Back in January I had the honor of attending the first-ever Google Restaurant Influencers Summit. By the third gathering on December 10, one thing was clear: search is changing faster than ever. And for bakeries, that’s actually good news.
With 43M+ restaurant searches happening on Google every day, discovery is no longer just about ranking for “bakery near me.” It’s about showing up for complex queries across AI-powered, visual, voice, and video-driven search experiences.
Here’s what matters most, and what small bakery teams can actually do about it.
#1: Search Is Now Multimodal (Not Just Text)
People are discovering bakeries through:
- Images
- Video
- Voice search
- Circle to Search
- AI Overviews, Gemini, and Google Maps AI
“At the root of it, having good SEO means having great content for the user.”
If Google can see, hear, and understand your bakery, it can recommend you.
Action for operators:
Don’t worry about the SEO technicalities. Start with this simple breakdown of Local SEO for Bakers.
#2: Be the Primary Source of Truth About Your Bakery
Google’s AI pulls from your own content first. Make sure it’s clear and accessible.
Do these 5 things consistently:
- Own your information
Publish accurate text, photos, and videos on: - Google Business Profile (and other online listings)
- Your website
- YouTube
- Use structured data to ensure Google can properly access your website content
- Structured menus (not PDFs)
- Proper page titles and headings
- Clear location + hours
- Appropriate schema
- Highlight what makes you different
- Local ingredients
- Signature flavors
- Cultural influences
- Community collaborations
- Be consistent everywhere
- Same hours, name, categories, and links across the web
- Actively cultivate and respond to reviews
- Google AI now pulls review responses into search results. More on reviews below.
#3: Google Business Profile: The Non-Negotiables
If you only improve one thing in 2026, make it this.
Focus areas that move the needle:
✅ Business details & attributes
📸 High-quality photos and videos (including your food, space, exterior/front door, people)
🔗 Social media + ordering links (make it easy to take the next step)
📋 Structured menu
⭐️ Reviews, reviews, reviews!
I can’t emphasize these enough. Googlers at the Summit and local SEO expert Darren Shaw from Whitespark pointed to these exact areas as the core drivers of local visibility.
New features to pay attention to:
Google Posts (formerly Updates)
Google Posts are how you tell Google what’s happening right now at your business.
Since June 2025, Google has expanded the “What’s Happening?” feature, which highlights timely, relevant activity in Search and Maps.
“What’s Happening?” can surface content from:
-
Google Posts
-
Linked social media updates
-
Event-related information
Important distinction:
-
You control Google Posts directly
-
Social media is supplementary
-
Posts are the clearest, most reliable signal
In short: Google Posts feed the “What’s Happening?” layer.
Some ideas on what to post…
- Limited-time items
- Holiday or seasonal catering packages
- Pop-ups, festivals, collaborations
- Anniversaries
- Special announcements or schedule changes
- Press mentions, awards
- Customer love (share 5-star reviews with context)
Bulk updates for multi-location bakeries
Update holiday hours or schedule Posts across locations at once. This is one of the easiest wins for staying accurate and visible at scale.
#4: Video Is No Longer Optional
If Google can see your food, space, and energy, it’s far more likely to recommend you. Video is being surfaced directly in:
- Google Search
- Google Maps
- AI Overviews
- Local discovery results
Step 1: Add videos to your GBP
You don’t need polished production. Authentic, real-world clips perform best. Start by repurposing videos you’ve already shared on social. Keep clips under 30 seconds for easy viewing.
Step 2: Get intentional abut YouTube
Next, create a YouTube channel and link it to your GBP.
YouTube isn’t just social media — it’s Google’s second-largest search engine and a major input for AI-powered discovery.
What to know:
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Landscape, long-form videos are still the standard
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YouTube Shorts (vertical, under 60 seconds) are strongly favored for discovery
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Shorts behave similarly to Reels or TikToks but live inside Google’s ecosystem
You don’t have to choose one or the other. Use both.
Video ideas that actually work for bakeries
- Live kitchen or prep feeds (very popular with Gen Z)
- “Catch the vibe” walk-throughs and tours
- Day-in-the-life clips
- New menu items & LTOs
- Meet the baker / meet the team
- Recipe tips & pairings
- Music playlists you bake to, or what’s playing at the shop
Critical YouTube tips
- Always geo-tag videos
- Include your bakery name in titles & descriptions
- Use descriptions for context + keywords
- Add relevant hashtags
- Spotlight creator videos that tag your bakery
Examples worth studying: Clinton St. Baking Co., SushiSamba
The big takeaway
Video helps Google answer one key question:
“What will it feel like to visit this place?”
When your videos answer that clearly, discovery follows.
#5: AI Tools That Help
These days, AI can do far more than write capations for your social media posts. Smart, practical uses we discussed:
- Change photo angles for menu items
- Remove backgrounds
- Improve consistency (not generate food images)
- Create campaign assets based on your website content
I’m still experimenting with these tools for my clients and I’m genuinely excited about what’s coming next. While I can’t share specific details yet, expect Gemini to become more deeply integrated across Google’s products.
Google’s goal with AI is speed, polish, and consistency. How can you use these tools without drifting into anything generic, misleading, or inauthentic?
What Google really wants
Google isn’t asking small bakeries to “do everything.” It’s asking you to be:
- Clear
- Helpful
- Visual
- Consistent
- Human
If your content helps a real customer decide where to eat, Google will reward it.
P.S. I walked 12,326 steps around NYC to secure some of the best baked goods before the Summit! Check out the highlights here.
Related post: A deep dive into menu optimization, the #1 factor when customers are deciding where to eat.
