8 Restaurant Review Sites that Influence Local SEO

Restaurant review sites have become increasingly vital for food business owners. A good online reputation can make or break your restaurant business.

Consumers tend to prioritize restaurants with positive reviews over those with more negative reviews.

Also, higher ratings help search engines determine the credibility and popularity of your food service, which boosts local SEO.

Therefore, you should leverage the power of restaurant review platforms to boost your business credibility in the eyes of search engines and people.

In this article, I will list the top restaurant review sites that can help restaurant owners attract more customers.

Why Should Owners Monitor Restaurant Review Sites? 

Online review platforms are highly effective for generating leads for restaurants, especially when there are numerous positive reviews. 

Here are the top reasons why review sites are useful for restaurants:

Decision-Making for Diners

92% of diners read restaurant reviews before they visit a restaurant. In addition to that statistic, 43% of people avoid going to eateries if the rating is below 3 to 3.5 stars.

Food business ratings on peer-review sites are an important consideration influencing a customer’s dining decision. Highly-rated restaurants with positive dining experiences can persuade others to visit your food joint or order online.

Restaurant Discovery

Review sites are being visited by millions of customers to discover new restaurants. An active and engaged profile on restaurant review sites can attract more customers.

Higher ratings and rankings on food review platforms are more important in locations with high competition. It also helps position your restaurant in niche markets and cuisines.

Valuable Customer Insights

Customer reviews and ratings provide valuable feedback on food quality, service, and ambiance.

For a restaurant owner, these insights help identify areas for improvement. You can improve your food quality and customer service by looking at the reviews.

Boosts Off-Page SEO

Review platforms for dining establishments are also great for attracting citations and backlinks, which boosts your SEO. Positive star ratings and reviews improve local search rankings and enhance your restaurant's visibility for ‘near me’ searches.

They also help you to drive relevant referral traffic.

Marketing Plan Integration

Reviews and ratings can be leveraged within a restaurant’s marketing strategy to highlight strengths and address areas of improvement. They provide content for social media promotion and can be used to showcase customer satisfaction and testimonials.

Such an integration ensures a cohesive brand message and amplifies positive customer experiences.

Best Restaurant Review Sites 

Here are the most-used restaurant review sites where you should have well-optimized profiles to boost your local SEO:

Google Business Profile

Google Business Profile is a tool for business owners to claim a free listing on Google Search and Maps.

With a well-managed Business Profile, restaurant owners can manage their business information and interact with customers. You can add your business on Google Maps by creating a profile.

Whenever someone searches for a restaurant online in your area, Google picks the top 3 restaurants based on the searcher's proximity, query relevance, prominence, and customer ratings.

It is commonly known as the Google-3 pack.

As a food business owner, it is important that your GBP listing shows up in the top three positions for relevant search terms.

Once your prospective customers find your business, they look at the reviews. A high number of positive restaurant reviews leads to increased business credibility, resulting in more online orders and table reservations.

The quality and quantity of reviews also play an important role in your business’s ability to show in the Google-3 pack. Hence, you should acquire lots of customer feedback and reviews for your Google Business Profile.

Seeing as Google is one of the most popular platforms to find restaurants, it's important that restaurant owners have a Google review management strategy in place. Part of such a strategy, entails responding to reviews (both positive and negative).

With our Google Review Management software you can easily monitor and respond to all your reviews in one handy dashboard.

This tool is especially useful for restaurants that have multiple Google listings and locations.

Yelp

Over 2.4 million people visit Yelp daily to find and compare restaurants and other businesses.

You can create a free business listing on the platform. A complete business profile can help people find and rate your restaurant on Yelp. You can also respond to reviews and messages as soon as they come in.

High Yelp ratings increase customer trust as popular restaurants have more ratings and positive reviews. Yelp also offers a guest manager feature where you can join 11,000+ restaurants managing millions of reservations.

TripAdvisor

Tripadvisor is another popular restaurant review site where millions of travelers find the best places to eat. More than 4.3 million restaurants are listed on the platform, from street food to fine dining. 

Begin by claiming your free listing dedicated to your restaurant.

It contains essential information such as popularity ranking, traveler ratings, reviews, and photos.

TripAdvisor ratings matter because they heavily influence a traveler's decision to book a restaurant, acting as a crucial source of peer-reviewed information.

It is a "report card" for businesses based on real guest experiences. A higher rating on TripAdvisor leads to increased visibility and more bookings for a food business.

OpenTable

OpenTable lets restaurants of all sizes add a business listing on their platform. Customers can review their business and share their experiences. And the platform serves more than 60,000 restaurants worldwide.

Since 1998, the OpenTable diner network has helped diners find the best restaurants near their location to more than 136 million visitors globally.

You can fill out this form to list your restaurant and connect to diners to maximize revenue and repeat business.

OpenTable reviews are important because they provide credible feedback from verified diners who have eaten at a restaurant.

Visitors can get insights into food quality, service, and ambiance. Having your restaurant verified with many positive reviews lets you reach people actively searching for dining options on the platform.

Zomato

Zomato is one of the most popular restaurant review sites in India. They also offer curated lists of top restaurants, cafes, pubs, and bars, based on trends.

The platform has around 80 million monthly active users and over 1.4 million restaurant profiles. You can partner with Zomato and list your business. The platform charges a 0% commission for the first month.

Zagat

Zagat is a restaurant rating and review system based on public surveys, where diners score restaurants on a 30-point scale across three categories: Food, Decor, and Service.

The breakdown is:

• 26-30: Extraordinary to Perfection
• 20-25: Very Good to Excellent
• 16-19: Good to Very Good
• 10-15: Fair to Good
• 0-9: Poor to Fair

Founded in 1979 by Tim and Nina Zagat, the system provides relative ratings within specific regions, covering cities like New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, and more. 

Originally a print guide, Zagat has grown into a widely recognized brand offering insights into dining, hotels, nightlife, and entertainment. Its crowdsourced approach makes it a democratic alternative to critic-driven reviews.

Zagat is now part of Chase Dining after JPMorgan Chase acquired The Infatuation. Now, Zagat has been integrated into Chase's offerings, offering restaurant recommendations for Chase cardholders.

Also, the Zagat Survey for New York City restaurants was reintroduced in November 2023, marking its return as part of Chase Dining.

HappyCow

HappyCow lists vegan-friendly restaurants, hotels, homes, resorts, and B&Bs. To claim your listing on HappyCow, type your business name into their search bar.

Now select ‘claim this business’.

Claiming your business offers access to management and data tools to manage customer reviews and keep your listing up-to-date. You can add restaurant pictures and respond to customers, all from your Owner's Dashboard. 

The platform also notifies you when your listing receives a new review.

HotFrog

Hotfrog is the United State’s top local business directory where users can find information about restaurants.

Customers can leave reviews about their experiences, essentially acting as a platform for customers to discover restaurants and share their feedback about the service and food quality. It allows restaurants to showcase their details and build credibility through positive reviews from customers.

You can add a business on Hotfrog by visiting this link. It is important to keep your profile up-to-date. 

The platform lets you promote your restaurant to a huge online audience. All their listings are owner-verified. After verification, you can add images, a logo, opening hours, and more to your profile.

Facebook

With over 3 billion monthly active users, Facebook is one of the prime channels for promoting your restaurant. By creating a Facebook page, you can manage all aspects of your business to keep customers updated.

Facebook lets you publish and promote your food-related content. You can connect people with your products and deliver exceptional customer service experiences.

Customers can like and follow your restaurant’s page on Facebook.

You can share posts with potential diners and customers to acquire more likes.

What is the Most Popular Restaurant Review Site? 

The most popular restaurant review site is Google My Business. 90% of internet searches happen on Google. On average, a Google Business Profile attracts 33 clicks monthly.

And the great news is you can list your food business on the platform even if you do not have a physical address. 

Conclusion 

Collecting positive reviews and ratings enhances customer trust, while negative ratings discourage buyers and diners from ordering from the food joint.

Star ratings are a great way to find out what other customers think about your restaurant. By creating a complete profile on the best restaurant review sites, you can ensure your establishment is well-liked by diners in your area.

Maintaining proper reviews is also important to improve your SEO. Restaurant review platforms help you get more local citations and backlinks to increase your local Google Maps rankings.

Lastly, reviews also help you gather actionable customer feedback and reach a wider base of potential customers, Including culinary bloggers, professionals in the restaurant sector, and expert food reviewers.