Search "best breweries in [any major city]" and you'll see the same pattern: a handful of editorial roundups from local blogs, travel sites, and publications dominate the first page. Getting your brewery into those articles does two things at once — it drives direct foot traffic from people using those lists to plan their visits, and it earns you a backlink from a high-authority site that boosts your Google rankings.
Most brewery owners assume these lists are random or based purely on quality. They're not. There's a playbook for getting onto them. Here it is.
Search the following phrases for your city and make a spreadsheet of every article that comes up:
For each article, note: the publication name, when it was last updated, whether your brewery is mentioned, and whether it has a contact email or form. This is your target list.
Writers and editors choose breweries that give them something to say. Before you reach out to anyone, make sure your website has: a clear About page with your brewery's story, high-resolution photos available for editorial use, a description of what makes you distinctive (your flagship beers, your taproom vibe, your location, your origin story), and accurate hours and address. A writer who has to dig for basic information will skip you for the brewery whose site gave them everything in 60 seconds.
Find the contact for the writer or editor who published the list. A short, direct email works best. Do not send a press release. Say something like: "Hi [name], I saw your roundup of the best breweries in [city] — great list. We're [Brewery Name], a [style] brewery in [neighborhood] that opened [year]. We're known for [one distinctive thing]. Happy to arrange a visit or provide photos if you're ever updating the article." That's it. Short, specific, no ask. Writers update these articles regularly and welcome easy additions.
Sites like Yelp, TripAdvisor, Untappd, and local tourism bureau websites have structured "best of" lists that anyone can submit to or optimize for. Make sure your brewery is listed on all of them with complete, accurate information. TripAdvisor in particular drives significant foot traffic from out-of-town visitors, and a strong ranking there often feeds back into editorial coverage as writers use it as a research source.
The most scalable way to get onto lists is to be the kind of brewery that writers naturally discover. That means having a website with real content — a blog, a beer description page, an events calendar — that shows up when writers research your city's craft beer scene. A brewery website with no content is invisible to editorial research. One with 20 helpful, specific pages about your beers and your taproom is what gets you quoted.
Every time a "best breweries in [city]" article links to your website, Google interprets it as a vote of authority. A single link from a well-trafficked local publication is worth more for your Google ranking than months of technical SEO tweaks. This is why getting onto these lists isn't just a marketing play — it's one of the most effective SEO moves a brewery can make.
Track what works: When you get onto a list, use UTM parameters in the link if possible, or just watch your Google Analytics for referral traffic spikes. Knowing which publications drive real visitors helps you prioritize future outreach.
Every outreach email you send points back to your website. If that site is slow, hard to navigate, missing your story, or has outdated hours, you're losing the writers who click through. A strong brewery website is the foundation that makes every other marketing effort — list outreach, email, GBP, social — convert at a higher rate.
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