SEO for Wineries (from a Wine Blogger and SEO specialist!)
The rumour isn’t true! I don’t simply visit wineries, drink wine and blog all day. It may happen someday when I win lotto and I can simply indulge in my passions without the weight of having to be an adult and pay bills, but for the moment the reality is that I do have a full-time job.
However I have to admit, I do really love my full-time job. I feel lucky to get paid for doing something I enjoy. What do I do? I am an online marketer, or more specifically an SEO and Google Ads Specialist.
And even better, after working for other people for so many years, I started my own SEO & Google Ads consultancy in 2018 – Grand Cru Digital.
So yes, we are talking over 16 years wine blogging (I started in 2010) and I started in web content/SEO roles in 2012. Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn for my full background.
So it’s safe to say I may know a thing or two about SEO for wineries, wine brands and wine industry people/businesses.
Great (or should I say ‘Grand Cru’) SEO isn’t just about website traffic and being found online; it’s about getting more feet through your cellar door, more bookings for your restaurant, more wine sales online and more loyal lovers/fans of your brand. So let’s jump in:
Get your Google Business Profile up to par
If you have a physical location customers visit, like a cellar door, restaurant, shop or office – please please please get your business set up with a Google Business Profile.
This is without a doubt one of the most important SEO tasks a local wine business can do. But don’t just stop at the set up, make sure you keep all the information up to date (add those public holiday hours!) and regularly add posts, images/videos and more to the listing.
I recommend checking in on your GBP at least once a month. I have a ton of GBP resources over on the Grand Cru Digital blog.
Plus don’t forget to ask customers to leave reviews on this listing! This is absolutely gold for your brand – who doesn’t want to drink a wine or visit a winery that has hundreds of 5 star reviews!
Bonus tip: Make sure you respond to reviews to at least say thank you. This response shows the reviewer and everyone else who reads that review that you genuinely care about your customers and what they think of your business.
Nail the basic SEO fundamentals on your website
Whether you are optimising for Google, Bing or an LLM like ChatGPT or Claude, getting the basics right when it comes to SEO is going to help you massively.
From clean code, to fast loading pages, to helpful human content – it is essential if you want your website to be found online, it must be findable.
I always recommend people to check out Google’s SEO Starter Guide as it covers all the SEO fundamentals that will put your website ahead.
Something I like to point out to many wineries is that their website must be incredibly easy to navigate on a mobile device as a lot of people research and are even on the road when they are looking for cellar doors.
Alongside this, make it as simple as possible for your customers by ensuring your cellar door hours, address, and booking button are immediately visible and easy to tap (especially on a small screen). If you don’t do this, then those visitors will simply drive to the next vineyard down the road.
Be human!
In this day and age of AI, far too many people, including wineries and wine brands are utilising AI to write content and even create images and videos. Sometimes this is okay, but by sharing your own creative, your own words – you are going to stand out so much more to your potential customers.
If you rely too heavily on AI, it means you are going to be the same as everyone else. In this busy, hectic world, you need to stand out and show who you are, why your brand is different and why someone should choose you over your competitors.
Just remember authenticity and personal flair are the ultimate ways to stand out on a full wine shelf.
If you want to be found for something, it needs to be on your website
I know it seems like a no brainer, but time and time again SEO clients have come to me asking why they aren’t being found for XY and Z.
Half the time the reason is that they don’t have anything at all about XY and Z on their website.
If you want to be found for your sparkling Shiraz or your Margaret River vineyard tours, then make sure you actually have dedicated pages talking about them on your website.
I highly recommend all your services and products have their own unique pages so it is very clear to search engines and AI tools that you offer that service/product or that you are an expert on that topic.
Turn tasting notes into SEO gold
I find a common mistake wineries make is just uploading a bottle shot and pasting the exact same technical tasting notes that every other retailer has, or just a single sentence.
Search engines (and the ChatGPT’s of the world) love rich, descriptive content. So I encourage you to expand your product pages with food pairing suggestions, drinking windows, the story of the vintage, and awards. This not only helps with SEO (ranking for things like “best Shiraz for a BBQ”) but also helps sell the wine to the customer reading it.
And from a wine lover point of view, if you sell wines that age well, then adding to the product page over time to say how it is tasting 2, 5 or 10 years down the track is absolutely Grand Cru SEO!
The last sip
The above are some very basic SEO tips for wine industry businesses – they are just the start of an ongoing effort to help your business or brand be visible and discoverable online.
For plenty more SEO resources, make sure to check out my SEO blog over at Grand Cru Digital and follow along for plenty of advice and tips about everything from SEO to Google Ads and AI optimisation.
