I love doing restaurant websites because they have a built in easily organized content that is super great for search engines and customers. Unfortunately, as easy as it is to do it right, it’s just as easy to get it wrong and there’s one thing that makes me absolutely crazy and it’s the menu.
When I’m looking for a place to eat, the thing I loathe is having to look through a PDF copy of the menu that someone has uploaded to the website. I understand the reasoning behind it (ease of updating), but a little extra effort would return a lot of benefits and that begins with putting your menu in HTML on your site like the rest of the content and not stuffing it in a PDF.
I know well written articles come with three easy to remember points, but I’ve only got two here, so this should be easy to remember:
Mobile Friendly
If your website is already built to view on mobile, why force a PDF copy of your menu on them to have to pinch and swipe around to see if you’ve got something they want? Organizing your content into categories and presenting it in an easy to scroll through format makes life easier for them. Most mobile browsers have a “search in page” function so they can easily find the food they’re craving.
Search Engine Friendly
PDF’s aren’t the best for search engines though they do index them. Many menus I end up seeing are just large images pasted into a PDF and that doesn’t do anything for your ranking. Using correct text formatting allows you to put the emphasis on keyword categories like “Burgers” and also alerts the search engines as to what you serve.
Final Thoughts
So, I know you’re thinking that you don’t have time for this and it’s too much trouble. Keeping up with the social media is sucking up your time and you’ve got to be a therapist for your waitstaff. My only response to that is we make time for what we prioritize. If you’re struggling with customers finding you, this is a easy, simple way to give yourself a search engine boost. You already have the menu organized, it’s just really a matter of getting it translated to the HTML. If you use WordPress, then there’s a easy way to use custom post types to add and edit your menu without having to struggle with the code.
As always, I’m here to help if you need it.