Guide Helps Restaurants Boost Delivery 'Discoverability' Through Search

Olo, a digital ordering and delivery platform for the restaurant industry, released a guide outlining best practices for delivery marketing to help restaurant brands capture market share among consumers searching for their brand. Based on a research study of more than 300 leading restaurant brands, the guide offers restaurant marketers and operators tangible steps to drive consumers directly to their brand and to protect revenue associated with branded search.

Olo’s Delivery Search Score (DSS) found that restaurant chains appear on average five positions down the Google results list for their own branded delivery keywords, with some brands’ destinations not even appearing on the first page. This means a loss of nearly 60 percent of potential traffic on Google, according to the latest click through rates by Search Engine Optimization (SEO) expert, Moz.

The top 300 brands researched are performing at less than 30 percent of their potential with searches for their own keywords, says Olo. "This guide is a playbook for executives to optimize search results, drive consumer traffic and strengthen their brand identity.”

Along with findings that show exactly how brands are losing share and control of potential guests to third-party marketplaces, Olo’s guide offers actionable tips for brands to take ownership and control of their brand presence.

Insights Include:

• Success starts with marketplace agreements. Restaurant marketplaces can add meaningful incremental “discovery” revenue and long-term brand value when implemented properly with smart marketplace contracts. However, too often, marketplaces are appearing ahead of brands in common searches. Look to structure third-party marketplace contracts to ensure no restaurant branded search terms are used in advertising so that customers go directly to a brand’s website to place an order. Many delivery-enabled brands have enforced that their marketplace partners do not use branded search terms in their advertising, as this cannibalizes a guest that was coming to them in the first place.
• Invest in organic and SEO content. Delivery-focused subpages or press releases often rank above a brand’s main site for delivery keywords. Organic content offers opportunities for valuable low hanging fruit that can make a major difference in getting a high rank. Blog posts and press announcements can help keep a brand at the top of web search rankings.
• Don’t neglect SEM. Deploying relevant paid ads for the right keywords is an important contributor to brand authority and moving the SEO needle. Shifting a small percentage of the marketing budget from offline marketing will yield tangible, measurable results.
• Iterate on your strategy. All restaurant brands, even those currently well-positioned, need to continue to push messaging and brand auditing. As marketplaces expand their reach and aspirations to convert more guests, this will be essential in order to win in the digital age.
• You’re the master of your own domain [name]. A well-crafted landing page, press release, or video series for your digital program often outranks competitor content. Google views your website as a much more authoritative subject on your own brand.

Click here to download Olo’s complete guide.