84.7% of restaurant websites don't use restaurant schema, the code that tells Google a site belongs to a restaurant, and 46.2% miss a basic SEO element on their homepage, the third highest rate of 15 industries.
Analysis of 234 restaurant websites · US restaurant Google Business Profiles and their websites, September 2026
Key Findings
- 1.84.7% of restaurant websites don't use a restaurant schema type such as Restaurant or FoodEstablishment, the code that tells search engines the site belongs to a restaurant.
- 2.46.2% of restaurant websites miss at least one basic SEO element on their homepage, the third highest rate of 15 industries, against a 37.9% average.
- 3.31.6% of restaurant homepages have no H1 heading, the main headline search engines read to understand a page, the most common basic problem on restaurant websites.
- 4.58.7% of restaurant websites have no tap-to-call phone link, one of the lowest rates of 15 industries, so a diner on a phone cannot call with one tap.
- 5.39.3% of restaurant websites have no schema markup of any kind, above the 32.9% average across 15 industries.
Summary
It is 6 p.m. and someone nearby searches for Thai food open now. Google shows a map of restaurants with their hours, ratings and menus, and the searcher taps one to call or book. Much of what Google shows there it reads from the restaurant's own website and its Google Business Profile.
Search engines rely on a few basic signals to understand what a page is about: a page title, a short description, a main heading, a secure connection and schema markup, code that states in machine-readable terms that this is a restaurant, what cuisine it serves, where it is, when it is open and where the menu is. They cost almost nothing to add and help Google's results and its AI answers describe a restaurant correctly.
Most restaurant websites leave these signals out. 84.7% don't use a restaurant schema type, and 46.2% miss at least one of the four basics on their homepage, the third highest rate of 15 industries, most often the main H1 heading. 58.7% have no tap-to-call phone link on their pages.
What we measured
In September 2026 we took 234 restaurant websites listed on US Google Business Profiles and checked each homepage for four basics: a title tag, the page name shown as the blue link in search results; a meta description, the summary Google can show under that link; at least one H1 heading, the main headline on the page; and HTTPS, the secure connection shown by the padlock in a browser. A site fails the basic check if its homepage misses any of the four.
We also recorded whether the homepage title was too long to show in full on Google, whether any page on the site could not be added to Google's index, whether the site had an XML sitemap, the file that lists a site's pages for search engines, and which schema types each site used. Schema markup is code that states in machine-readable terms what a business is, where it is and what it does. We ran the same checks on websites in 15 industries, from accounting to HVAC, so each restaurant figure can be compared with the 15-industry average.
Most restaurant websites never tell Google they are a restaurant
Schema.org, the shared vocabulary Google and other search engines read, has types made for restaurants, including Restaurant and FoodEstablishment. They let a restaurant state its cuisine, address, hours, phone number, price range and menu link in a form search engines can use directly. Only 15.3% of restaurant websites use one.
39.3% of restaurant websites have no schema at all, above the 32.9% average across 15 industries. The schema restaurant websites do use is mostly what a website builder adds automatically: WebSite (on 40% of restaurant websites), BreadcrumbList (22%), ListItem (22%) and PostalAddress (19%). 24% use any local business type, the family of schema types that marks a site as a business with a location.
Restaurant websites miss the basics more than most
That is the third highest rate of 15 industries, above the 37.9% average. The most common gap is a missing H1 heading, on 31.6% of restaurant homepages, against a 24.5% average, followed by a missing meta description on 26.1%. 4.7% of restaurant homepages have no title tag at all, against a 2.8% average, while almost every restaurant website uses HTTPS: 0.9% don't.
Source: Suff Digital analysis of 234 restaurant websites · US restaurant Google Business Profiles and their websites, September 2026
| Check | Restaurants | 15-industry average |
|---|---|---|
| Fail at least one basic check | 46.2% | 37.9% |
| No H1 heading | 31.6% | 24.5% |
| No meta description | 26.1% | 23% |
| Title too long | 15% | 20.1% |
| No XML sitemap | 20.1% | 18.3% |
| Page not indexable | 19.7% | 15.2% |
| No title tag | 4.7% | 2.8% |
| Not on HTTPS | 0.9% | 2.2% |
| No schema markup | 39.3% | 32.9% |
Beyond the homepage, 20.1% of restaurant websites have no XML sitemap and 19.7% have at least one page Google cannot add to its index, both above the average. A restaurant website built as one visual page, with the menu as an image or PDF, leaves search engines little text to read.
Six in ten restaurant websites have no tap-to-call link
A tap-to-call link turns a phone number into a button that dials the restaurant when tapped on a phone. Only 41.3% of restaurant websites have one on their pages, one of the three lowest rates of 15 industries, even though a large share of restaurant searches happen on a phone, often minutes before someone wants to order or book.
Restaurants rank third worst of 15 industries
Across the 15 industries, the share of websites failing at least one basic check runs from 26% for HVAC companies to 53.1% for accounting firms. Restaurants, at 46.2%, sit third from the top, behind accounting and manufacturing.
Source: Suff Digital analysis of 234 restaurant websites · US restaurant Google Business Profiles and their websites, September 2026
WordPress runs 25.6% of restaurant websites, and restaurant sites on WordPress fail the basic checks 56.7% of the time, above the 46.2% for restaurants overall. The other 74.4% run on other website builders and ordering platforms.
What this means for restaurants
Add Restaurant schema to your homepage with your cuisine, address, hours, phone number, price range and a link to your menu. It is the biggest gap on restaurant websites and helps Google and AI answers show the right hours and menu when someone nearby searches for where to eat.
Then fix the homepage basics: a title with your cuisine and neighborhood, a meta description with your hours or signature dishes, and one H1 that says what you are. Put your menu on the page as text, not only as a PDF or image, and turn your phone number into a tap-to-call link on every page. Our restaurant seo work starts with exactly these checks.
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<p style="font:14px/1.5 system-ui,sans-serif">Source: <a href="https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/restaurant-website-seo-audit">85% of Restaurant Websites Have No Restaurant Schema Markup - Suff Digital</a></p>
Cite this study
Suff Digital. (2026). 85% of Restaurant Websites Have No Restaurant Schema Markup. https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/restaurant-website-seo-audit
85% of Restaurant Websites Have No Restaurant Schema Markup - Suff Digital - https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/restaurant-website-seo-audit