Restaurants

20 Million Searches a Month
for ‘restaurants near me’ — and yours is invisible

People search for restaurants 60+ million times a month. 90% research online before visiting. But 70–80% of discovery goes to platforms that charge you 25–30% per order.

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20M

Monthly searches for ‘restaurants near me’

90%

Of diners research online before visiting

25–30%

Per order commission to delivery platforms

The Search Volume

This is how many people are searching every month

90% of diners research a restaurant online before visiting. A third decide within one hour. But platforms capture 70–80% of discovery and charge you 25–30% for the privilege.

KeywordMonthly Searches
Restaurants near me18–20 million
Food near me12–15 million
Pizza near me5–7 million
Mexican food near me4–5 million
Breakfast near me4–5 million
Food delivery near me3–5 million
Lunch near me3–4 million
Sushi near me2–3 million
Italian restaurant near me1.5–2 million

“Near me” searches grew 500%+ from 2015–2022 and remain at elevated plateau levels. Mobile accounts for 75–80% of these.

Where the Traffic Goes

Platforms capture the traffic. You get the scraps.

US restaurants paid an estimated $7–10 billion in delivery platform fees in 2024.

Google Maps (restaurants)150+ million
Yelp90–100 million
DoorDash55–65 million
Uber Eats40–50 million
Average restaurant website500–2,000

The Cost of Paying for Visibility

You're paying for traffic you could earn for free

You’re paying 25–30% per order to platforms for customers you could reach directly.

•DoorDash: 15–30% commission per order
•Uber Eats: 15–30% commission per order
•Average restaurant pays $75,000–$90,000/year in platform commissions
•Direct online ordering costs 3–5% in processing vs 25–30% to platforms
•Shifting 10% of orders from platforms to direct saves $7,500–$9,000/year

The AI Shift

AI is rewriting how people find restaurants services

AI is becoming a restaurant discovery tool. Google AI Overviews appear for 40–60% of restaurant queries. And AI can only recommend what it can see.

60% of searches end without a click to any website

Google Business Profile is now more important than your website for most diners

Restaurants with 500+ reviews get dramatically more AI visibility

Schema.org/Restaurant structured data is critical for AI citation

GEO for restaurants is wide open — no established competition yet

Why You're Invisible

Most restaurants websites are not built to be found

Most restaurant websites have a homepage, a PDF menu, and a phone number. That’s invisible to every system that matters.

×Menu uploaded as a PDF that search engines cannot read
×No schema markup for cuisine, price range, hours, or location
×No local content connecting the restaurant to its neighborhood
×No review generation strategy (volume and recency beat perfection)
×No Google Business Profile optimization beyond initial setup

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