Menus
PDF Menu vs Website Menu: Why Your Menu Should Be Text
Short answer: put your menu on your website as text, with prices. Keep a PDF only as an optional download. It's better for diners on phones, for Google, and for you.
On a phone, PDFs are hard work
Most people look at menus on their phone. A PDF built for A4 paper means pinching, zooming and scrolling sideways, often after waiting for a large file to download over mobile data. Some phones open it in a separate app and the diner never finds their way back to your booking button.
A text menu fits the screen, loads with the page, and keeps Book a table or Order now one tap away.
Text helps you get found
When someone searches for a dish, such as “truffle fries Tanjong Pagar” or “gula melaka cake”, search engines match those words to text on web pages. A menu written as text gives Google every dish name and description to work with. A scanned image of a menu gives it nothing, and a PDF is a weaker signal than a proper page.
Everyone can read it
Text menus work with screen readers, can be enlarged by people with poor eyesight, and can be translated by the browser for tourists. Photos of menus can't be read by any of these tools.
It's easier for you to update
Changing a PDF usually means opening the design file, exporting it again and uploading it, so many restaurants let it drift out of date. With a text menu you change the price, save, and it's live, which matters when ingredient costs move.
How to switch
- Type up your menu in sections, with dish names, short descriptions and prices.
- Mark dietary information: vegetarian, spicy, contains nuts, pork-free and so on.
- Add a few photos of popular dishes between the sections, not on every item.
- Link the menu page from your Google Business Profile and Instagram bio.
- Keep a PDF version as a download for catering or printing, if you like.
Every website I build includes the menu as text that you can update yourself. See how it looks in a café or an izakaya, or ask for a free homepage concept.
FAQ
Should my restaurant menu be a PDF?
Your main menu should be text on a web page. You can still offer a PDF as a download for people who want to print it, but it shouldn't be the only version.
Can Google read a PDF menu?
Google can index some PDFs, but a menu written as text on a normal web page is easier for search engines and phones to read, and much easier for you to keep up to date.
How often should I update my online menu?
Whenever a dish or price changes. If your menu is text on your website, a change takes minutes, so there's no reason to let it go out of date.