Most people who open a cafe's website are standing somewhere nearby with a phone in one hand. They have already found you on Google Maps or Instagram. They want three answers fast: are you open, what do you serve, and how do they get there. A cafe site that answers those in a few seconds gets the visit. One that makes them wait for a PDF or hunt for the hours sends them to the next listing.
Here is the checklist we use when we look at a cafe's website. Open your own site on your phone and go through it. It takes about fifteen minutes.
The basics a customer needs
1. Your name, suburb and what you are, at the top
The first screen on a phone should say who you are, where you are and what you do: "Specialty coffee and all-day brunch in Brunswick". The page title (the line that shows in the browser tab and in Google) should do the same, for example "[Cafe name] Brunswick | Brunch and Specialty Coffee". A title that says "Home" wastes the most valuable line on the site.
2. Opening hours, including public holidays
Put your hours on the homepage, not only on a contact page, and make sure they match your Google Business Profile exactly. Update both before every public holiday. A customer who turns up to a locked door on Anzac Day doesn't come back, and often leaves a review about it.
3. Address with a map link
Give the full street address and a link that opens directions in Google Maps. If you are hard to find (inside an arcade, upstairs, around the back of a car park), say so in a sentence. Add a line on parking or the nearest tram or train stop if it helps.
4. A phone number you can tap
On a phone, tapping the number should start a call. Check it works. Use the same number that is on your Google listing.
The menu
5. The menu as text on the page
This is the item cafes most often get wrong. A PDF or a photo of the printed menu is slow to open on a phone and hard to read, and Google can't use it properly to understand what you serve. Type the menu onto a web page, with prices. We cover the reasons and the fix in is a PDF menu bad for your restaurant.
6. Dietary information people search for
Mark which dishes are vegetarian, vegan or gluten free, and mention dairy-free milks if you offer them. People search for exactly these words, often with "near me" on the end. If the words are on your menu page, Google can match you to those searches.
7. Real photos of your food and your room
Use your own photos: the dishes people order, your coffee, the room when it is busy, and the shopfront so people recognise it from the street. Phone photos in good daylight are fine. Stock photos of someone else's latte tell the customer nothing.
Want us to run this checklist for you?
Send us your cafe's name and suburb. We'll check your site on a phone against this list, look at how you rank on Google Maps, and send you the three things we'd fix first. Free.
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8. Ordering or booking one tap away
If you take online orders or table bookings, put a clear button for each near the top of the homepage. Link to your own ordering system where you can, rather than sending people to a delivery app that charges you commission on every order.
9. Catering and functions, if you do them
Catering orders and private bookings are often worth more than a week of walk-ins. If you offer them, give them their own page with what you do, rough minimums, lead times and how to enquire. Office managers search for "catering [suburb]", and a page about it gives you a chance to show up.
10. Links to your Google reviews and Instagram
Link to your Google listing so people can read reviews and leave one. Link to Instagram so they can see what is new this week. Keep these in the footer or contact section, not as a feed that slows the homepage down.
What Google needs
11. It loads fast on mobile data
Test the site on your own phone with Wi-Fi turned off. If it takes more than a few seconds to show anything useful, the usual causes are oversized photos, a video playing on the homepage, or a template loaded with features you don't use. Google's free PageSpeed Insights tool shows what is slowing it down.
12. Details that match your Google listing, plus the right markup
Your name, address and phone number should be written the same way on the site as on Google, Facebook, Instagram and the delivery apps. Ask whoever built the site whether it has local business structured data: a small block of code that tells Google your cafe's name, address, hours and menu link in a format it reads directly. It doesn't show on the page, but it helps Google trust what your listing says. The rest of the Google side is in our Google Maps top 3 checklist.
Someone has to keep it current
A cafe website is never finished. Prices go up, the winter menu replaces the summer one, and hours change for the school holidays. The most common problem we see is a site that was good when it launched and has not been touched since. Decide who updates it, and check it once a month on your phone.
If you are weighing up a new site, our guide to what a restaurant website costs in Australia sets out typical prices. Ours start from A$2,800 for the build, with a care plan from A$150 a month that covers hosting, updates and menu changes, so the site stays as current as your menu board. Details are on our cafe and restaurant page.
FAQs
Does a cafe really need a website if it has Instagram?
Yes. Instagram is good for showing what you make, but Google reads your website to decide what your cafe is and which searches to show it for. A simple site with your menu, hours and address supports your Google Maps listing in a way an Instagram profile can't.
What pages should a cafe website have?
For most cafes: a homepage, a menu page, and a contact page with the map, hours and phone. Add a catering or functions page if you offer it, and an ordering or booking link if you take them. A small, fast site beats a big slow one.
Should my cafe menu be a PDF?
No. Put the menu on the page as text. A PDF is slow to open on a phone, hard to read, and keeps your dishes out of the page Google reads. You can still offer a PDF download for people who want to print it.
How often should I update my cafe website?
Whenever the menu, prices or hours change, and before every public holiday. A quick check once a month catches most problems: open the site on your phone, tap the phone number, and make sure the hours match Google.
How fast should a cafe website load?
As fast as you can make it. Test it on your phone over mobile data, not on the cafe Wi-Fi. If the menu takes more than a few seconds to appear, most people will go back to Google Maps and pick somewhere else.