A local SEO checklist for a restaurant in Vietnam

Local SEO for a venue in Vietnam is much simpler than long articles suggest. The fourteen items below cover most of what has any effect, and the first group is done in one sitting with no credits spent.

Group 1 — the profile (6 items, free)

1. The name exactly as on the signage. Do not stuff keywords into the name; it breaches Google's rules and can be removed.

2. The correct primary category. Pick the most specific applicable category, not a broad one.

3. Correct opening hours, including holidays. Customers who arrive to a closed door often write a one-star review.

4. Phone and address matching everywhere else. Your Facebook page, your website, aggregator listings. Mismatches are a bad signal.

5. Real, current photos. The "not like the photo" theme is almost always in the top three complaints.

6. A description that says what you sell and to whom. One paragraph, no keyword stuffing.

Group 2 — reviews (5 items)

7. Count the most-criticised themes. Run Google Maps reviews — 15 credits, 200 reviews, runs in the background — for your own venue. See grouping reviews into themes.

8. Fix the high-frequency, low-cost theme first. Usually photos and descriptions.

9. Answer every one and two star review. The four-line structure is in how to answer a bad review.

10. Calculate the last-12-months rating separately. The headline figure hides the current trend. See what a star rating hides.

11. Remind satisfied customers to leave reviews — do not buy them. Buying breaches Google's policies and leaves an unnatural pattern careful readers notice.

Group 3 — content and area (3 items)

12. Read the reviews of three venues around you. 15 credits each. A theme the whole area is criticised for is where you win if you fix it first. See surveying an area with reviews.

13. Check whether your venue appears in TikTok place data. TikTok places — 6 credits, 2 pages — for your area. If not, encourage customers to tag the location.

14. Cross the two axes: attention and affection. See combining Maps with TikTok.

Data cost

Group	Credits
1	0
2	15
3	about 51

Group 1 costs nothing and should be done first. Group 2 changes results most per credit spent.

Three things not to do

Do not stuff keywords into the venue name. Do not buy reviews. Do not create several listings for one location to appear more than once — all three breach the rules and risk removal.

Frequently asked questions

How long until results show? Profile fixes are quick. Fixing a criticised theme needs enough new reviews to move the score, so think in quarters.

Do I need a website? For a small venue, a complete Google profile matters more than a website.

Can the tool get a review author's contact details? No. Only a display name and the text. Phone numbers exist only for the business itself.