consistently.

Manual processes break down fast:

  • Location managers forget to update changes
  • Corporate teams lose visibility
  • New attributes roll out and go unnoticed
  • Seasonal offerings never get reflected
  • Old services linger long after they’re gone

The result? A patchwork digital presence that confuses both customers and search engines.

And in an AI-driven world, inconsistency isn’t neutral — it’s costly.

If Google isn’t confident in your data, it’s less likely to recommend you. If customers aren’t confident in your listings, they’re less likely to visit. And both of those outcomes compound across every location.

Structured Data = Compound Returns

Here’s the upside: when you get this right, the benefits stack.

Clean, complete, accurate attributes:

  • Improve your eligibility for AI-driven discovery
  • Increase trust and conversion from profile views
  • Reduce customer frustration
  • Support better reviews and ratings
  • Strengthen your long-term local SEO footprint

And unlike ads, these gains compound over time. The better your data, the more Google trusts it. The more Google trusts it, the more often you’re surfaced. The more often you’re surfaced, the more data you generate — and the cycle continues.

Not bad for checking a few boxes (at scale, of course).

How Marqii Helps Restaurants Stay Discoverable in the AI Era

We get it: no one got into hospitality to manage spreadsheets of amenities and menus.

For multi-unit operators, manually auditing attributes across dozens or hundreds of locations — across multiple platforms — just isn’t realistic. You’ve got kitchens to run, teams to manage, and guests to serve.

That’s exactly why Marqii exists.

Marqii was built specifically for the restaurant and hospitality industry to solve the problem of fragmented, inconsistent location data. From a single dashboard, teams can:

  • Update GBP attributes across all locations at once
  • Manage menus in structured formats (not just PDFs)
  • Keep hours, amenities, and service options accurate
  • Push updates to Google, Apple, Yelp, Facebook, and more
  • Monitor changes at scale — without logging into dozens of platforms

When Google rolls out a new attribute that impacts discovery, you don’t have to scramble. You update once in Marqii, and we make sure your data stays accurate everywhere guests are searching.

No more guessing which locations are missing key info.No more accidental mismatches between what guests expect and what they experience.Just clean, structured data — ready for both humans and machines.

The Bottom Line: Feed the Machine (and the Guests Will Follow)

The nearly 20% decline in search volume doesn’t mean digital discovery is shrinking. It means it’s getting smarter and more selective.

In a world where AI increasingly decides which restaurants get recommended, visibility isn’t about shouting louder. It’s about being clearer.

Structured data.Complete profiles.Accurate attributes.Machine-readable menus.

That’s what today’s discovery engines run on. And restaurants that treat their Google Business Profiles as living assets — not set-it-and-forget-it listings — will win more of the moments that matter.

Because when you feed the machine good data, it feeds your guests.

Ready to make sure your locations are built for AI-era discovery?

Whether you’re managing 10 stores or 1,000, Marqii helps you keep your business data accurate, complete, and ready for whatever search throws next.

Schedule a demo and see how easy multi-unit data management can actually be.

Your future customers are already searching (even if they’re not clicking). Let’s make sure they find you.