Websites
What The End of Order with Google Means for Restaurants
June 10, 2024
Google gives restaurants more control with more direct orders.
This summer, Google is making a big change to the way its users place food orders online.
As of July 1, 2024, Order with Google will redirect users to external websites. This means that customers will not be able to create food orders or submit payment through Google. Instead, customers will be prompted to select which food-ordering website they’d like to continue to: either the restaurant’s direct ordering portal, third-party sites like Grubhub, or a combination of the two, as seen here.
For restaurants with owned ordering channels, this change to Order with Google will provide even more control over their branded experiences. Restaurants will be able to specify to Google which channel is “Preferred by business,” and will also be able to edit the redirect options shown to customers.
Google made this change to align with the fact that many diners opted to order through the direct and third-party apps, which makes the redirect-only version of Order with Google a smoother way to align with customer needs. This change should mean more direct traffic and more direct revenue.
In order to fully prepare for this change to Order with Google, here are some of the impacts BentoBox anticipates coming to restaurants.
Direct ordering will see more traffic
Now that customers can no longer order directly through Google, and given that restaurants can manage the links that Google shows to customers, people placing an order will have to click through to another site. In nearly every case, we anticipate that will be the owned channel — for restaurants that have owned channels.
Direct ordering channels save restaurants big. If your restaurant does not have an owned online ordering channel, every customer who orders takeout or delivery from you — even the ones who want to order from your restaurant specifically — are forced to go through a third-party marketplace like GrubHub or Uber Eats. That costs you, the restaurant, a double-digit commission fee per order.
Read more: Dado’s Pizza Drives 5x Commission-Free Ordering with Takeout & Delivery
For the restaurants that do own their own takeout & delivery ordering, the challenge is to steer customers towards it and away from the third-party delivery apps.
SEO and website optimization matter more
The best way to ensure new customers see your owned ordering channel first is to feature it prominently on a beautiful, optimized website. And, of course, to make sure that website pops up quickly for anyone searching for it.
The second of these is what search-engine optimization (SEO) is all about: making sure that anyone who searches for your restaurant finds your website right at the top of the search results page. Many factors contribute to SEO, from the way your website is built to adhering to accessibility requirements to making sure your menu is readable text. All of it adds up to victory: your website appearing above the third-party marketplaces on Google.
Optimizing your website is actually part of SEO. Why? Because Google tracks when someone leaves your site without clicking or reading anything. But in the case of driving customers to your direct ordering channel, it is also about making it easy for website visitors to place an order.
Take, for example, the website of Chicago group Goddess and the Baker. The home page features a full-screen carousel of elegant photography that invites users to linger. For anyone looking to place an order, the next step is clear: permanently highlighted in the navigation bar are two buttons, one for catering and one for pickup & delivery. No matter where the user goes on the site, those two options are always at the top, in eye-catching bold.
Read more: How Goddess and the Baker Doubled Online Catering Revenue
Loyalty programs will bring even more customers back
With the end of Order with Google, SEO and website optimization are more important than ever to attract customers who are searching for your restaurant on Google. But you know what would be even better than that? If their habit was to head straight to your website.
Read more: How to Build a Successful Restaurant Loyalty Program
Loyalty programs can help. These programs reward customers for ordering from you and, that way, drive repeat business and build a connection with your brand. The more prominent a loyalty program is in a diner’s mind, the more often they’ll order from you. The more often they order from you, the more ingrained the habit will be to skip Google altogether and head directly to your site.
PRODUCT
Online Ordering for Restaurants
Drive more revenue with unified, branded, commission-free online ordering.
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