Pages a restaurant's website should have

You probably typed "restaurant marketing" or "restaurant seo" into a search box. Fair enough. Most advice you'll find is aimed at chains with budgets and a marketing team. This isn't. It's a plain guide to the pages an independent UK restaurant needs, what each should say, and what to leave off. Build the pages, get the details right, and the marketing mostly takes care of itself.

Purpose: Tell a hungry stranger what you are, where you are and how to book, in the time it takes to glance at a phone.

Start with the basics. What kind of food, which town or neighbourhood, and whether you're open tonight. That's it. People arrive on their phones, often standing in the street, and they decide quickly. DataForSEO estimates (pulled 18 Oct 2026) put "restaurant near me" in the millions of UK searches a month. Treat that as an estimate, because the point is simply that: people choose restaurants by location, on a phone.

So put the booking button and the phone number near the top. Add opening hours and a line or two about the food. One good photo beats five mediocre ones. Link clearly to your menu, your location page and your booking page.

Avoid slow video backgrounds, pop-ups that cover the page, a long welcome speech, and any claim you can't back up.

Purpose: Let people see what you serve and what it costs, without downloading anything.

Put the menu on the page as real text. Not only as a PDF, and not only as a photo of a printed card. Text is easier to read on a small screen, and it's far easier for you to update when a dish changes or a supplier lets you down. You edit a line, not a design file. That's the case for it. Nobody can promise it moves you up any rankings, and this page doesn't.

Keep it tidy. Group dishes under clear headings: starters, mains, puddings, drinks. Show prices. If the menu changes by season or by day, say so, and say when it was last updated. Mark vegetarian and vegan dishes where it's accurate to do so.

Link the menu to your allergen information. People look for both at once.

Avoid a menu that's only a blurry photo, prices that differ from what's in the room, and dishes you no longer cook.

Purpose: Make it easy to reserve a table or ask a question, on the first try.

Pick one main way to book and make it obvious. A booking form or a phone number can work. So can a link to a booking service. What matters is that it's quick and that someone answers. A booking button that leads nowhere does more harm than having none.

Give a phone number people can tap, an email address you actually check, and your address. Say how you handle large groups, and whether you hold tables for walk-ins. If you're closed some days, say so right where people book.

Tell people what happens next. Will they get a confirmation? Is there a deposit? Plain answers here save you phone calls and no-shows.

Avoid hiding contact details three clicks deep, forms with a dozen required fields, and contact addresses that bounce.

Purpose: Help guests with allergies or dietary needs eat safely, and show you take it seriously.

Here the rules matter. Businesses must give information on the 14 major allergens for loose (non-prepacked) food, and there's some choice in how you do it. Many restaurants do it on the menu, on a separate allergen chart, or by asking guests to speak to staff. Whatever you choose, make it clear and keep it current. A website page that matches what's served is a sensible part of the picture.

Then there's food packaged on the premises before the customer orders it and sold there. That's prepacked for direct sale, often called PPDS or "Natasha's Law", and the rules changed on 1 October 2021. It needs a label with the name of the food and a full ingredients list, with allergens emphasised. Food made to order is not PPDS. So a sandwich wrapped and left on the counter is one thing; a burger cooked after someone orders it is another.

Don't guess. If a dish changes, the allergen information changes with it.

Avoid vague lines like "ask us about anything", charts that haven't been updated since the last menu, and promises about "allergen-free" food that you can't truly guarantee.

Purpose: Show guests you're properly registered, inspected and licensed.

Food businesses get a rating under the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme, run by the Food Standards Agency with local authorities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It runs from 5 (very good) to 0 (urgent improvement necessary). The rating appears on stickers and online, with the inspection date. The Food Standards Agency describes showing a good rating as a good advertisement.

The rules on display differ. In England the sticker is voluntary, though businesses are encouraged to show it. In Wales you must display it prominently. In Northern Ireland you must display it at or near each customer entrance. Check which applies to you, then mirror it on your site if you're proud of the number.

Two more things sit in the background. Anyone who sells, cooks, stores or handles food must register as a food business with their local authority, at least 28 days before trading. And if you sell alcohol, you need a premises licence from your licensing authority in England and Wales. GOV.UK has the details on alcohol licensing.

Avoid quoting a rating that's out of date, implying a licence you don't hold, and burying all of it in tiny print.

Purpose: Explain what you offer for groups, but only if you genuinely offer it.

This page earns its place only if you do private dining, celebrations or hire. If you don't, skip it. A page for something you can't deliver just creates disappointment.

If you do, be specific. How many people can the space hold? Is there a set menu, a minimum spend, a deposit? What dates and times work? Say how to enquire and how quickly you reply. Photos of the actual room help more than a paragraph of adjectives.

Keep it separate from your main booking flow. Someone planning a party for a crowd has different questions from someone booking for two.

Avoid listing events you don't run, vague promises of "bespoke packages", and an enquiry form that disappears into an inbox nobody opens.

Purpose: Get people through the door without a phone call.

Give the full address, a map and plain directions. Mention the nearest station or bus stop, and where people can park, including whether it's free or paid. If step-free access is limited, say so honestly. Guests would much rather know before they arrive.

Opening hours need to be right. Include bank holidays, seasonal changes and any days the kitchen closes before the doors do. And here's the part many owners miss: your Google Business Profile has to match your website. Google's guidelines say a Business Profile should describe your real-world business, so keep the address, phone number and hours the same in both places. If you change one, change the other.

Don't create a separate page for every nearby town you'd like customers from. Google's spam policy treats many near-duplicate pages made to manipulate rankings as spam. One honest location page does the job.

Avoid mismatched hours between your site and your profile, out-of-date holiday notices, and copy-pasted pages aimed at places you don't serve.

Purpose: Show guests what they'll actually get.

Use your own photos. Real dishes, as they leave the kitchen, and the room as it looks on a normal evening. People can tell when a picture has come from a stock library, and it makes them wonder what else isn't real.

You don't need a studio. Good natural light and a clean plate go a long way. Show the dining room, the bar, the outside if it's welcoming, and a few of your best-known dishes. Update them when things change, because a refit or a new menu makes old pictures misleading.

Keep file sizes sensible so pages load quickly on mobile. Add short descriptions to each image, so people using screen readers know what is there.

Avoid stock photos, heavy editing that makes a dish look like something it isn't, and pictures that are years out of date.

Purpose: Let other guests do some of the talking, honestly.

Guests often trust other guests more than they trust what you say about yourself. So point people to reviews. Link to your Google profile or other review sites you use, and make it easy for happy guests to leave one. A quick word from staff, or a card with the bill, is enough.

Reply to reviews, including the awkward ones. A calm, specific answer to a complaint tells future guests more about you than a string of five-star comments. Say thanks, address the point, and move on.

If you quote reviews on your own site, use real ones, with permission where it's needed, and don't edit them to say something they didn't.

Avoid made-up testimonials and paying for praise. Arguing in public is out too, and so is ignoring criticism that's fair.

Purpose: Give guests a reason to feel they know you before they arrive.

Independent restaurants have one real advantage: there are actual people behind them. Say who you are. Who runs the place, who cooks, how it started, and what you care about in the food. Keep it short and true.

Name the chef and the front-of-house lead if they're happy to be named. Add a photo of the team. Where your ingredients come from is worth a line if it's accurate and you can stand behind it.

This is also where your voice can show. Write the way you'd talk to a table, not the way a brochure would.

Avoid corporate waffle, a life story that runs to a thousand words, and claims of being the "best" anything.

Purpose: Meet the legal requirement and show you're a real, traceable business.

If you trade as a UK limited company, you must show certain details on business letters, order forms and websites, according to GOV.UK. That means your registered number, your registered office address, the place of registration, and the fact that it's a limited company. The footer is the natural home for all of it.

Put it on every page, in small but readable type. Add your trading name if it differs from the company name, so nobody's confused. Link to your privacy and cookie information while you're there.

Check it after any change of address or company details. It's a small job, and it's easy to forget.

Avoid leaving out the registered number, using an address that isn't your registered office, and letting the footer go stale.

Purpose: Tell you where to start if you're building from nothing or rebuilding from a mess.

Don't try to do everything at once. Build these, in this order:

1. Home page, with your cuisine, your area, your hours and a clear booking button.
2. Menu page, as real text on the page, with prices.
3. Booking and contact, with a phone number, an address and a way to reserve.
4. Allergens and dietary information, matched to what you actually serve.
5. Location, parking and opening hours, matching your Google Business Profile.

Do those five well and you've covered what most guests are looking for. The rest, from photos and reviews to the About page and the footer details, can follow as time allows, though don't leave the legal basics waiting too long. Your Google Business Profile should be set up alongside, not after.

Avoid starting with a blog, a gift-card section or a page for every nearby town. Get the basics right first.

Not sure which pages you're short of? Seracu offers a free snapshot: a free look at which topics your site lacks compared with its competitors. For more background, see our guides on SEO for small business, content gap analysis and getting found on Google, or browse the food and drink pages and the wider pages you should have directory. Or start with the five pages above.