Desi Adda is an Indian restaurant on Cavill Avenue in Surfers Paradise, one of the busiest dining strips on the Gold Coast. The food was well liked and it already had more than 800 Google reviews. What it didn't have was a Google listing that was looked after. We started working with Desi Adda in June 2026. By August, Google profile views were up 99% on August 2025.
This post walks through what we found, what we changed and what the numbers did each month, so you can apply the same steps to your own restaurant. Every figure comes from Desi Adda's own Google Business Profile, which compares each month with the same month a year earlier.
The starting point
Surfers Paradise is a hard place to stand out for Indian food. Two of the places Google shows alongside Desi Adda have about 8,000 and 12,000 reviews. Desi Adda had good food and loyal customers, but online:
- The Google Business Profile was there but not maintained: few fresh photos, no offers, no regular updates.
- Reviews arrived on their own, with no system for asking or replying.
- The website was live but underused. The menus, the outlets and the "book" or "order" options weren't easy to find.
- Nobody could say how many people found the restaurant on Google each month, or what they did next.
What we changed
1. Treated the Google listing as the front door
For a restaurant in a tourist area, the Google listing is often the only thing people look at before they walk in. We started updating it regularly: new photos of dishes and the room, current offers, and correct details. We checked that the menu, hours, categories and attributes were complete and accurate. This is the same checklist we describe in how to get into the Google Maps top 3.
2. Managed reviews actively
We took over review management, so new reviews get a reply and the listing shows an owner who is paying attention. Between June and September the review count went from 822 to 890. That is useful in a market where the competitors' counts run into the thousands, because Google looks at recent reviews, not only the total.
3. Made the website back up the listing
We improved the structure of desiadda.com.au so the menus, both outlets and the calls to action were clear. When Google and customers click through from the listing, the website now confirms what the listing promises and makes the next step obvious.
4. Reported every month
Each month the owners get one report with the numbers that matter for a restaurant: how many people saw the listing, how many asked for directions, called, clicked through to the website or booked. Search Console and Analytics figures for the website go in the same report.
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Get a free restaurant checkThe results, month by month
Year-on-year growth, Desi Adda Surfers Paradise, from its Google Business Profile:
| Month (2026) | Profile views | vs last year | Direction requests | vs last year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June | 8,801 | +22.3% | 230 | +20.4% |
| July | 10,495 | +55.6% | 207 | +46.8% |
| August | 9,739 | +99.2% | 183 | +63.4% |
The pattern matters more than any single month. Growth against last year went from 22% in June, our first month, to 56% in July and 99% in August. That is the profile work compounding: each month of fresh photos, posts and reviews built on the last.
Other numbers from August, again against August 2025:
- Profile interactions (calls, directions, website clicks and more): 494, up 69%.
- Calls from the listing: 49, up 36%.
- Website clicks from the listing: 107, up 34%.
- Menu views: 155, up 142%.
In September the listing produced 435 customer actions: 229 direction requests, 118 website clicks, 82 calls and 6 bookings.
Where it ranks now
In September, searching "indian restaurant surfers paradise" showed Desi Adda 2nd in Google's list of places, and "surfers paradise indian restaurants" showed it 3rd, alongside the two competitors with 8,000 and 12,000 reviews. For "indian restaurant in gold coast", a much wider search, it appeared 3rd as well.
What you can copy
- Measure against last year, not last month. It is the only fair way to see whether your work is helping in a seasonal business.
- Update the listing regularly. Photos, offers and posts are small jobs. Done every week or two, they add up.
- Ask for reviews and answer all of them. You don't need the biggest count on the street, but you need a steady flow of new ones.
- Make the website back up the listing. Clear menu, clear location, an obvious way to book or order. If your menu is still a PDF, read why that costs you customers.
- Watch direction requests and calls. Those are the people actually coming in. Views are only the first step.
The full case study, with the work and results on one page, is on our Desi Adda case study page.
FAQs
Why compare with the same month last year?
Restaurants are seasonal. Comparing August with July mixes up your own work with school holidays, weather and tourist numbers. Google Business Profile shows each month against the same month a year earlier, which is the fairer test of whether something you did made a difference.
What counts as a Google Business Profile view?
It is the number of people who saw your listing on Google Search or Google Maps in that period, on phone or desktop. For Desi Adda in August, 95% of views came from phones, split between Google Maps and Google Search.
How long does local SEO take to work for a restaurant?
Profile and review work usually starts showing within 4 to 8 weeks. For Desi Adda, year-on-year growth in profile views went from 22% in the first month to 56% in the second and 99% in the third.
Do I need a new website for this?
Not necessarily. Desi Adda kept its existing website. We improved how the menus, outlets and calls to action were laid out, and made sure the site backed up what the Google listing says.