SEO for Recipe Websites

If you have ever found yourself stuck trying to find something to make for supper, you may be one of many who take to the web in search of online recipe guides. The Internet has become the saving grace for suppertime, when sifting through pages of hand-written recipes and home cookbooks do not provide the answers you want. Online recipe sites can be quick and easy solutions to your scrambling needs. That is… until they are not.

Recipe-oriented websites are chock-full of different ways to prepare meals, snacks, and baked goods. Some may be culture-specific, while others may focus on varying types of bread, but the blameworthy trait that links these websites together is disorganization. The purpose of a recipe website is to give clear instructions so that you may complete a meal from your own home, instead of having to eat out or order in. Without a clear outline of measurements, step-by-step directions, and proper formatting, a lot of these websites become practically unusable. 

Swamped with advertisements that hog most of the screen, there is no proper way to thoroughly read the how-to of your favourite alfredo sauce without being interrupted by the ad about the brand-new vehicle release happening next year. Moreover, lack of measurements makes for an unfriendly encounter when you are in a pinch. And of course, a recipe site cannot be a recipe site without the old reliable: the extended author backstory. This nuisance of an introduction often overshadows the actual recipe, as it becomes paragraphs long and has little to no relation to the food itself.

We are all responsible for a disorganized kitchen from time to time – there is no shame in having an order to your personal mess. Nonetheless, this standard should not apply to the websites you seek out to fulfill your culinary desires. Recipe websites often suffer from a messy layout, unfriendly user-interface, and lack of consistency in formatting.

It is important to acknowledge the unique challenges of web design, but design should not interfere with optimisation or harm user experience. Consistency across platforms is important to retain and keep Internet users engaged and wanting more. Recipe websites should therefore take advantage of this theme. Adding features such as a measurement converter, accessible ingredient lists, and numbered steps may be key to garnering the most “clicks” on your easy-make banana bread muffins (yum!). While advertisements are inevitable to keep a website up and running, there are functions within the metadata of a website that allow you to move them out of obstruction of the text, allowing for profit and equally happy reading.

Food is a thing that keeps us all intertwined and having access to just about any meal imaginable is mind-boggling. When it boils down to the nitty-gritty of it all, the only question we should be asking ourselves is: Is it one cup or two?