Google and Filipino Restaurants

For those who don’t know I own a food blog called “Pinoy Food Critic“. I’ve been inactive for almost a year now but I started to write again a couple of weeks ago. I spent a few hours studying and analyzing the metrics and I found interesting data. Filipino restaurant owners should definitely think about investing in search engine marketing. According to my blog metrics, most of my traffic actually comes from Google. The keywords are the names of the restaurants that I write about. This means that Filipinos are actually starting to get information and feedback about restaurants online.

Here’s some data that you might find fascinating. This is a screenshot from the Analytics page of Pinoy Food Critic on how many visits I got from the following keywords on Google:

269 people actually keyed in “Brazil Brazil Restaurant Philippines” on Google and landed on my blog entry about that restaurant. These 269 people were genuinely interested in reading about this particular restaurant. If I wrote a spectacular review then the chances of them going and eating at that place might be considerably higher. If the restaurant provides good service and food then they will become repeat customers.

If I owned a restaurant, I wouldn’t hesitate investing on creating a website that’s properly optimized for search engines. I’d also follow that up with a search engine marketing campaign targeting the right keywords to drive more customers to the site and eventually have them go to the store.

By the way since we’re already on the topic let me do a quick plug on my food blog. Note that I haven’t touched it for some time now so it’s not really optimized, haha. Here are a list of the restaurants that I’ve already reviewed on Pinoy Food Critic. Just click any of the links to go to the article.

Gusi’s Restaurant, Quezon City
Hawaiian Barbecue, Tagaytay City
Leslie’s, Tagaytay City
Kimono Ken, Quezon City
Penang Hill, Greenhills, San Juan City
Sanctuario, Metrowalk, Ortigas
Sbarro’s, SM North Edsa, Quezon City
King Kebab, Katipunan, Quezon City
Claw Daddy, Shangrila
Sonya’s Garden, Tagaytay
Peri-Peri, San Juan City
Burger Avenue, Makati City
Sizzling Pepper Steak, Makati City
Pancake House, Makati City
Contis, San Juan City
Arya Persian Restaurant, San Juan City
Jozu, Quezon City
Urameshiya Little Tokyo, Makati City
Elbert’s Cheesesteak, Makati City (Rockwell)
Chewy Junior, Singapore
Heaven ‘n Eggs, Quezon City
Mister Kebab, Quezon City
Cookbook Kitchen, Mandaluyong City
Bangus, San Juan City
Vietnam Ben Thanh Night Market, Vietnam
Las Paellas Cafe, San Juan City
Sushiya, Quezon City
Brazil Brazil, Pasig City
Glora Maris, Pasig City (Podium)
Savory Chicken, San Juan City
Tong Yang, Quezon City
My Thai Kitchen, Quezon City (Eastwood Mall)
David’s Tea House, Quezon City (Tomas Morato)
Italanni’s, Quezon City (Tomas Morato)
Seafood Island, Quezon City (Eastwood)
Ravioli, Pasig City (Galleria Food Court)
Bizu, San Juan City (Promenade Greenhills)
Marina, Pasig (Metrowalk)
Mr. Kurosawa, Quezon City (Eastwood Mall)
Kimpura, San Juan City (Greenhills)
Bahay Ligaya, Quezon City (White Plains)
Maki House, Quezon City (Timog)

Happy food tripping everyone!