Top Searched Restaurants of 2013

[Sundae in the Park]

Top Searched Restaurants of 2013 

Interesting.  I didn't stop to think before I clicked on this Yahoo "news" article, which is why I was so surprised.  But it is useful to pause and ponder that, despite the wave of food-interest sweeping pop culture, these are what come to mind to most people are thinking about restaurants.

[DaveO]

Interesting little tidbit.   The pizza chains must be well aware of this as is google.   If you search on google using the search phrase pizza the top ads will normally be devoted to chains like Pizza Hut, Dominoes, Little Ceasar, Pappa Johns.   If you search instead for Pizza/(your town or city) the ads will include or specifically be local pizza places.  It appears that google made a special deal with the large chains to take advantage of the same search tendencies that Yahoo experiences;   the majority of searchers will search for the large branded chain restaurants.

There is something to be said for branding...even if and when it lacks for culinary or dining expertise.

[hungry prof]

These results are almost true by definition.  The survey is of "the most-searched-for national restaurants in 2013."  There aren't many (any?) "national restaurants" other than big chains.  Be interesting to see how, if at all, these results look different in particular markets.  I suspect not much.

[DaveO]

These results are almost true by definition.  The survey is of "the most-searched-for national restaurants in 2013."  There aren't many (any?) "national restaurants" other than big chains.  Be interesting to see how, if at all, these results look different in particular markets.  I suspect not much.

I do a lot of work on the web in marketing.  Those are the kinds of questions restaurant owners (and all business owners) want to know, let alone the public.  I tried a test using some google tools.

I threw out some keywords to test volumes.  I definitely won't vouch for these numbers:  They are estimates from google.  I test this kind of stuff all the time.  I consider the estimates more or less unreliable over time.   I've tested estimates against more believable data for years for different businesses in different regions:   but anyway here are some google results(estimates)  for how people "might be searching" in this area  (the test was using a google tool and limited to Washington DC (versus the dc metro area or any other geography)

search phrase                                             average searches month/(per google)

pizza hut                                                           18,100

papa johns                                                        22,200

mcdonalds                                                        12,100

pizza                                                                    2,900

cocktails                                                                  170

pasta                                                                      210

seafood                                                                  210

hamburgers                                                              40

clydes                                                                   1,600

cocktail bars                                                              10

Old Ebbit                                                                   210

italian restaurants                                                   320

mexican restaurants                                                 390

indian restaurants                                                      70

vegan restaurants                                                      40

thai restaurants                                                          40

french restaurants                                                      20

great american restaurants                                       260

having done this work for years I can't emphasize the possibility that the data is skewed or not reliable.  On the other hand in many cases its a great starting point to try and figure out how folks might be searching.

One recent caveat that may skew the information even more than in the past:  About 6 months ago...google changed the way they showed people information about restaurants, hotels, amusement parks etc.   That created further disinformation.  The results would suggest more people searching for restaurants by name than by type and location.  The above information might reflect those changes from the last 6 months.  ( I just don't know).

(but it does look like pizza and pizza chains are pretty popular.)

[Anna Phor]

Daveo, are those figures publicly available (i.e. are you doing searches on google?) or are you using some other kind of instrument? (Asking because sometimes I use google search figures for back-of-the-envelope social science inquiry, and I'm always looking for tricks of the trade!)

[DaveO]

I ran it off of an adwords tool. The tool gives estimates supplied by google; sometimes its reliable and accurate--somestimes not. I haven't worked the phrases enough to suggest how reliable these extimates are.

[DaveO]

Daveo, are those figures publicly available (i.e. are you doing searches on google?) or are you using some other kind of instrument? (Asking because sometimes I use google search figures for back-of-the-envelope social science inquiry, and I'm always looking for tricks of the trade!)

Here is a different perspective:

I used google trends for various phrases and came up with this graph that shows "relative usage"  (ie relative to one another without actual totals