Explain SEO for my retail store or restaurant like I’m five

Imagine your store or restaurant is a brightly painted little house on a big, busy street. People are driving by all day long looking for something—tacos, candles, brunch, gifts, cocktails, whatever you sell.

Google is basically the traffic cop.
It decides which houses people should see first.

If you want Google to wave customers toward your place, here’s the five-year-old version of how to make that happen:

1. Use the Right Words (Your Store Sign)

If people are searching for “best brunch near me,” but your website only says “we serve food,” Google has no clue what’s inside your house.

Use the exact words your customers search for:

• In your page titles

• In your menus or product descriptions

• In your first paragraph

• In your FAQs

These are called keywords, but really they’re just “the words people type when they want you.”

2. Keep Your Website Simple (Clean Your Room So Google Doesn’t Judge You)

Google likes tidy rooms and tidy websites:

• Short sentences

• Clear headers (“Brunch Menu,” “Our Story,” “Hours & Location”)

• Easy-to-read fonts

• Not a wall of text

If your site looks like a messy storage closet, Google quietly nudges customers elsewhere.

3. Add Photos (Show-and-Tell Time)

People love pictures. And Google loves when people love things.

Photos of:

• Your food

• Your products

• Your staff

• Your store interior

• Customers (with permission)

The longer people stay looking around, the more Google says, “Oh, this must be good.”

4. Link to Helpful Stuff (Share Your Toys)

Links help Google understand what your site is about and how it fits into the world.

Use:

• Links to your other pages

• Links to your blog posts

• Links to useful outside sources (delivery partner, article, “how to” info)

Google likes that you play nice with others.

5. Post Consistently (Keep Feeding Google Snacks)

Google doesn’t want to promote a dead store.
You don’t need to post daily—just keep things fresh:

• Weekly blog

• Monthly specials

• New menu updates

• New product drops

Every update is like a little tap on Google’s shoulder:
“Hey! We’re still awesome.”

6. Make Your Website Fast (No Slowpokes Allowed)

If your site loads slowly, people click away.
Google doesn’t like that at all.

So:

• Use smaller photo sizes

• Clean up old plugins

• Avoid clutter

Fast = good.
Slow = forgotten.

SEO isn’t some magic tech mystery. It’s just:

Say what customers search for + make your website simple + post fresh stuff + be helpful.

Do that, and Google becomes your friendly traffic cop, pointing customers right to your door.