I’ve been thinking about the growing power of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) experts and their advice. Hiring them has been a powerful way for food bloggers to learn the SEO rules for food blogs and increase their readership.
I’m all for that. I try for good SEO in my posts as well.
But do the changes these experts advise also increase the quality of a blog post? Can you have both great SEO and a great post?
Maybe.
Here are 3 SEO rules for food blogs that affect a food blog’s quality:
1. Fix the big blocks of grey text your readers see on their phones.
True, you should do that. But not all solutions work.
My least favorite idea is that you should break up your text with gimmicks. Throwing capital letters and four exclamation points in the middle of your paragraph does not improve your writing. And all caps makes you look like you’re shouting.
2. To become a recipe database, your blog needs lots of recipes, including “vegan” and “gluten free.”
These days many food bloggers want readers to see their sites as recipe databases rather than individual blogs. So categories of food become more important. It’s fine if your recipes naturally qualify for everything from keto to plant-based foods, but not if you force it.
Here’s an example. I read something like this on a food blog: “If you are gluten free, substitute the bread called for in this sandwich with gluten-free bread.”
Now the blogger can list this recipe under both the gluten-free and sandwich categories.
But her gluten-free readers already know how to substitute regular bread with gluten free bread. They’ve been doing it for years. So how did this note help the reader?
A recipe needs more than a simple swap (gluten-free bread for regular; leave out the meat for vegan) to be of any real benefit.
3. And the biggest of the SEO rules for food blogs: Write long posts.
As the experts tell us, Google likes long blog posts.
I’m fine with that. But many food bloggers standardize their content before putting the recipe at the end. Their long blog posts are starting to all look the same. I see this formula over and over:
- The description of the dish, which goes above the lead photo
- The key ingredients, with explanations about them
- Narrative about how to make the dish
- A list of ways to customize the dish
- Links to similar recipes
- And finally, the recipe.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t need this much discussion on how to make simple dishes like vegetable soup, pancakes or salsa. And much of the content seems obvious, generic or forced.
It’s not that I just want to “get to the recipe,” but I miss the days when there was some voice or original content. And I don’t understand how these blogs stand out from each other when they follow the same SEO formulas.
So that’s my take on the new class of food blogs. If you feel I am hopelessly naive, or I don’t understand this new corporate wave of food blogging, tell me.
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You nailed it Dianne! I think the user experience is important, and some nice structure to posts so Google can find it, but not losing the soul of the reason we write content in the first place. And also not adding content that isn’t needed just for an extra keyword.
Thank you Sean. Oh yes, “adding content that’s not needed just for an extra keyword.” That’s a good one! And not worth it.
Yes! Dianne and Sean D Martin this is exactly what I’ve been thinking over the past year. I feel as if my posts are “forced” and can read somewhat generic in order to comply with SEO; rather than an organically written story that might inspire the reader. I’ve become disenchanted with food blogging for this very reason.
Oh that’s too bad, Karista. I’m hoping there is a way to do SEO and still write in a way that makes you and others happy.
Yikes for rule 3! I like when the recipe blogs give you a link to skip straight to the recipe. Then those who are fans of a particular recipe site can still enjoy the “life story” of the writer. I’ve never used gimmicks for rule 1. For rule 3, my posts are naturally long for restaurant reviews which include ambiance as well as my food thoughts.
All of the blogs I looked up have a “jump to recipe.” But how sad! In what other kind of writing do we slave over our work and then say, “But you don’t have to read it. Here’s a jump.” And we have made it free for people to read.
Glad to read you don’t use those crutches in No. 1.
Naturally long is fine. That’s different from this kind of formatting. I’m sure you have a format for your reviews as well.
I so appreciate reading this so much, Dianne. We spend so much time to create free and valuable content and recipes….. I agree with you that “jump to recipe” is very sad!
Dianne, I must admit I’ve never paid attention to SEO. I have no idea what my blog looks like to readers viewing on their cell phone (Maybe you could take a peek and let me know?!). I never add silly, meaningless swaps in order to call a recipe gluten-free or meatless or whatever. And I write posts as long, or short, as they need to be. I’m not a real chatty person, so some of my posts might not be long enough to please the search engines. Some of my recipes are long because I like to give thorough directions so that cooks at any level of experience can succeed. If that makes search engines happy or unhappy, so be it! I always appreciate your posts–informative and to-the-point.
Well that’s fine, Jean. You are not trying to make an income from the blog. In fact, I don’t see any ads. So you have the freedom to do your blog any way you like. And it looks like quality content to me.
I agree that you should do what you like with your blog, but if you’re going to take the time to write recipes and content, it’s worth doing some things to make sure people looking for it, can find it. (Since you’ve gone through all that trouble!) Making your site mobile-friendly and making sure your URL is “https” (not “http”) means that Google will index it & that your blog is more secure for readers. Those are two “passive” things that you can do to your site, that will help people find and use it. But there is a limit to how much everyone wants to do, regarding keywords and other SEO things, a number of which I don’t do, either, because that’s not the main focus on my blog. But since the content/recipes are there, I want people looking for them to be able to find them.
I went through kind of a grieving stage when I decided to jump back into food blogging a few years ago after a hiatus. Everything had changed. It took me a while to *finally* realize that the greater internet does NOT want personal stories, let alone attention to good writing or real culinary expertise. Yes, true and sad that the “soul” is gone. Instead we are producing a product for users who just want simple instructions for a recipe. The new blog structure you point out is necessary not only for optimizing SEO (that’s the way Google – hopefully- points user queries to our sites), but to make the posts long enough for the ads from our ad networks to be visible. Paying the bills is real world priority but still, there are many creators like myself doing our best to deliver quality recipes and content in this very, very crowded niche.
Hi Karen! Welcome back to blogging.
The problem with moving a blog to a recipe database is that your target reader is someone who uses the search engine to find a recipe and couldn’t care less if they get Allrecipes.com or your blog. They are not looking for your blog.They are looking for a recipe. And then that person has to be converted to a return reader who reads your blog. That’s a challenge.
If there’s no personality, and these blogs all sound the same and look the same, what is the incentive to come back?
Fortunately, your blog has a personality, from the blog posts I read just now. Congratuations! Seriously.
Also, media companies are opposed to the Jump to Recipe button, because it bypasses the ads.
Oh, I find it all just exhausting. I struggle to keep up with all the different things I’m supposed to be paying attention to.
I don’t monetise my blog, so simply write what I want to write and post it – but lately I’m wondering why I bother.
Yes I think we all go through these stages of “why bother” and being exhausted with the whole thing. And then, we continue.
It’s nice to write whatever you like. The bloggers I’m speaking of are more strategic.
Hi Dianne, A few months back, I wrote a post about my frustration with this, too, concluding that what I will continue to write what I want, when I want, and how I want, not worrying about, SEO, ratings and rankings, that have nothing to do with my readers getting to know me, and me getting to know my readers. The right people, seem to find me. https://artofthepie.com/over-venting-or-not/
I just read that post and I love it, Kate! Also that someonen put an entire (famous) Mary Oliver poem in her comment.
The critical difference between you and these bloggers I’m referring to is that you are not trying to make money from your blog. That gives you so much freedom!
Thank you, Dianne! And you are right…I’ve never played for pay, and it does give me freedom.
I’ve been rereading “Remembrance of Things Paris, 60 Years of Writing From Gourmet”, edited by Ruth Reichl. Of course, some of the stuff is dated, or puzzling, but mostly I just sit there reveling in the language that builds pictures and scents and feelings all around me. Would those writers be bloggers now? Dunno, but I think Kate has the right of it “Write what you want, and they will come”.
I don’t think they are the same kind of writers. That’s fine. Maybe super-senuous writers have no idea how to write a good recipe.
There’s room for everyone, except that right now SEO consultants seem to be trying to squish everyone into the same dull, obvious writing and I don’t like it.
I think a lot of it is how people read right now. When the Gourmet book/stories came out, people didn’t read stuff on the internet; they read books, newspapers and magazines. Now people are reading on mobile phones, sitting on the subway, in doctor’s waiting rooms, and in coffee shops, so shorter articles and paragraph breaks are more welcome and the longer articles are less-compelling to readers. I think you have to give people a reason to read something longer, which magazines like the New Yorker and some long-form articles on sites like Eater do. I remember when blogs started people, wrote excellent longer articles and posts (like Orangette, Traveler’s Lunchbox, and Wednesday Chef,) but it’s quite a bit of work and nowadays the trend for food blogs is to go after SEO, as Dianne pointed out, rather than captivating an audience.
This sounds reasonable, David.
I’m not against long or short posts. I’m against generic writing. Or writing that’s clearly written to hit a word count, not to be of any interest.
Nice read and thanks for sharing!
> It’s not that I just want to “get to the recipe,” but I miss the days when there was some voice or original content.
For every one of those, there are just as many people who complain about voice or how I used to make this recipe with meemaw. And dang it, I am more than happy to tell meemaw recipe stories! Doris would have liked that.
I feel like this is a bit of a double-edged sword. I agree that it is important to add our own voice, but I also think it can become a problem where we FORCE the addition of our own voice as part of the ‘formula’.
We need to make content, dangit! Some weeks, the writing just doesn’t seem to go as smoothly. We still make that content. Demanding perfection is a masochist’s chore in the art of food blogging, imo. Also, I think for many of us (not me), writing is not the thing we love doing, but a necessary step to share recipes, photos, and video.
I know I definitely have my days where writing feels like an alley fight with an angry mountain lion.
> much of the content seems obvious, generic or forced.
I am not going to talk about generic or forced, but I do have a point of contention with things that ‘seem obvious.’ For an experienced home cook, I might not need to mention that they need to make sure their chicken hits 165 or point out that they should be careful when dealing with hot oil. Not all readers, however, are equally equipped to answer these questions and of different experience levels.
Sometimes I am asked questions that makes me wonder how people make it through the day. Then again, there are plenty of things I know nothing about. When I look up something like “how to install a doorbell”, I need somebody to walk me through it very explicitly. Even then, it will still be 4 trips to the hardware store.
Some of the questions I answer likely do seem obvious to many readers, but I want this to be reachable for all users. Or maybe the users that see the recipe (by hitting the button) and then decide they need to look closer for more detail.
Anyhoo… thanks for sharing and I hope you like the feedback!
I do like the feedback and thank you so much for writing a long and thoughtful post, Ben.
Some bloggers confuse voice and story. Voice can be carried in the way you write your sentences. A story is a piece inside your writing that stands alone. It can be several sentences long. You don’t have to write stories to make your post interesting to read, and that is what many readers complain about. But voice can make all the difference.
I love this sentence you wrote: “I know I definitely have my days where writing feels like an alley fight with an angry mountain lion.” That is voice!
Re what seems obvious, since most of us cook regularly, we make assumptions about our skills and understanding. But I could easily do a parody post based on some of the posts I’ve read that have so much extranneous writing in them. Ex. “What is soup? It’s a pot of water that has vegetables and a protein in it. Have you ever made it?”
Thanks for clarifying the difference between voice and story.
Also, I am now subscribed. Other than eating and drinking, writing is my favorite part of all of this and I want to be able to do it better!
Oh thank you Ben! When you have time, click on the category of Writing and you’ll find all kinds of posts.
Thank you for addressing this issue! I totally agree that food blogs are starting to become too generic. I still try to write for my readers, even though it’s getting harder and harder with all of the SEO rules.
I don’t know why all this blandness is a standard that bloggers aspire to. Maybe because they see and think everyone should do it. Thanks Deb.
Gosh, now I understand why blogs have gotten longer and longer. Perhaps I’m the last to know SEO loves long blogs. But I’m with you , I don’t have time or interest to read repetitive information. (you are welcome to nail me on it if I write that way, Dianne!)
Nope, you are not guilty of a too-long post with obvious information in it, Rosemary.
Well, I guess my blog is an example what not to do in all three areas. I don’t even know for sure what #1 means. Do I even want to become a recipe database? Since I want to write a cookbook, maybe? But what if it’s a non-traditional cookbook. I like those. And long posts? Ha. Well, a few of mine might qualify, but mostly I spit out my thoughts and write out the recipe, hoping to make my readers laugh or cry, visit somewhere new, or make something delicious. Am I screwed? https://randomsweetnessbaking.com As always, I love your posts, Dianne.
I went through a phase where I was trying to do the SEO thing, and now I just don’t give a flip. I miss the stories…the human connection and the enjoyment of reading other blogs. Now I’m bored by my own blog posts and barely read the posts of others because I just can’t.
I feel like maybe there needs to be a new term separating out Blogs from Recipe Sites. Because the blogs of 14 years ago when I started no longer exist and instead are formulaic recipe databases, which isn’t what a blog is. If those blogs do exist I want to know because I’ll make a list and visit every day.
Many people aren’t interested in SEO and are writing for their own pleasure and entertainment — with a good recipe, I hope! I’m not saying they’re superior to everyone else. They just aren’t trying to have a business based on their blogs.
Re being bored by your own blog, yeah, I’ve been there. I never want to be “phoning it in.” I know the bloggers who do those super-long posts work very hard on them.
I agree with all your points but especially with the one about the generic nature of many food blogs these days. I miss the days when it was easy to find good, engaging blogs that revered in the joys of food and how it brings people together.
What seems to be lost to some bloggers is that there needn’t be a single style blog. There can be those formulaic blogs and there can be narrative food blogs too. Food Network Magazine isn’t trying to be Saveur, so why should the food blogging industry homogenize? That’s the glory of each of us being our own writer and having our own publication. My readers — the ones I want to attract and keep — are the ones who enjoy the narrative as well as the recipe. They do exist.
I guess the difference between the way I run my business and the ways some others do is that I am focusing narrowly on a niche of people who want more than a forgettable rehashing of ingredients and steps without personality or passion. I won’t attract millions of readers this way, but that’s not what I want. I want to attract a devoted, engaged audience — it’s far more rewarding.
I think they exist also. All this talk about how everyone “just wants to get to the recipe” can’t be true. But I am getting to that place myself, because the extensive preamble on these kinds of posts is not worth reading when it’s so generic.
Also, in other segments of online writing, we aren’t seeing this same formulaic, simplistic, repetitive method of writing in the name of “good SEO.” You can use a keyphrase well — that topical intro paragraph, keeping it in the headline, peppering it a few times in the narrative — and also have natural writing and storytelling in a post. Good SEO and good writing aren’t mutually exclusive.
I certainly hope they’re not. Someone else said on Facebook that they have seen this kind of forumulaic writing in other mediums, though.
I don’t know about this: “But her gluten-free readers already know how to substitute regular bread with gluten-free bread. ”
I get messages from people saying they don’t like cloves, so can they leave it out of the gingerbread batter or can they use walnuts instead of pecans in chocolate chip cookies. I used to assume those things were evident, but I learned that they ‘re not
Sure. Those are reasonable substitutions. Since you were a pastry chef, they seem obvious.
But I really have seen sentences like that, and the point is to expand the database to have a gluten-free category of recipes.
In these times it gives a lot of impression that is written not by art or by vocation, it seems to me that everything is derived to monetize .. those first lines full of passion and art are missed, today the theme of optimization and position have degenerated a bit to the writers
Oh I don’t know. I use SEO to improve my posts and I am certainly not making anything close to a living wage from my blog. Still, this post got a green checkmark, and I aspire to those.
I’m so confused by #2. You clearly don’t have allergies, intolerances or a large following that have them. That’s great! For the rest of us, we want to see the recipes categorized as gluten-free if they’re gluten-free. Even if that means the only thing we have to do is buy gluten-free bread. I’d be super annoyed if I were browsing the gluten-free tag on a blog and discovered that a lot of recipes were missing because making them gluten-free is simple. That’s absurd.
And as a blogger, you absolutely need to clearly spell out that you need to use gluten-free bread to make the recipe gluten-free.
“But her gluten-free readers already know how to substitute regular bread with gluten free bread. They’ve been doing it for years. So how did this note help the reader?”
Not everyone on the internet who is looking at a recipe has been gluten-free for years. People are diagnosed every day and some people really know nothing about it. Also, not everyone who is making these recipes is gluten-free. Some people like to make food for their friends and family. They need these things pointed out.
“A recipe needs more than a simple swap (gluten-free bread for regular; leave out the meat for vegan) to be of any real benefit.” So I shouldn’t point out that you need to use gluten-free soy sauce to make the recipe gluten-free? And I shouldn’t categorize it as gluten-free, either, because that’s such an easy sub? What a bizarre thought.
Actually I do have intolerances.
True, not everyone has had an intolerance for years.
Maybe I’m wrong, but I think most gluten-free people know that there is such a thing as gluten-free bread.
I’m not sure who says you need to do these things, but that’s not my experience and we get millions of page views mostly from SEO and I attend the top SEO conference. I don’t who these so called “experts” are you refer to.
They speak at all the blogger conferences and many bloggers hire them. I even have a blog post by one of them at the bottom of this post.
I only publish recipes on my blog when I believe I have something important (useful) to say about them. I absolutely make more money on a post when it’s longer, and Google likes it better (SEO), so I haven’t written anything short in years. That doesn’t mean that I write much of any filler (like you described food bloggers do), and I’ve never been one to tell unrelated stories in a recipe post.
If I don’t believe I have something to teach my readers, I won’t write about a recipe. So I’ll wait until I find an interesting angle on a recipe, or maybe just leave it on the virtual shelf forever.
For example, I rarely blog about basic recipes that are naturally gluten free (for my gluten free blog)—even though I of course make them for my family. If I have nothing to add to the Internet that can’t be found elsewhere, I won’t write about it on my blog. If I ever develop a unique way to make or use a basic recipe, I’ll write about it in that context.
It’s only marginally significant, anyway, since most people don’t read the post anyway. I know that because the questions they pose in their comments are usually answered in the post. At least then I get to refer them to that portion of the post! I never take it personally, though. If I’m doing my job right, they feel like they really know me, but of course they don’t.
Most food bloggers who have moved past hobby blogging are no longer telling unrelated stories in a post. That ship has sailed, due to the public derision over the years. Now the derision is about “taking a long time to get to the recipe.”
Your approach sounds sensible to me. It’s good that you don’t take it personally when they have not — clearly — read the post. I know it drives some bloggers nuts.
It’s been quite a while Dianne that one of your posts has gotten me this riled up, but this one has done it. The things you suggest to do have nothing to do with reality. I’ve been attending PubCon, the top SEO conference for a decade now and have listened to the top experts on what to do. Recently I implemented some changes to our site that I learned at PubCon and our December SEO traffic was up 96% over last year. Trust me, it isn’t those 3 things that you need to do. I suggest that if people want to learn SEO, they attend Pubcon. It is held in February in Austin, March in Miami and October in Las Vegas. I will be in Miami this year but I have attended all of them over the years. That’s where you will learn SEO. Here us a link: https://www.pubcon.com What you wrote about may be called something else, but it’s not SEO and it isn’t going to drive search traffic.
I’m pleased that they are not recommending any of these things, Rick! Maybe food bloggers should be going to this conference instead of the ones aimed at them. It has certainly worked for you.
A lot of interesting concepts to mull over. I wrote this almost a year ago, it’s germane to the topic at hand. Personally I adore a good, old school food blog. I understand each business owner needs to do what’s right for them and cater to their strengths. But I guess I haven’t lost all hope there’s still a market for an authentic unique food blog voice? Mine’s still a work in progress. Thanks Dianne!
https://jalapenosandanchovies.com/2019/02/26/chicken-wontons-with-crunchy-chile-oil/
I hadn’t read this blog post until now! Thank you Julie.
Don’t worry, most food bloggers are still hobby bloggers when they start, so there’s still time to discover an original voice.
Every post is an ‘SEO keyword’ now. You’ll never see something like a chocolate strawberry mousse cake, as delicious as that sounds, because it would confuse Google. Chocolate cake or strawberry mousse, but not two in one. So boring.
The reality is that social media referrals are drying up with Facebook and Pinterest algorithms dissuading users from exiting their platforms to go to the web. So SEO has become a lifeline for many blogs unfortunately. It feels like it may get worse before it gets better.
Hmm. I like this example of how it works.
It will definitely get worse before it gets better. Especially when so much money is at stake.
Dianne, Thanks for bringing up this discussion. Like many of these commenters, I just keep putting up posts and trying to tweak for SEO, and just being mystified and frustrated. I remember when we saw a blog as a place to showcase your writing, so you could land a book deal. Now you need thousands of followers to get a book deal. I just keep posting, writing about things I find interesting. No point in lamenting the changes in our business, it goes on with or without us. Diversify the work you do, that keeps me afloat.
Indeed, Robin. You are not the type who makes all her income from advertising, and you have done well.
I make no money from my blog, it’s just a calling card, place to be creative, part of the site.
This is great, a strong reminder that voice is so important in developing a solid readership who wants to return to your work. Of course SEO is important and any successful food blogger (or any blogger, for that matter) must use good strategies to succeed, but not at the cost of losing that unique voice or approach. The recipes/content is so much better when some of that passion and expertise comes through.
You’re talking to the choir, Mike! I’m with you.
Hello Dianne!
I just now found this blog and am finding more interesting bloggers because of it! I am fairly new at this, only a year and a half in (and trying to learn it all!!) and all the SEO info and tweaks and keywords has been the death of me. I have been stymied by it – but after reading this I realize I need to just write and develop recipes and put my voice out there. To hell with SEO! Well, not totally!! But thank you for sparking the conversation and I’m glad I found you. Rock on!
It’s definitely possible to have good SEO and a strong voice, Kiki. I don’t know why people think they are separate. I think they are confusing storytelling with voice. Definitely not the same thing. Good luck!