Subdomain vs internal path: which restaurant QR URL is right

A QR on the table only has to open. A URL people type, save, or Google has to belong to you.

That is the real split in Ordenala’s plans — not “more features” in the abstract. Basic puts the digital menu on an internal path. Standard and Premium give you a subdomain and an info site in front of the menu. If you care about restaurant SEO, that difference is the product.

What guests actually type after they leave

They do not remember a long path. They remember a name.

If the only job of the restaurant QR is “scan at the table,” an internal path is enough. The sticker does the discovery. The menu does the rest: photos, prices by location, allergens, languages. No app.

If you also want someone at a hotel to search your name and land on hours, a map, and then the carta, you want a URL that looks like a site: a subdomain, with an info page, then the menu.

Paper never had this problem. Paper also never ranked.

Internal path (Basic): the honest table QR

Basic is for venues that need the digital menu working this week:

QR on an internal path
Two locations (enough for bar + terrace in many rooms)
One photo per dish
No custom logo inside the QR

You still update without reprinting. You still start without signup and pay at publish. You still have a real menu, not a PDF.

You do not get a branded subdomain or the info site. Search will not treat you like a small website. For a neighborhood bar that lives on walk-ins and stickers, that can be the right trade.

Subdomain + info site (Standard and Premium): a place Google can understand

Standard and Premium put the restaurant on your own subdomain. The QR can open the menu or the info site — hours, location, social, a presentation of the place — then the same digital menu behind it.

That is what “restaurant SEO” means here. Not magic rankings. A stable URL, a page with business information, and a menu that stays current so you are not indexing a PDF from last winter.

On these plans you also get:

More locations (4 on Standard, 8 on Premium)
Translations (up to 6 / up to 10 languages)
More photos per dish
A custom logo on the QR
On Premium, guest comments to the email you set

Tourist areas and hotels feel this immediately: the guest looks you up from the room, then scans again at breakfast. Same brand, same carta.

SEO is not why you switch from paper. Currency is.

Even on Basic, the win is the live menu: hide a dish, change a terrace price, mark the official 14 allergens, add a language later if you upgrade.

The subdomain is for when the QR is not only a table tool but a public address. If you are sharing the link on Instagram and WhatsApp, a short subdomain is easier to trust than a generic path.

Choose the URL after you have seen the menu

You build first, without an account. You see the preview. Then you pick path vs subdomain as part of publish — and you only occupy a name that is paid and active.

Do not buy SEO theater before you have dishes, photos, and honest prices. Do not stay on a path forever if you want the restaurant to exist as a site.