Case Study: Donna Margherita
How a NYC Restaurant Grew Its Google Profile Across Two Months of Local SEO
Updated September 2026
Donna Margherita is a Neapolitan restaurant on the Upper East Side, New York City. We built the restaurant a brand new website from scratch and optimized its Google Business Profile, which we now manage every month. This case study covers the first two months of the engagement, July 2026 and August 2026.
About the client
Donna Margherita is a Neapolitan restaurant on the Upper East Side, New York City in New York City. The restaurant serves neighborhood regulars as well as people searching nearby for a place to eat right now. In a city this dense, most of those people decide where to go from a phone, before they ever walk through a door.
That makes the restaurant's Google presence the front door. It is where people look at the menu, check the hours, tap for directions, and call to book a table.
The starting point
The restaurant came to us needing two things. It needed a website that actually worked for a restaurant, and it needed its Google Business Profile handled properly and kept up to date rather than left alone.
We measure the engagement against the same month one year earlier, July 2026 compared with July 2025, so the comparison is like for like and not just a good week against a slow one.
What we did
The work runs under our Local SEO and Monthly GBP Improvement Package, tier 2. Two parts, done together.
A brand new website built from scratch
We built the restaurant a completely new website from scratch, so the place people land after they find the profile is fast, clear, and easy to use on a phone.
Google Business Profile optimization and monthly management
We optimized the Google Business Profile and now manage it every month. This is the same SEO and GEO services work we do for local businesses, and it pairs closely with social media management for restaurants that want their feeds working too.
Month two
In August the work continued as ongoing monthly profile management, with every review answered and continued on-page improvements to the website.
The results after month one
All figures are from the Google Business Profile performance report for July 2026, the first month of the engagement.
Top search terms included restaurants, food near me, and restaurants near me.
Month Two: August 2026 Results
All figures are from the Google Business Profile performance report for August 2026, compared with August 2025 and with July 2026. All organic, no ad spend.
An interaction is when a customer calls, makes a booking, is sent to the website, or requests directions from the Business Profile.
Top search terms in August
- 1. restaurants67,161
- 2. food near me4,566
- 3. restaurants near me4,440
August is commonly a slower month for New York City restaurants, and the profile grew year over year anyway, with no ad spend.
Google Search Growth, July to August
These figures come from Google Search Console and compare August 2026 with July 2026, so this is a month over month comparison of the website in Google Search results. It is a separate source from the Google Business Profile numbers above.
July vs August at a Glance
| Metric | July 2026 | vs July 2025 | August 2026 | vs August 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business Profile interactions | 3,399 | up 10.6 percent | 4,049 | up 28.9 percent |
| Business Profile views | 142,095 | up 42 percent | 182,181 | up 33.9 percent |
| Website clicks from the profile | 1,151 | up 9.2 percent | 1,412 | up 29.1 percent |
| Direction requests | 939 | up 12.5 percent | 1,127 | up 26.3 percent |
| Calls from the profile | 328 | up 11.2 percent | 408 | up 18.3 percent |
| Menu content views | 981 | up 10.3 percent | 1,237 | up 42.2 percent |
Year over year growth in profile interactions went from 10.6 percent in month one to 28.9 percent in month two.
What these numbers mean for a restaurant
Views and searches show how many people saw the restaurant. The three numbers that matter most to a restaurant are further down the list, because they are people who are about to visit, order, or book.
A call from the profile is usually someone asking about a table. A direction request is usually someone who is on the way. A menu view is someone deciding what to order before they arrive. There were 328 calls, 939 direction requests, and 981 menu content views in the month. Those are real people at the point of choosing this restaurant over another one, and website clicks from the profile came to 1,151 on top of that.
This is early momentum across July and August, not a finished story. Two months of data is a start, and results vary by business, location, category, and season. We are reporting what happened here, and we do not promise the same outcome for anyone else. If you want to see how this applies in your own market, our New York City marketing page covers how we work across the five boroughs.
Get the same work for your business
If you run a restaurant or another local business and your Google presence is not bringing in calls, directions, and bookings, this is the work that fixes it. A proper website, a properly optimized profile, and someone managing it every month.
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