Originally Published June 5, 2025 | Updated May 5, 2026

When a diner searches for your restaurant on Google and clicks “Order online,” where do they actually end up? If you haven’t actively managed your Google Food Ordering (GFO) settings, there’s a real chance the answer is DoorDash, Grubhub, or another marketplace — not your restaurant’s own site. That’s not a glitch. It’s the current default for restaurants that haven’t designated a preferred link.

Google changed how its food ordering feature works in July 2024. The platform stopped processing transactions internally and shifted to a redirect model: when a diner clicks your ordering button, Google sends them to an external ordering page. What changed in your favor is that you can now choose which page gets that click. The feature is called “Preferred by Business,” and it lets you designate your own ordering link (whether that’s a first-party page or another provider you choose) as the one Google highlights first.

This guide explains the current state of Google Food Ordering in plain terms, walks through exactly how to set your preferred link in GBP, covers how to remove platforms you don’t want there, and connects this one setting to your broader direct ordering strategy.

For several years, Google offered a fully integrated checkout experience: a diner could find your restaurant, build a cart, and pay without ever leaving the Google interface. That feature, widely known as “Order with Google,” ended on July 1, 2024.

Restaurant Business reported on the shift as Google pulling back from the direct transaction model. The decision was linked to user behavior data showing diners preferred completing orders on restaurant or partner websites rather than inside Google. Rather than managing checkout itself, Google moved back to a role it does better: routing people to the right destination.

What that looks like today: when a diner clicks the “Order online” button on your Google listing, they see a list of options. Your direct ordering link, third-party platforms, or both can appear here depending on what’s connected to your Google Business Profile (GBP). Google gives you the ability to mark one of those options as “Preferred by Business.” That designation changes the display, the visual hierarchy, and the likelihood that a diner clicks your link instead of a competitor’s.

As of 2026, the redirect-only model is the standard. Google hasn’t reversed this. The “Preferred by Business” feature is the primary tool restaurants have to control where those clicks land, and most independent restaurants haven’t used it.

Who Controls Your Google Ordering Button Right Now

If you’ve never logged into your Google Business Profile and actively managed your ordering settings, the answer to that question is probably: someone other than you.

When Google built out its food ordering integration, it established connections with major delivery platforms. If your restaurant is listed on DoorDash or Grubhub, those providers may appear under your Google ordering button automatically, whether you put them there deliberately or not. Because of this, some restaurant owners have discovered they’re routing customers to platforms they didn’t consciously choose and wouldn’t choose as a default.

The economics are direct. Third-party platforms typically charge 15–30% commission on each order. A diner who clicks your Google listing and ends up ordering through a marketplace instead of your own site generates that commission on every transaction for as long as that’s the path of least resistance. Across a week of dinner orders, that’s a real revenue difference (we did the math).

Setting a preferred link changes the path. It doesn’t necessarily remove third-party options from your profile (there’s a separate step for that, covered below) but it gives your link priority placement and a visual badge that meaningfully changes how diners choose.

What the “Preferred by Business” Badge Actually Does

When you designate a preferred ordering link in GBP, that link appears with a “Preferred by business” label next to it in both Google Search and Maps results. For diners, it’s a clear signal: this is where the restaurant would like you to order.

Research from ChowNow found that diners are four times more likely to select an ordering option when it carries the “Preferred by Business” designation, compared to options without it. That’s a significant behavioral shift from just one simple dashboard setting.

The practical effect is that your direct ordering link moves from being one item in a list, where it’s competing for attention with every third-party app connected to your profile, to being the clearly marked first choice. Combined with a well-maintained Google Business Profile, the preferred link becomes a meaningful conversion point at one of the highest-intent moments in the customer journey: when someone is already on your listing and ready to place an order.

How to Set Your Preferred Ordering Link in Google Business Profile, Step by Step

This process takes under 10 minutes and requires only access to your Google Business Profile. Per Google’s official Food Ordering documentation, here’s exactly what to do:

• Step 1. Go to business.google.com and sign in with the Google account connected to your restaurant listing.
• Step 2. On your Business Profile dashboard, select Food ordering.
• Step 3. You’ll see a list of providers already connected to your profile. If your direct ordering link isn’t listed, select Add a link at the bottom of the list and enter your restaurant’s ordering URL.
• Step 4. Select the provider or link you want to designate as preferred.
• Step 5. Select Set as preferred.
• Step 6. Choose whether to apply the preference to pickup, delivery, or both — and toggle the appropriate options on.
• Step 7. Select Save.

Once saved, the “Preferred by business” badge will appear on your Google listing after a short processing window. These steps come directly from Google’s current support documentation and reflect the setup as it stands in 2026.

One point worth noting: to link to a first-party ordering page, you need one. This is where Beyond Menu’s commission-free online ordering gives you something concrete to point Google toward: a branded ordering page that customers land on, stay on, and order through without a marketplace taking a cut of every transaction.

How to Remove a Third-Party App from Your Google Ordering Button

Setting a preferred link helps, but some restaurant owners want to go further and remove specific platforms from their listing entirely. That’s also possible through the Food ordering section of your Business Profile.

Here’s the process, per Google’s documentation:

• Step 1. Go to your Business Profile at business.google.com.
• Step 2. Select Food ordering.
• Step 3. From the list, select the provider you want to remove.
• Step 4. Select Remove link.

Once you make the request, the provider is required to remove their link from your profile within five business days. If a provider doesn’t comply in that window, Google provides a violation reporting path through its support channel.

You can also disable food ordering entirely on your listing by toggling off “Accept orders on your profile” in the Food ordering section. This hides all ordering options from your Google presence and might be a useful reset if you’re rebuilding your ordering setup, but most restaurants will want to keep ordering active rather than go dark.

How Your GFO Link Fits Into Your Local Google Ranking

There’s a connection between your Google Food Ordering configuration and your local search ranking. It isn’t a direct ranking lever, but it is part of a broader profile health picture.

Google evaluates restaurant listings based on three core factors: relevance, distance, and prominence. Prominence is the factor most within your control, and it feeds on engagement signals like clicks, profile interactions, and how complete and current your listing appears. Research shows that complete Google Business Profiles receive seven times more clicks than incomplete ones. Your ordering link is one of several completeness signals that contribute to this picture.

An active, correctly configured ordering link (particularly one that drives traffic back to a first-party page) signals that your listing is engaged and current. That matters alongside the other signals: fresh photos, steady review responses, regular Google Posts, and accurate hours. None of these individually determines your ranking, but together they build the kind of active profile that Google’s algorithm treats as a living business rather than a static directory entry.

For the full breakdown of what’s moving the needle for restaurant Maps rankings in 2026, our guide to ranking higher on Google Maps covers exactly that. And for restaurants that want ongoing support with the technical side of visibility (things like local citation management, schema, GBP optimization) Beyond Menu’s Restaurant SEO services handle the consistency work that most owners don’t have time to maintain manually.

Fixing your Google Food Ordering link is a 10-minute task. But the reason it matters points to something larger: every online touchpoint where a customer encounters your restaurant is either working toward a direct relationship or working against one. The GFO button is one of the most visible examples of that choice in action.

When a diner clicks your Google listing and lands on your own ordering page, you get the order at full margin, you capture their contact information, and you have a path to bring them back through your own channels. When they land on a marketplace, you get a portion of the sale and none of the relationship.

This logic runs through your entire online presence: your website, your email list, your social platforms, and your direct ordering strategy as a whole. The GFO button is the entry point. Where it sends people is the decision that compounds across thousands of orders.

Start Directing Your Google Clicks Where They Belong

Your Google ordering button is already active and already sending diners somewhere. The only question is whether you’ve chosen the destination. Setting a preferred link takes under 10 minutes and costs nothing. If you want a first-party ordering page worth linking to — one that loads fast, works on mobile, and converts better than any marketplace — Beyond Menu’s online ordering platform is built for exactly this.