Google Business Profile for London Restaurants

The Google Business Profile is the most important free marketing asset a London restaurant has. It determines whether you appear in the local map pack when someone searches "Italian Soho" or "best Sunday lunch Marylebone". It hosts the photos, reviews, hours, and booking links that diners see before they ever click through to your website. And the difference between a properly set up profile and a poorly set up one is the difference between a busy restaurant and an empty one.

This post is a field-by-field walkthrough of how to set up and run a Google Business Profile for a London restaurant. Save it, work through it, and your local rankings will move within weeks.

Verification first

Before anything else, claim the listing if you have not already. Search your restaurant on Google. If a Business Profile appears that you do not control, click "Own this business?" and follow the verification process. This usually involves a postcard sent to the venue with a verification code, but Google increasingly verifies via video call for restaurants in major cities.

Verification can take 5 to 14 days. Start the process today. Nothing else in this guide matters until you control the profile.

Business name

Use your restaurant's exact trading name. Do not add keywords like "Italian Restaurant Soho" to the name. Google penalises this and may suspend the listing. The name field is for the name. If your restaurant is "The Crown", that is what goes in the field, not "The Crown Italian Restaurant in Soho".

If your restaurant has multiple locations, each location needs its own Business Profile with the location specified in the name only if it is part of the official trading name (for example "Aragawa Mayfair" if that is the registered name).

Categories: pick the most specific primary

This is the field most restaurants get wrong. The primary category has the strongest influence on which searches you appear for.

Pick the most specific primary category that fits. Not "Restaurant". Not "Cafe". Use "Italian Restaurant", "Sushi Restaurant", "Tapas Bar", "Steakhouse", "Vegan Restaurant", "Fine Dining Restaurant", "Gastropub". The full list runs to dozens of options.

Then add secondary categories for everything else that applies. A restaurant that serves brunch, has a bar, and offers private dining should have all three as secondary categories. The primary category drives the main ranking. The secondaries widen the searches you appear for.

Address and service area

For a restaurant, the physical address is the address. No tricks. Use the exact address as it appears on your business registration. The format Google expects for a London restaurant is: street number, street name, locality, post town, postcode. Get this right because every citation across the web needs to match it.

Restaurants do not have a "service area" in the way that a tradesperson does. Leave the service area field empty unless you also offer private catering or events at off-site locations.

Hours, including the awkward ones

Set your operating hours accurately. The hours fields drive whether the listing appears as "Open" or "Closed" in the map pack, which significantly affects clicks.

The fields most restaurants forget to set: special hours for bank holidays, planned closures (closed for refurbishment, closed for staff training, closed Christmas Day to New Year), and split-service hours (closed between lunch and dinner). Use the "More hours" feature to set service-specific hours: Brunch, Lunch, Dinner, Late-night, Bar, Drive-through if relevant.

A restaurant with accurate split-service hours appears in more relevant searches. A diner searching at 4pm on a Saturday looking for somewhere open will not see you if you are showing as "open all day" but actually closed between services.

Phone number and website

One phone number per listing. Use your direct restaurant line, not a reservation aggregator number. Use the same number across every directory and your own website. Inconsistency between sources is a ranking signal Google penalises.

The website field should point to your homepage. If you have a dedicated reservations page, set that as the appointment URL in addition to the main website link. The reservations URL drives the "Reserve" button that appears in some search displays and converts at high rates.

Photos: at least 50 to start

Photos drive both ranking and click-through rate. The Business Profile will display a primary photo at the top of search results in some layouts, and a photo carousel in others.

Upload at least 50 photos before you consider the profile launch-ready. The categories Google expects are: exterior (the front of the venue), interior (dining room, bar, private dining), food (signature dishes, breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner courses), team (chef, front-of-house), and ambiance (the room at peak service, the bar, lighting at evening).

Use real photos, not stock. Photograph in good light. Wide-angle interior shots tend to outperform close-ups. Food photos should show the dish in context (on the table, in the dining room) more often than isolated against a black background.

Add new photos at least monthly. Google rewards profiles with regular new visual content.

Posts: weekly is the minimum

The Posts feature on Google Business Profile is under-used by London restaurants. It is one of the strongest ranking signals available and one of the only ways to keep the listing fresh in the algorithm's eyes.

Post weekly at minimum. Each post should feature one specific thing: a new dish, a chef profile, a special menu, an event, a recent review, a press mention. Posts expire after 7 days unless they are flagged as events or offers, which is fine. The act of posting is what matters.

A post template that works: a single high-quality photo, a 100 to 200 word caption that tells a small story, and a clear call to action button (Book, Order, Learn More) linking to the relevant page on your website.

Reviews: structured collection

Reviews are the single biggest external ranking factor and the single biggest conversion driver for the listing. The signals that matter are review count, average rating, recency, and review velocity (rate of new reviews coming in).

Build a review collection process. After every visit, the booker receives an email or SMS with a one-click link to leave a Google review. Most reservation systems can be configured to send this automatically. Aim for 4 to 8 new reviews per month, sustained.

Reply to every review within 48 hours. Five-star: brief, warm, by first name. Three to four-star: acknowledge the feedback, invite back. One to two-star: measured, professional, take it private with an offer to discuss. Replies are public and future patrons read them.

Q&A and Menu

The Q&A section gets ignored by most restaurants, which is a missed opportunity. Add the most common questions yourself with clear answers: parking, dietary accommodations, dress code, kid-friendliness, accepts walk-ins, BYOB policy. This builds out the listing and reduces friction at booking time.

Upload your menu via the menu link feature. If your menu changes seasonally, update it accordingly. Menu information appears in search results in some layouts and influences whether diners click through.

A 30-day setup plan

Day 1: claim and verify the listing if not already done. Day 2 to 7: complete every field exhaustively, upload 50 photos, set up the menu link. Week 2: write and post the first weekly Business Profile post. Week 3: set up the automated review request system. Week 4: write the FAQ Q&A and audit citations across 10 major directories.

By month two, the profile is generating noticeable insights data and bookings. By month three, ranking movement is visible.

If you would like help running this, Byter's hospitality marketing service audits and runs Google Business Profiles for London restaurants as part of full-funnel SEO programmes.

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