How to Choose the Right SEO Keywords for Your Restaurant

Nadine De La Fuente -

A guest searching "best patio for brunch near me" tonight has no idea your restaurant exists yet. Whether they find out depends on the words sitting in your listings and review replies right now. 83% of diners begin their restaurant discovery online, and most of that discovery starts with a search bar, not a walk down Main Street.

Which means the keywords you choose for your listings, and the ones you use when you reply to reviews, matter as much as what's on the menu. We get it: "just add the right keywords" is easy to say and hard to actually do. Where do those words even come from? Here's how to find them, no guessing required.

Step 1: Brainstorm what you want to be found for

Nobody knows your business better than you. Before you touch a single tool, sit down and answer one question: what do you want to be known for?

If your chicken caesar wrap has a cult following, that's not a fun fact. That's your brand. Say it like you mean it. Work phrases like "home of the best chicken caesar wrap in [your city]" or "known for [your city]'s best chicken caesar wrap" directly into your listing descriptions, your Google Business Profile, your About section — anywhere a guest is reading about you before they've decided to visit.

This same instinct applies to your review responses. If you're running a seasonal menu, a weekend special, or a limited-time item you're trying to get more attention on, review replies are a low-lift place to say so. A guest who mentions their meal gives you a natural opening: "So glad you got to try our fall squash ravioli before it's gone!" does double duty — it's a warm reply, and it's a keyword doing quiet SEO work in the background.

Step 2: Use tools like Marqii to see what guests already love about you

Brainstorming tells you what you want to be found for. Your reviews tell you what guests are already finding you for — and that's just as valuable.

Pull up your reviews and run them through sentiment analysis (Marqii's Review Analytics lets you search keyword trends and see sentiment scores across every location). Look for the phrases that keep showing up. If guest after guest is raving about how big your patio is, that's not a coincidence — that's a keyword. Add "big patio" to your listings, work it into your descriptions, and use it in review replies when it's relevant ("Thanks for spending the afternoon on our big patio with us!").

The beauty of this step: guests are handing you their exact search language for free. You just have to be listening.

Step 3: Use AI tools like Claude to analyze what your competitors are known for

Once you know what you want to own and what guests already associate with you, look sideways. Ask an AI tool like Claude to review a handful of nearby competitors — their Google listings, their review themes, their most-repeated guest language — and summarize what each one is known for.

This does two things. First, it shows you gaps: if three competitors are all "known for their patio" and nobody's claiming "best happy hour," that's an opening. Second, it sanity-checks your own brainstorm from Step 1 — if you think you're known for something no guest or competitor comparison backs up, that's worth a second look before you build a keyword strategy around it.

You don't need a paid tool for this one. Start typing your own category into Google — "best tacos in [city]" — and look at what autocomplete suggests, plus the "People also ask" box underneath. That's Google showing you, in real guest language, what people are actually searching for in your area.

Your Google Business Profile Insights also has a search terms report buried in it, showing the exact phrases guests used to find your listing. If you've never looked at it, it's worth five minutes — it often surfaces keywords you'd never have brainstormed on your own.

Step 5: Ask your team

Your front-of-house team, your regulars — they hear how guests actually talk about your food and your vibe every single shift. That language is often sharper and more honest than anything in your own internal branding. Ask your front-of-house team: what do guests say when they walk in? What do they rave about on their way out? You might find your best keyword was sitting on your floor the whole time.

Putting your keywords to work

Once you've got a working list, spread it across two places: your listings (menu descriptions, Google Business Profile attributes, About sections, photo captions) and your review responses, where a keyword can slide naturally into a genuine reply without ever reading like it was stuffed in for SEO's sake.

Keywords aren't homework you do once and forget. They're how a guest who's never heard of you decides, in the two seconds it takes to skim a search result, that you're the answer to what they're craving tonight.

If keeping track of guest sentiment, review replies, and listing accuracy across every location sounds like a lot to manage on top of actually running the restaurant — that's a conversation worth having with us.