When someone standing near your venue types "restaurants near me" or "coffee open now" into their phone, Google decides in a fraction of a second whether they see your place or the one across the road. That decision runs almost entirely off your Google Business Profile — the free listing that carries your name, hours, photos, reviews and map pin. Get it right and you land in the map pack, the box of three businesses that sits above the ordinary results. Get it wrong, or leave it half-finished like most independents do, and you're invisible to the person already on your street with money in their pocket.
This is a tick-box checklist you can work through in an afternoon. It's built for the Australian owner who keeps asking "why isn't my restaurant showing up on Google?" — and it covers the two things almost no other guide does: how the Australian Consumer Law limits what you can and can't do to earn reviews, and what to do when someone tries the review-extortion racket on you.
Key takeaways
- The map pack is where the walk-in traffic is. Your profile decides whether nearby diners find you at the exact moment they're choosing where to eat, and a complete, accurate listing beats a half-finished one every time.
- Your primary category is the quiet map-pack killer. Pick the most specific, accurate one; a wrong or generic category is one of the most common reasons a real, open venue never shows up.
- You cannot buy your way to five stars. Under Australian Consumer Law, an incentive for a review must be "applied regardless of whether the reviewer leaves a positive or negative review" and be "clearly disclosed" (ACCC) — so offering a discount for a good review is illegal.
- Never pay a review extortionist. If someone floods you with one-star reviews and demands money to stop, Google's advice is "do not engage with or pay," gather evidence, and use the merchant extortion report form (Google).
- Your "Place an order" link can keep the commission. Since Menulog left Australia, point it at Uber Eats, DoorDash, or — better for your margin — your own ordering page.
Why your Business Profile is your busiest front door
Your profile does more foot-traffic work than your website, your Instagram and your printed sign combined, because it appears at the exact moment someone is deciding where to eat. Across markets, 87% of consumers used Google to find and evaluate a local business and 74% check two or more review sites before deciding (BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey, 2025).
A quick honesty note on that figure: BrightLocal's survey is a US sample of just over a thousand adults, so treat the exact percentages as directional rather than a precise Australian number — there's no clean local equivalent. The behaviour they describe, though, is exactly what happens outside your place on a Friday night: phone in hand, deciding on the spot. The upside is that this is all free, mostly a one-time setup with light monthly upkeep. Work down the checklist.
Claim and verify your profile
- [ ] Search your venue's name on Google and see what already exists. Google often auto-generates a listing from other sources, so there may be one you've never touched.
- [ ] Claim it (or create it) at google.com/business. Use an email you'll keep — not a former manager's or the nephew's.
- [ ] Verify ownership. Google verifies by video, phone, postcard or email depending on the business. Postcard verification to an Australian address can take a week or two, so start this early.
- [ ] Remove duplicate listings. If you've moved, rebranded or had a listing auto-created, duplicates split your reviews and confuse the ranking. Report them through the profile so Google merges them.
- [ ] Check who has access. Add yourself as the primary owner and strip out any old agency, web developer or ex-staff access. Being locked out of your own listing is the single most common way owners lose control of it.
Pick the right primary category (the quiet map-pack killer)
The primary category is one of the strongest signals Google uses to decide which searches you show up for. Get it wrong and you can be perfectly set up in every other way and still never appear.
- [ ] Set the most accurate primary category — "Cafe," "Italian restaurant," "Fish and chips takeaway," "Thai restaurant," whichever fits best. Be specific, not generic; "Restaurant" alone leaves money on the table.
- [ ] Add secondary categories for the other things you genuinely do — "Breakfast restaurant," "Coffee shop," "Bar," "Pizza delivery."
- [ ] Don't over-categorise. Only add categories that truly describe your business. Piling on categories you don't really serve is against Google's guidelines and can put your listing at risk of suspension.
- [ ] Recheck after any menu or format change. Turned the back room into a wine bar? Dropped the dinner service? Update the categories so they still match reality.
Get your address, service area and map pin right
An incomplete or misplaced address quietly costs you covers, because a customer who can't find you doesn't ring to complain — they just go somewhere else.
- [ ] Enter your full street address exactly as it appears officially, and keep the same name, address and phone number (NAP) consistent everywhere else online.
- [ ] Check where the pin actually sits. Open your listing in Google Maps, zoom to street level, and confirm the marker lands on your front door. If it's off, drag it to the right spot in the profile editor.
- [ ] Set a realistic service area if you deliver — the suburbs you actually cover. Don't list an entire state or a giant radius you'll never serve; over-broad service areas are a known trigger for problems with the listing.
- [ ] Add a local phone number customers can ring, not a call-centre line.
- [ ] Re-check the pin a week later. Edits are reviewed and can revert; confirm yours stuck.
Set your service options and attributes honestly
Here's the part most guides skip. The dine-in, takeaway and delivery options you tick, and the attributes you claim, are representations to customers — and under Australian Consumer Law it's misleading to advertise something you don't actually offer. Accurate is not just good manners; it's the safe, compliant way to fill in these fields.
- [ ] Turn on only the service options that are true — dine-in, takeaway, delivery, kerbside pickup. If you stopped doing dinner delivery, switch it off.
- [ ] Set accurate attributes — outdoor seating, wheelchair accessible, serves vegetarian or vegan, licensed, dog friendly, free Wi-Fi. These feed the filters diners use to shortlist.
- [ ] Keep them current. An attribute that was true last year but isn't now (say, "accepts reservations" after you went walk-ins-only) is exactly the kind of small inaccuracy that annoys customers and misrepresents your venue.
Add your menu, prices and hours
- [ ] Use the menu editor to add your dishes, or link to your menu, and set prices in A$ including GST — the price customers actually pay.
- [ ] Set a price band so diners can gauge whether you fit their budget before they arrive.
- [ ] Get your opening hours right, including split hours if you close between lunch and dinner.
- [ ] Set public holiday hours in advance — Australia Day, Anzac Day, Easter, Christmas and your state's public holidays. Nothing burns goodwill faster than a "we're open" listing on a day you're shut, and it's worse if you're charging a public-holiday surcharge and the hours are wrong.
Add a "Place an order" link (and keep the commission)
Google lets you add ordering links to your profile — both third-party providers and a custom link of your own. In Google's words, "Custom links make it easy for customers to order from your business or restaurant … that direct customers to other web pages where they can place orders" (Google), and you can set pickup and delivery preferences separately.
Which link you choose matters for your margin. Since Menulog ceased its Australian business on 26 November 2025 (University of Sydney), your realistic options are Uber Eats, DoorDash, or your own ordering page.
- [ ] Add an ordering link that suits you. Every order through an aggregator carries the commission Uber Eats and DoorDash charge — money off every plate.
- [ ] Point it at a channel you own where you can. A "Place an order" link to your own site means the order, and the customer's details, stay yours. If you don't have an ordering page yet — or you're locked out of an old one — this is the moment to sort it; a tool like DineHere turns a menu photo into a live ordering site, but a tidy page from any source does the job. See our guide to restaurant online ordering in Australia.
- [ ] Add booking links too if you take reservations, so bookings come through a channel you control.
Add photos and keep them fresh
Listings with photos get more clicks and more people walking through the door. Businesses with photos "receive 42% more requests for driving directions … and 35% more clicks through to their websites than businesses that don't have photos" (Google, via BrightLocal, 2019). That study is a few years old now, so treat the exact numbers as a guide, but the direction is obvious: diners want to see the food and the room before they commit.
- [ ] Upload a strong exterior shot so people recognise your frontage from the footpath.
- [ ] Add interior photos that show the real atmosphere, not a staged, stock-looking scene.
- [ ] Add ten or more food photos of your actual, current dishes.
- [ ] Set a logo and a cover photo.
- [ ] Refresh photos every month or two. New photos signal an active, open venue — a dead gallery reads as a place that might have closed.
Earn reviews the legal way
Reviews aren't separate from your ranking — they're part of it, and they're what turns a search into a booking. But how you get them is regulated, and this trips up well-meaning owners constantly. It is against the law "for a business to create fake or misleading reviews or to arrange for others to create fake or misleading reviews" (ACCC).
Incentivised reviews are allowed, but only under two conditions: the incentive must be "applied regardless of whether the reviewer leaves a positive or negative review" and must be "clearly disclosed so consumers know the review was incentivised." In plain terms: you may run a "leave us a review and go in the draw" promotion open to everyone, but you may not offer a discount or a free coffee in exchange for a positive one.
This is enforced. In March 2026 the ACCC found that PhotobookShop had failed to disclose incentivised reviews on 107 occasions and had edited negative comments out of an influencer's review; the company paid A$39,600 in penalties across two infringement notices (ACCC, 2026). And this isn't a niche concern: when the ACCC swept 137 businesses in its review of online reviews and testimonials, 37% raised concerns, with food and restaurants among the sectors examined (ACCC, December 2023).
- [ ] Ask happy customers to review you the honest way. A "find us on Google" line on the receipt, or a QR code at the till, is plenty — no strings, no reward for a five-star rating.
- [ ] If you run any review promotion, disclose it and open it to all reviewers, positive or negative.
- [ ] Reply to every review, good and bad, in a calm and consistent voice. A measured reply is read by far more people than the one who complained.
- [ ] Watch the Q&A section. Anyone can ask, and anyone can answer — including with wrong information. Answer the common ones (parking, dietary options, bookings) yourself before someone else answers them badly.
Handle fake reviews and extortion
Australian venues are being targeted by a review-extortion racket: a burst of one-star reviews appears, then a message demands payment to make them stop. The rule is simple — never pay. Google's own guidance is to "not engage with or pay the malicious individuals," because "this can encourage further attempts and doesn't guarantee the removal of reviews," and instead to gather evidence and use the merchant extortion report form (Google).
- [ ] Don't pay, and don't reply in anger. Screenshot everything — the reviews, the timestamps, and any message demanding money.
- [ ] Report the coordinated attack and the extortion demand through Google's merchant extortion report form.
- [ ] Flag individual fake reviews for removal as well. For the full playbook on getting a bogus review taken down, see can you remove a fake Google review in Australia.
Keep it alive (the monthly ten minutes)
A profile you set once and forget slowly slips. Put ten minutes in the diary once a month:
- [ ] Post an update — a special, a new dish, an event. Google Posts show right on your listing.
- [ ] Confirm your hours and set any upcoming public holiday hours.
- [ ] Reply to new reviews and questions.
- [ ] Add a few fresh photos.
- [ ] Re-check the map pin hasn't reverted.
- [ ] Scan your insights to see which search terms brought people in, and how many called or asked for directions.
Do that, and your listing stays ahead of the half-abandoned profiles most of your competitors are running.
Frequently asked questions
Why isn't my restaurant showing up on Google Maps?
The usual causes are an unclaimed or unverified profile, a missing or wrong primary category, an incomplete listing, or a pin in the wrong place. Work through the claim, verify and complete steps above. If the listing is brand new, it can also take a little time for a freshly verified profile to appear.
Is a Google Business Profile free?
Yes. Creating, verifying and managing your Business Profile is completely free. The only cost is the time to set it up and the ten minutes a month to keep it current.
Can I offer a discount for a good review?
No. Under Australian Consumer Law an incentive must be offered regardless of whether the review is positive or negative, and it must be clearly disclosed. Offering a reward specifically for a positive review is illegal, and the ACCC does enforce it.
Someone is leaving fake one-star reviews and demanding money. What do I do?
Do not pay and do not engage. Screenshot the reviews and the demand, then report the coordinated attack through Google's merchant extortion report form. Paying encourages more attempts and doesn't guarantee removal.
What's the single most important field?
Your primary category, closely followed by an accurate name, address with a correct pin, and hours. The category tells Google what you are; the rest tells it you're a real, open, findable venue.
How long does verification take in Australia?
It depends on the method Google offers — video or phone can be quick, while postcard verification to an Australian address can take a week or two. Start it early so a slow postcard doesn't hold you up.
How many photos should a restaurant add?
Add at least a strong exterior shot, several interior photos and ten or more current food photos, then refresh them every month or two so the listing looks active.
Do reviews affect my Google ranking?
Review quantity, rating and recency are among the factors Google weighs for local ranking, and reviews strongly influence whether searchers choose you — so they matter for both being found and being picked.
Can I add an online ordering link to my profile?
Yes. Google lets you add third-party providers and a custom ordering link, with separate pickup and delivery settings. Since Menulog closed in Australia, point it at Uber Eats, DoorDash, or your own ordering page to keep the commission.
How often should I update my Business Profile?
Do a ten-minute check once a month — post an update, confirm hours, reply to reviews, add photos and re-check the pin — and set public holiday hours ahead of closures and long weekends.
