Arif Rahman

SEO CASE STUDY

Haji Biryani (hajibiriyani.com): A Real SEO Audit of Old Dhaka's Most Recognized Biryani Brand

This is an independent, unsolicited audit I put together to demonstrate how I'd approach local SEO for a real Dhaka business. I have no working relationship with Haji Biryani. Every recommendation uses conditional language ("I would recommend," "if implemented") because I haven't run this strategy myself. No rankings, traffic, or results are claimed anywhere in this document.
01 — EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Executive Summary

Haji Biryani is a genuinely famous, 87-year-old Old Dhaka institution with strong offline word-of-mouth. Its website, however, functions as little more than a static brochure: three pages, no menu page, no blog despite a labelled "Blogs" section, broken links, and heavy unoptimized video. For a brand this well-known, the website is currently capturing almost none of the organic search demand that exists for it.

What's working

Real heritage story, a genuinely famous name, an active Google Maps presence, and hundreds of third-party reviews on platforms like Tripadvisor.

What's not

No dedicated menu, location, or content pages. Broken links. Heavy media. No schema. A second branch that's invisible on the website entirely.

The core opportunity

The brand equity already exists offline. Local SEO here is mostly about not wasting it — giving Google a structured, complete picture of a business people already trust.

02 — WEBSITE OVERVIEW

Website Overview

Domainhajibiriyani.com
PlatformWordPress, built with the Slider Revolution page-builder plugin
Pages foundHome, About us, Contacts us — three pages total, no separate menu page
Meta dataTitle tag present ("Hajibiriyani – Since 1939"); no meta description found in the page head
MediaAutoplaying homepage video (self-hosted .mp4), plus six embedded YouTube videos on the homepage
Contact infoPhone number formatted two different ways between the header and footer
03 — BUSINESS ANALYSIS

Business Analysis

Haji Biryani (also known as Hazir Biriani) has operated from 70 Kazi Alauddin Road, Nazira Bazar, Old Dhaka since 1939, now run by its third generation. A second branch operates in Motijheel. Its signature dish is a khashi (goat) biryani served on jackfruit leaf, alongside borhani and soft drinks.

Real third-party proof

Public review platforms show hundreds of reviews and a strong average rating, placing it among the higher-ranked restaurants in Dhaka by review volume, as of this research.

A genuine brand-protection problem

Reviews on multiple platforms mention unrelated shops in other parts of Dhaka using the "Haji Biryani" name, causing real customer confusion about which location is the original.

04 — WEBSITE SNAPSHOT

Website Snapshot

ElementCurrent State
NavigationHome / About us / Contacts us only
MenuFour items shown on the homepage; no full menu with categories or prices
LocationsOnly the Old Dhaka address is shown; the Motijheel branch isn't represented
"Blogs" sectionLabelled "Blogs" but contains only embedded videos, no written articles
LinksFounder-generation photo links and footer social icons point to empty anchors
Schema markupNone detected for Restaurant, Menu, or LocalBusiness
05 — CURRENT SEO PROBLEMS

Current SEO Problems

No content depth

Three pages can't compete for the range of searches a famous 87-year-old restaurant should be capturing.

Missing meta description

Google is likely auto-generating the snippet for search results, which the business doesn't control.

Heavy, unoptimized media

An autoplaying self-hosted video plus six YouTube embeds on one page is a significant, avoidable page-speed cost.

Second location invisible

The Motijheel branch has no presence on the website, so it can't rank for searches near that branch.

06 — TECHNICAL SEO AUDIT

Technical SEO Audit

Issue: Autoplaying self-hosted video plus multiple YouTube embeds on the homepage.
Why it matters: Video-heavy homepages are one of the most common mobile page-speed problems I see, and mobile speed directly affects local rankings.
Recommended fix: Replace the autoplay hero video with a lightweight image, and move video content to a dedicated "Our Story" page loaded on demand.
Expected benefit: faster mobile loadPriority: HighDifficulty: Medium
Issue: Broken anchor links (founder photos, footer social icons pointing to empty "#" links).
Why it matters: Broken links hurt user trust and waste crawl budget, and are an easy, visible EEAT signal to a first-time visitor.
Recommended fix: Either link the social icons to real, active profiles or remove them; link founder photos to a real "Our Story" page.
Expected benefit: cleaner UX and crawlPriority: MediumDifficulty: Low
NAP consistency check: The phone number is formatted differently in the header versus the footer of the same page.
Why it matters: Inconsistent NAP, even on-page, undermines the clean signal Google looks for when verifying business details.
Recommended fix: Standardize the phone number format sitewide and match it exactly to the Google Business Profile listing.
Expected benefit: stronger verification signalPriority: MediumDifficulty: Low
Mobile page-speed benchmark to target: under 2.5–3 seconds load time, consistent with what I'd check via PageSpeed Insights once implementation starts.
07 — ON-PAGE SEO AUDIT

On-Page SEO Audit

Title tag

Present and brand-focused, but doesn't include a location or dish keyword that people are actually searching for.

Meta description

Missing entirely, which means Google writes the search snippet instead of the business.

Heading structure

Homepage mixes marketing headings ("A Mouthful of Happiness") with no clear H1 built around a searchable term like "biryani in Old Dhaka."

"Blogs" section mismatch

Labelled as blog content but contains only videos, a missed opportunity for real articles that could rank for informational searches.

08 — LOCAL SEO AUDIT

Local SEO Audit

Framed against Google's own three local ranking factors: relevance, distance, and prominence.

Google Business Profile

An active Maps listing clearly exists (it's embedded on the Contacts page), which is a solid foundation. I'd want to verify categories, service-area accuracy for the Motijheel branch, photo freshness, and whether the Q&A section is being monitored, since these are usually the first things a heritage food business neglects once it's established.

NAP & Citation Consistency

The on-page phone number inconsistency (noted in the Technical Audit) likely extends to directory listings too. A full citation audit across Bangladeshi and food-delivery directories would confirm this.

Reputation & Review Management

Public reviews are genuinely strong in volume and sentiment, which is rare and valuable. But recurring themes in reviews about brand impersonation (unrelated shops using the same name) suggest the business would benefit from actively addressing this in owner responses and on-site content, rather than leaving customers to sort it out themselves.

09 — COMPETITOR REVIEW

Competitor Review

Other well-known Old Dhaka biryani names (Hanif Biryani, Bismillah Kabab Ghor, and others in the same Nazira Bazar cluster) compete directly for the same "biryani old Dhaka" and "Nazira Bazar biryani" searches.

Backlink gap

Local food blogs, "best biryani in Dhaka" roundup articles, and Bangladeshi food YouTubers regularly link to Old Dhaka biryani spots. These are realistic, non-spammy link targets worth pursuing directly.

Content gap

Competitors in this cluster generally have the same thin-website problem, which is actually an opportunity: being the first to publish a real menu page, real location pages, and real articles would likely be a meaningful differentiator here.

10 — KEYWORD STRATEGY

Keyword & Content Strategy

CategoryExamples
Won (likely already ranking, brand-driven)"haji biryani," "hajir biryani old dhaka"
Missed (real demand, no page targets it)"biryani nazira bazar," "biryani old dhaka," "haji biryani motijheel"
Shared opportunity (competitors also rank)"best biryani in dhaka," "chevon biryani dhaka"
Voice of Customer angle: reviews repeatedly ask "is this the real Haji Biryani?" That's a real customer question worth its own FAQ/article, not just a keyword.
11 — MENU / SERVICE PAGE STRATEGY

Menu & Service Page Strategy

For a restaurant, the "service page" equivalent is a proper, crawlable menu.

Full Menu Page

A dedicated page listing every item, price, and description, replacing the current four-item homepage snippet.

Signature Dish Page

A standalone page for the chevon biryani itself, since it's the actual search-demand driver.

Our Story Page

Moving the three-generation history and videos off the homepage into its own page, both for load speed and for EEAT depth.

12 — LOCATION PAGE STRATEGY

Location Page Strategy

Two real locations exist, but the website only represents one.

Old Dhaka (Nazira Bazar) page

The main heritage location — already implied by the homepage, but deserves its own dedicated URL with its own Maps embed and hours.

Motijheel branch page

Needs a genuinely distinct page, not a copy of the Old Dhaka page with the city name swapped — different hours, different parking/access notes, its own photos.

13 — SITE ARCHITECTURE

Recommended Site Architecture

HomeRebuilt, lightweight hero, no autoplay video
MenuFull item list with prices
Our StoryHistory, three-generation legacy, videos moved here
Locations → Old Dhaka / MotijheelTwo distinct location pages
BlogReal articles (see Content Cluster Strategy)
ContactKept, with NAP standardized
14 — INTERNAL LINKING PLAN

Internal Linking Plan

Homepage links to both location pages and the menu. Each location page links back to the menu and to "Our Story." Blog articles link into the signature dish page and the relevant location page, so authority flows from content back to the pages that actually need to rank.

15 — CONTENT CLUSTER STRATEGY

Content Cluster Strategy

"Is this the real Haji Biryani?"

Directly addresses the brand-confusion problem visible in reviews — genuinely useful content, not just an SEO exercise.

The history of chevon biryani in Old Dhaka

Builds on the real three-generation story already on the homepage.

Nazira Bazar food guide

Positions the brand within its neighborhood, useful for both locals and visitors.

16 — SCHEMA RECOMMENDATIONS

Schema Recommendations

Restaurant/LocalBusiness schema for each location (with matched NAP), Menu schema tied to the new menu page, and BreadcrumbList across the new site structure. I'd validate every schema block with Google's Rich Results Test before publishing, as a standard QA step.

17 — CONVERSION OPTIMIZATION

Conversion Optimization

Fix broken CTAs first

Broken social links and dead photo links are conversion leaks before any traffic growth even matters.

Add delivery platform links

If the business uses Pathao Food, Foodpanda, or similar, these should be visible and linked, not just implied.

Click-to-call and directions

Simple, mobile-first buttons for calling and getting directions to each specific branch.

18 — TRUST & EEAT

Trust & EEAT Improvements

The real three-generation story is a genuine EEAT asset that's currently underused, buried under generic marketing copy. I'd expand it with specifics already public (founding year, succession, the "never changed the recipe" detail the current owner has spoken about), and add a "how to verify you're at the real location" note directly addressing the impersonation problem found in reviews.

19 — 90-DAY ROADMAP

90-Day Roadmap

Week 1–2Baseline audit, GBP cleanup for both locations, fix broken links and NAP inconsistency.
Week 3–4Build the Menu page and Old Dhaka + Motijheel location pages.
Month 2Publish "Our Story" page, add schema, begin the content cluster (starting with the brand-confusion article).
Month 3Ongoing weekly review-response cadence, GBP photo/post cycle, monitor early ranking movement on near-page-1 terms.
20 — PRIORITY MATRIX

Priority Matrix

FixPriorityDifficulty
Fix broken links + NAP consistencyHighLow
Remove autoplay video / speed fixHighMedium
Build Menu + Location pagesHighMedium
Schema implementationMediumLow
Content cluster / blogMediumMedium
Backlink outreach to food blogsLow (start after content exists)Medium
21 — EXPECTED OUTCOMES

Expected Outcomes

No traffic or ranking numbers are projected here, since I haven't implemented this. If implemented, I'd expect the earliest visible signal to be micro-conversions: more Maps direction requests and GBP phone calls for the Motijheel branch specifically, since it currently has almost no digital presence to build from.
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What I would NOT do: buy reviews, stuff the business name with keywords, or copy the Old Dhaka page onto the Motijheel URL with just the area name swapped.

22 — FINAL CTA
Like this SEO strategy for your business? Let's discuss how I would approach your website.
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