Google Business Profile for restaurants: the setup that brings in bookings

On Christmas Day, a family of five types "restaurants open christmas day" into Google. Your profile still shows your normal Friday hours, nobody can tell whether you're open, and they book the place down the road that said so.

A restaurant's Google Business Profile should use your real signage name, a precise address, one specific primary category, regular hours plus special hours for every holiday, a single menu link, your own booking link set as the preferred one, recent photos, and replies to reviews. Follow Google's name, address and category rules exactly, because breaking them is the documented route to a suspension. Last checked: 4 November 2026.

How does Google decide which restaurants to show?

Google names three factors on its page Tips to improve your local ranking: relevance ("how well a Business Profile matches what someone is searching for"), distance from the person searching, and prominence. You can't move your restaurant closer to the guest, so optimising a profile means working on the other two:

There is no setting that buys a higher place.

What should a restaurant's Google Business Profile include?

Every field below has a Google rule or Google help page behind it, except the two marked as common practice. Get them right in this order:

What are Google's rules for a restaurant's name, address and categories?

Google's Guidelines for representing your business on Google are short and strict.

Name. Use the real-world name. "Including unnecessary information in your business name isn't permitted", and Google warns it "could result in the suspension of your Business Profile". For restaurants that rules out:

• "Luca's Pizzeria" becoming "Luca's Pizzeria | Best Pizza in Leeds"
• "Bar Rosa" becoming "Bar Rosa Cocktails Brunch Open Late"
• "The Anchor" becoming "The Anchor - Sunday Roast - Book Now"

If the words aren't on your sign, they don't go in the name.

Address. Give the precise address. P.O. boxes and remote mailboxes aren't acceptable, and you should not create more than one page for each location.

Categories. "Use as few categories as possible." The category should complete the sentence "This business IS a", not "this business HAS a". A pub with a kitchen is "Pub" first and perhaps "Gastropub" second. It is not "Beer garden", "Sports bar" and "Live music venue" because it has those things.

Rebrands and takeovers. A minor name change may count as a rebrand if the proper nouns, services and category stay the same. A bigger change counts as a new business: "You must mark the existing Business Profile as closed" before creating a new one. If you are buying a restaurant, the previous owner has to add you and transfer ownership, so put it in the sale paperwork.

When do guests check your holiday hours?

Mostly on the day itself. Our analysis of Google Trends daily search interest (4 November 2026) looked at three holiday searches across the 2025 season:

Method: we summed Google Trends' daily index for each search over the window and took the share falling on the holiday and the day before it, and in the seven days up to and including the holiday. Trends data is sampled and relative, so a re-run gives slightly different figures. The pattern held for the UK in 2024 too (51% on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day).

The decision rule that follows:

• Set special hours for every holiday at least two weeks ahead, so they are live before the searches start. Google's special hours help says "It's a good idea to confirm your hours for official holidays," even when they match your normal hours.
• Closed for up to six days in a row: use special hours. Seven or more days, or an unknown period: Google says to mark the business temporarily closed instead.
• Kitchen closes before the bar? Add it under More hours, which Google says to set "as a subset of your primary hours". Brunch, happy hour and takeaway work the same way.

If Christmas is a big trading period for you, the Christmas bookings guide covers deposits and set menus.

How do you add a booking, menu and order link?

Google's help page on booking, ordering and menu links explains the buttons guests tap:

1. Open your Business Profile. In Google Search, choose Booking, Food ordering, or Pickup and delivery. In Google Maps, choose Edit profile, then the link type.
2. Select Add link, paste the URL and save.
3. If you have more than one booking or ordering link, use "Set preferred link" to put yours first. Google labels it "Business preferred".

The limits matter:

• Menu link: a single link. Google's guidelines add that "Menu URLs can't be direct links to third-party ordering or delivery services."
• Booking and ordering: up to 10 links per category.
• Provider links: some appear without you adding them. To remove one, go to Booking and choose Remove Provider. "Providers need to remove third-party links from your profile within 5 days of receiving a removal request."
• Turning off ordering: switching off "Accept orders on your profile" hides every ordering option and link, yours and third parties'. Practitioners reported on 28 October 2026 that some restaurants can now hide individual delivery providers too, so check your profile's ordering settings.

The menu itself. Google's menu editor help lets food and drink businesses select Edit menu, group items into sections such as starters, mains and desserts, and give each item a name, description and price. A menu photo must fit on one page, "captured in one photo". Google's experimental "Generate a menu" option builds the item list from a photo or PDF for you to review; owners on the Local Search Forum reported it failing for some weeks in mid-2026 and working when they uploaded one page at a time. Google may also transcribe your menu from your website, and you can edit wrong items or opt out. Changes can take 24 to 48 hours to appear.

Booking inside Google's AI. Since 10 April 2026, Google's AI Mode books UK restaurants by sending guests to finish the booking with the booking platforms it partners with. The post doesn't say how a restaurant gets included, so the booking link on your own profile is still the one you control. Google adds that UK searches for "when to book a table" rose 140% this year.

Which booking links should you keep?

Keep the link that costs you least for the guest who already chose you. Use this test for every booking link on your profile:

Say 40 covers a week book through a provider link that charges £2 ($2.50) per cover from its own channels (an illustrative fee, not any provider's rate):

Check your own contract. Whichever link sits at the top gets the tap. To compare flat-fee and per-cover booking software on your own covers, see our guide to restaurant reservation software.

Photos, attributes and the description

Google's photos and videos help gives the specifications:

• Photos: JPG or PNG, between 10 KB and 5 MB, 720 by 720 pixels recommended, 250 by 250 minimum. "The photo should be in focus and well lit", with no heavy filters, and should "represent reality".
• Videos: up to 30 seconds, up to 75 MB, 720p or higher.
• Cover photo: if yours is low quality, Google may show a guest's photo instead.
• Exterior: Google says it helps guests recognise you when they arrive. It also helps if you ever verify by video.

Beyond that, it's common practice to show the room set and empty, five to ten signature dishes that are on the current menu, and the team if they're happy to be shown.

Attributes. Google's edit your profile help says "You can edit certain factual attributes, like outdoor seating." Subjective ones, such as being popular with locals, "rely on the opinions of Google users". Check the factual ones each season.

Description. Google's guidelines say "No links of any type are allowed" and it shouldn't focus on promotions, prices or sales. Write two or three plain sentences: cuisine, style, neighbourhood, what you're known for.

Your website. Keep it saying the same thing. Google Search Central's local business structured data lets your web developer mark up your name, address, hours, servesCuisine and menu URL. It doesn't edit your profile, but it stops your site and profile contradicting each other.

Can editing your profile cause a suspension?

Google checks every edit. Its help says "We review your changes before we update them live on your profile", and that changing your name after verification "might" mean verifying again. Google's 2025 Maps safety report (16 April 2026) says it blocked 79 million inaccurate or unverified edits and removed over 13 million fake Business Profiles that year. From April 2026, verified and active owners also get email alerts to review important edits before they go live, so keep the owner's email monitored.

During postcard verification, Google's verification help says that if you change your name, address or category while waiting, "the code we sent you won't work". Practitioners go further and advise one core change at a time, with evidence ready. That is practitioner advice, not Google policy.

If your profile is already suspended, see Google Business Profile suspended. If you're setting up a new one, start with verification.

The 20-point checklist

Copy this and work through it once a quarter, and two weeks before every holiday.

GOOGLE BUSINESS PROFILE CHECK: [restaurant], [date]

Identity (Google guidelines)
[ ] 1. Name matches the sign exactly: no keywords, taglines or hours
[ ] 2. Precise street address, not a P.O. box
[ ] 3. One profile per location, no duplicates
[ ] 4. Primary category is the most specific one that fits
[ ] 5. Few secondary categories, each completing "This business IS a..."

Hours (Google Help)
[ ] 6. Regular hours match the door
[ ] 7. Special hours set for every holiday in the next 3 months,
       including days you keep normal hours
[ ] 8. More hours set for kitchen, brunch or takeaway, inside main hours
[ ] 9. Closures of 7+ days marked temporarily closed, not special hours

Links and menu (Google Help)
[ ] 10. Your own booking page added and set as preferred
[ ] 11. Provider links you don't want removed
[ ] 12. Menu link goes to your own menu page, not a delivery app
[ ] 13. Menu editor items and prices match the current menu
[ ] 14. Ordering links checked, or ordering switched off

Content (Google Help unless marked)
[ ] 15. Description has no links or offers
[ ] 16. Exterior photo in daylight; photos JPG/PNG, 720x720 or larger
[ ] 17. Dish photos match the current menu (common practice)
[ ] 18. Factual attributes checked: seating, access, groups, payments

Reviews
[ ] 19. Every review from the last 30 days has a reply
[ ] 20. Review link or QR code on the bill or receipt

For points 19 and 20, see how to respond to negative reviews and how to get more Google reviews.

Can TablePort handle this for you?

TablePort handles reviews in the app, and our team can keep the profile current:

1. Connect your Google Business Profile and link each profile to the matching location. Reviews for every site arrive in one inbox, beside your bookings and orders.
2. Get alerts for 1 to 3 star reviews, sent to the owners and managers you choose, and reply from the inbox, writing your own reply or editing an AI draft before it posts.
3. Add TablePort as a manager when you connect, then tell our team what has changed. We update your hours, holiday hours, photos, description and booking, menu and order links on Google, and confirm when they are live.

The honest limit: the app itself writes only review replies. Profile changes are made by our team when you ask, not synced automatically, and we don't publish Google posts. See the Google reviews page.