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How to make your restaurant reviews stand out

Caption: An image showing a phone on a blue background. The phone is displaying reviews shared by Local Guides on Google Maps.Caption: An image showing a phone on a blue background. The phone is displaying reviews shared by Local Guides on Google Maps.

Google Maps is a great way to share the best of your city and help others discover new things about the world around them. As a content strategist on Google Maps, food and travel writer, and former restaurant critic, I’ve spent my career thinking about what makes a good review. I revealed some of my best tips at Connect Live today, but now I want to share them with all of you.

 

Reviews are fun because you can highlight individual places you love: that cozy bookstore you found wandering around the city one afternoon, that street food stall where you eat lunch every day, that lovely hotel that you always recommend to visitors.

 

Here are some easy tips to make your reviews stand out to millions of people.

 

1. Be specific and back up your opinion with details

It’s great to know that a restaurant has a good burger! It’s even better to know that it has a good burger with a buttery bun and thick-cut bacon. Whenever you can, think about the small details that made the individual item or place stand out from the rest.

 

2. Talk about multiple aspects of the place

Mention a few topics to paint a fuller picture, like a restaurant’s food and its service, or hotel’s bed and its room service. You don’t have to overload your review with every single detail about your experience, but including a few aspects will make your review more useful to readers.

 

3. Tell the good and bad, but keep it constructive

Your reviews help people make decisions. It’s helpful to hear both sides—maybe you loved the cocktail bar’s retro atmosphere and didn’t love your cocktail. That’s OK. But stay fair. Keep personal attacks out of your review.

 

 4. Use #hashtags to spotlight your favorite places and experiences

Think about the attributes that might help people find the best places in their city, like #dogfriendly, #brunch, or #sunset.

 

What’s the best restaurant review you’ve ever written? Link to it in the comments below!

28 comments
Level 10

Re: 4 tips for making your restaurant reviews stand out

Thanks @annaroth and welcome to Google Local Guides Connect!

Useful tips! I never use hashtags in reviews, I should start to do it!

I will try to share my best restaurant review, but is not easy to choose one from my long list!

 

This is one of my recents (Italian): https://goo.gl/maps/6tPLMVrHwZw

This is short, but was really a great place to have a tomahawk in SF: https://goo.gl/maps/ThZYEUx1VS52

Level 9

Re: 4 tips for making your restaurant reviews stand out

great tips @annaroth 🙂

restaurants reviews ,  one of my favorites reviews i enjoy writing them :))))

this is one of my last reviews last week about Shawerma restaurant  https://goo.gl/maps/yVhg2N2pbN62

i explain in details from parking to stuff welcoming to waiting time and finally the meeting with my favorite Meat Shawerma i like it in this restaurant more than chicken Shawerma ,

i recommended some dishes on my experience 🙂

Level 9

Re: 4 tips for making your restaurant reviews stand out

legend @LucioV , when you will visit Jordan i will take you to this resturant 😄

and yeah i know , you will take me to the restaurant you wrote about in italy , not in SF that is expensive one :DDDD

Level 9

Re: 4 tips for making your restaurant reviews stand out

Using hashtags, that's a great idea @annaroth

Thank you for sharing your post with us.

Level 10

Re: 4 tips for making your restaurant reviews stand out

Thanks @annaroth for the tips. Hastage is something I always missed out but I never think it is useful in review. Now I will start using it in my review. On one personal note, your name sounds like a Cambodian name 🙂

Connect Moderator

Re: 4 tips for making your restaurant reviews stand out

Love the addition of hashtags being implemented! Thanks to you and your team, @annaroth!

Miami, FL | My Profile | #LGMiami | #TeamPixel | #ShopSmall
Level 9

Re: 4 tips for making your restaurant reviews stand out

Hashtags nice idea @annaroth thank you for sharing with us...

Level 9

Re: 4 tips for making your restaurant reviews stand out

Thanks for the great tips, I also find that adding relative price points is useful when I look at reviews. Prices can change a lot over time so I tend to write a comparison. Eg: 'Expect to pay about 20% more than the average for coffee, but the nitro cold brew is worth it!'. Let me know if pricing also resonates with you and if you have any other ideas of how to indicate rough pricing. Dollar figures can easily become out of date.

Level 10

Rif.: 4 tips for making your restaurant reviews stand out