Rubric version 2026.10.07-1
How the grader actually scores you.
Every weight, threshold, and dollar coefficient behind the Zayos grader is on this page. If your listing scored a 42, you can read the rule that produced the deduction. The same JSON powers our scoring engine, this page, and the public API endpoint at /api/zayos/methodology.
What we score
The grader works through a checklist of 41 checks in three sections, worth 100 points together: Search results 40, Guest experience 40, Local listings 20. Every check is read, or it is reported as not measured. The weights inside a section are our judgment of how much each one matters to getting an order. They are not measured.
The scan reads three things: your Google Business Profile, the nearby restaurants Google returns for your category, and your homepage. A check we could not read neither earns nor costs points: it is left out of the score on both sides, and a section nobody could read is reported as not measured rather than as clean. A site that refuses our scanner is not graded as if it were broken, and it cannot be graded as if it were perfect.
One rule sits above the arithmetic. A restaurant whose own website does not take orders cannot score above 79, and that ceiling lifts only when we have READ the site and found ordering on it. If we could not read the site, the ceiling stays.
The checklist
| Check | Weight | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
Search results search · 40 points | Help Google understand and show your website | |
Your own web address search · Domain | 1 | A site on a website builder's shared address is harder to remember and builds that company's reputation with Google rather than yours. |
Homepage has a headline search · Headline | 1 | The main headline is one of the first things Google reads to work out what a page is about. |
Headline names your area search · Headline | 1 | Naming your town or neighborhood in the headline helps you show up for people searching nearby. |
Headline says what you serve search · Headline | 1 | A headline that says what kind of food you serve matches what people type into Google. |
Page title names your restaurant search · Page title | 1 | The page title is the blue link in Google results. It should carry your restaurant's name. |
Page title names your area search · Page title | 1 | A title with your town in it is more likely to appear for local searches. |
Page title says what you serve search · Page title | 1 | People search by food. A title that names yours gives Google a reason to show you. |
Search description is a good length search · Description | 1 | The description is the two lines under your link in Google. Too short wastes the space, too long gets cut off. |
Search description names your area search · Description | 1 | A description that names your town tells a nearby searcher they found the right place. |
Search description says what you serve search · Description | 1 | Naming your food in the description matches the words people search with. |
Images have descriptions search · Images | 1 | Image descriptions tell Google what a photo shows, and they are what a screen reader reads aloud. |
Share title is set search · Sharing | 1 | When someone shares your link in a text or on social media, this is the title that appears. |
Share description is set search · Sharing | 1 | Without it, a shared link shows a random line from the page, or nothing. |
Share image is set search · Sharing | 1 | A shared link with a photo of your food gets far more taps than a bare link. |
Large preview card is set search · Sharing | 1 | This makes a shared link show as a large card rather than a small text line. |
Homepage tells Google it is a restaurant search · Listing data | 2 | Restaurant listing data hands Google your name, address, hours and menu link in a form it can read directly. |
Guest experience experience · 40 points | What a guest finds when they land on your website | |
Loads fast on a phone (Google's test) experience · Speed | 3 | Most guests arrive on a phone. A slow page loses them before they see the menu. |
Guests can order on your own website experience · Ordering | 5 | An Order link that leaves your site, or goes to a delivery app, hands the guest and the order to another company. |
A clear Order button experience · Ordering | 2 | A guest who came to order should see how within a second of landing. |
Tells guests why to order direct experience · Ordering | 1 | Guests are more likely to order from you directly when the page gives them a reason to. |
Set up for phone screens experience · Usability | 3 | Without the phone setting, most phones show the desktop page shrunk down and guests have to pinch and zoom. |
Enough written content experience · Content | 1 | A page with very little text gives guests and Google almost nothing to go on. |
Phone number on the page experience · Content | 1 | Guests still call to ask a question or place a large order. |
Address on the page experience · Content | 1 | A visible address confirms to guests and to Google where you are. |
Opening hours on the page experience · Content | 1 | Hours are the first thing most guests look for. |
Links to your social pages experience · Content | 1 | Social links give guests another way to follow you and see recent food. |
Page talks about what you serve experience · Content | 1 | The words on the page should match what people search for. |
Has a browser tab icon experience · Content | 1 | The small icon in the browser tab makes your site look finished and easy to find among open tabs. |
An About or Our Story section experience · Trust | 1 | Your story is something a delivery app cannot give a guest. |
Guest reviews on the page experience · Trust | 1 | A few real reviews on your own site build trust before a first order. |
Answers common questions experience · Trust | 1 | A short FAQ answers guests quickly and gives Google more to understand your business. |
Local listings listings · 20 points | Your Google Business Profile | |
Profile links your website listings · Profile | 2 | Without a website link, a guest on Google has nowhere to go but a delivery app. |
Profile has a phone number listings · Profile | 1 | The Call button on your Google profile only appears when a number is listed. |
Profile has opening hours listings · Profile | 2 | Google shows Open or Closed on your listing. Without hours, guests guess. |
Profile has a description listings · Profile | 1 | The description is your own words on your Google listing, and Google reads it for what you serve. |
Profile shows a price range listings · Profile | 1 | A price range helps guests decide before they click. |
Profile lists dine-in, takeout or delivery listings · Profile | 1 | Service options tell guests how they can get your food, and they are filters people search with. |
Profile has a specific category listings · Profile | 1 | A specific category, such as Mediterranean restaurant, is how Google matches you to a search for that food. |
At least 10 photos on the profile listings · Guests | 1 | Listings with more photos get more clicks, and guests look at the food before anything else. |
Rating holds up against nearby restaurants listings · Guests | 3 | Guests compare the stars of the restaurants Google shows side by side. |
Review count holds up against nearby restaurants listings · Guests | 2 | A rating backed by many reviews is trusted more than the same rating backed by a few. |
How findings deduct points
Severity orders the findings the report shows you, heaviest first, and feeds the dollar model below. It no longer moves the score: the headline comes from the checklist above, where each check carries its own weight inside its section. The deductions in this table are retained because the dollar estimate is still derived from them.
| Severity | Total deduction | Category deduction (retired) |
|---|---|---|
| high | −14 pts | −9 pts |
| medium | −8 pts | −5 pts |
| low | −3 pts | −2 pts |
Dollar leak math
Every finding has a $/mo range, not a single number. The range is anchored on a baseline of 1,800 online orders per month at a $35 average ticket (about $63,000 a month). It is one fixed baseline for every restaurant. It is not read from your sales, so a smaller or larger restaurant should scale the figure.
Per finding, the modeled monthly figure is a share of that baseline, set by severity. The shares are our assumptions, not measurements:
| Severity | Low / mid / high | Modeled $/mo at baseline |
|---|---|---|
| high | 8.0% / 12.0% / 18.0% | $5,040 / $7,560 / $11,340 |
| medium | 3.0% / 5.0% / 8.0% | $1,890 / $3,150 / $5,040 |
| low | 0.5% / 1.5% / 3.0% | $315 / $945 / $1,890 |
Total leak across all findings is capped at 55% of baseline revenue, so a long list of findings cannot add up to more than a restaurant plausibly takes in.
Grade bands
- Strong: 80 and up. Small finishing moves only.
- Fair: 60 to 79. One or two sections are weak; the rest are healthy.
- Poor: 40 to 59. Material leak across two or more sections.
- Critical: below 40. Fundamentals are missing across most of the checklist.
What we do not score
- Who built your website. We have no platform-detection logic that penalizes a competing vendor. The grader scores measurable signals only.
- Grid SERP rank. We do not measure where you rank for any search. The Search results section compares your rating and review count with the nearby restaurants Google returns.
- NAP consistency across third-party directories. We don't claim to scan Yelp, TripAdvisor, Bing, or every minor directory. Listed and dropped from the rubric rather than zero-weighted.
- Owner response rate. Google Places does not expose owner responses cleanly. Dropped from the rubric.
Machine-readable
The same rubric served as JSON at /api/zayos/methodology. It is public, and it carries the same version stamp as this page.