Google Adwords For Restaurants

Why use Google Adwords?

Google Adwords, which is a pay per click advertising channel on Google, can be a powerful tool for restaurants to connect with more users and potential customers. Typically, it’s one of the more expensive marketing channels however, it is both consistent and scalable, which can be beneficial when creating a plan designed to meet the gap between current marketing performance and KPIs.

Using a model, we can explore how the investment in a marketing channel like Google Adwords can drive revenue and reverse the decline associated with an economic downturn.

Let’s assume that the total amount of people who experience a brand’s marketing (word of mouth, email, social, SEO etc) is 50000 in 1 month and, on average, 2% are influenced enough to visit, resulting in 1000 covers.

In a downturn, reach is lowered as fewer people search on Google, make plans etc. Also, influence is lowered. Less people react to socials, emails and so on. The resulting reach and influence causes a dramatic drop in bookings.

Using this model, we can demonstrate the power of reaching more (targeted, high-intent people). 100000 x 1.2% = 1200 covers.

What is ‘The Gap’?

This is the difference between target revenue / bookings and actual revenue / bookings. We use this data to quantify the additional relevant traffic required from high-intent sources such as Google.

For example, take a look at the 2 charts below.

In chart 1, where revenue falls short of KPI, scaled marketing is required to bridge the gap.

In chart 2, we can estimate the amount of website traffic (clicks from Adwords) required to achieve revenue goals

How do Google Ads work?

Google Ads, and running them profitably, can be very complex, but in simple terms there are 3 main parts.

1) The keywords you’d like to show up for when people make a Google search. Eg. “restaurant in Albury”.

2) The ad creative, text and link

3) The landing page (on the website) that users click through to from the ad.

The ads are simply a method to bring targeted, relevant traffic to the website.

What is the customer journey?

Users make a search on Google, click on the ad and click-through to the website landing page.

Target keywords

Keywords are the phrases and search queries people type into Google, that trigger your ad. This works like a live auction. Different keywords attract different competitors, and each competitor is willing to spend different amounts to show up. If your competitors outbid you, your ad might not show up.

Bidding on the keyword “restaurant”, may sound obvious but it’s a very broad, vague search term - and savvy brands may actually be willing to spend less on vague terms (because they convert less). A keyword such as ‘best Japanese restaurant CBD’ is more specific and brands may be willing to spend more on this type of keyword (because it may convert more).

Different keywords also have different search volume. Broader keywords have higher volume, and may result in more traffic - but also spend more. Niche keywords have lower volume, get less clicks, and use less budget.

So, all keywords will have specific competition, volume, click through rate and relevance. They’ll also convert at different rates too.

Ad creative

This works differently to traditional advertising because you don’t actually create an ad. You tell Google about the brand via a series of headlines and captions, plus links to the business. Google’s AI then generates ads based on what it thinks people want to see, selecting from the headlines and captions provided.

There are 2 main placements we like to use:

1) Google Business / Maps

2) Text based ads above the organic search results.

The landing page

If a user searches on Google for “best seafood restaurant Gold Coast”, which then triggers an ad with the headline “Voted The Best Seafood Restaurant on the Gold Coast” then what should the landing page be about? This sounds obvious but the creation of keyword groups (such as seafood restaurant) should include website page creation too - this will help drive a higher conversion rate from the traffic.

Ideally, the landing page should be an extension of the ad. Generally speaking, the traffic from Google ads won’t know too much about the brand they’re clicking on so the landing page will need to nurture and engage those users quickly.

We never recommend Adwords campaigns to poor / low quality websites.

What is a keyword group?

A group of keywords which share the same intent. For example, functions, catering and restaurant bookings are 3 different keyword groups.

Can I bid on keywords that aren’t a perfect fit?

Great question - I’m pleased you asked.

Yes.

Let’s say you have a restaurant that offers South-East Asian cuisine. People don’t search for south-east Asian food, they search for Chinese, or Thai, or Vietnamese. So bidding on the more popular words will increase ad visibility. This is not the same as declaring yourself a Chinese or Thai restaurant. It’s simply the keywords that are searched for that trigger the ad.

For example bid on the keyword “Vietnamese restaurant” which triggers an ad “Enjoy the flavours of South-East Asia at XXXX | Chef’s Hat Winner 2023”

How much do we charge for Google Ads?

Month 1 - $250 + gst set up (discounted from $500 for SERV. Agency clients)

Note - we pay this fee directly to Goliath - our preferred Adwords supplier

Month 2+ 20% of monthly ad spend + gst

Note - this is the fee Goliath charge us

How much should we spend on Ads?

This will vary from one brand to another and depend on how large the gap is. Generally speaking, allow $1k + per keyword group

How can we measure success?

ROAS (return on ad spend) for restaurant bookings isn’t possible to measure. We do have alternatives - what we call soft conversions - and this is exclusive to our clients on the degustation plan as requires our highest level of capability.

ROAS for website enquiries such as functions and catering is possible to measure with some degree of accuracy, which means we can calculate cost per lead.

As always, look to covers or revenue as measurement of success, not traffic.

Here’s a real case study from a new client who started with SERV. Agency mid April 2023, whilst experiencing a sharp downturn. We recommended Adwords and immediately noticed an increase in bookings. ROAS to be an estimated 9 to 1.