Olive & Ash — A local rebrand that owned the map

1. Local search is a different game

Restaurants don't rank the way blogs rank. Google decides who shows up in the local map pack based on proximity, relevance and prominence — and most independent restaurants lose on prominence because nobody has ever actively managed it for them.

We started with the boring stuff: name, address and phone consistent everywhere, categories fixed inside Google Business, and every duplicate or outdated listing cleaned up across the web.

2. A site built for a hungry local visitor

The new site was designed for someone standing on a street corner deciding where to eat in the next 20 minutes. Menu, hours, location and "book a table" were reachable in one tap from anywhere on the site.

• Menu as real HTML — indexable, scannable, mobile-first.
• Local business schema with hours, cuisine and price range.
• Photo gallery pulling directly into Google Business.
• One clear reservation CTA, sticky on mobile.

3. Reviews as a growth engine, not an afterthought

We built a simple, repeatable review flow — a QR code on the receipt, a short friendly ask from the server, and a follow-up email the next morning. Within two months, average review volume tripled and the star rating climbed enough to matter.

4. From "where's that place?" to #1 on the map

Within the eight-week engagement, Olive & Ash was ranking #1 in the local map pack for its main cuisine keyword in the neighbourhood, with a visible jump in direction requests and calls from Google Business. The kitchen felt it before the analytics did.