ziplist - seo for food bloggers - ifbc 2011
DESCRIPTION
Improve the SEO value of your recipes by learning how major search engines find, recognize and return results. Learn about the new hRecipe formatTRANSCRIPT
SEO for Food Blogs
Geoff Allen, ZipList
August 27, 2011
SEO for Food Blogs: Overview
• Content is King, but Structure is Queen
• Let Search Engines Know You Have Recipes on Your Site
• Get to Know Rich Snippets & hRecipe
• Importantly, Make Your Food Blog More Findable
Above All Else, Be Consistent
• Recipe Title, Title Tags & URL Should Match
• Always Use the Labels “Ingredients” & “Instructions”
• Keep Heading Styles Consistent (e.g., <H2>, <H3>)
Source: Two Peas and Their Pod
Tell Search Engines You Have Lists
• Use Bulleted Lists for “Ingredients”
– Unordered Lists <UL>
• Use Numbered Lists for “Instructions”
– Numbered Lists <OL>
• Free Form Text Prevents Search Engines from Differentiating Recipe Content
– Don’t Use <BR> and <P> in Lists
Source: Hoosier Homemade
Give Special Treatment to Special Sauces
• Ingredients for Sub-Recipes Need Special Sub-Heads
– Glazes, Sauces, Frosting, Marinades – Example, For the Glaze:
• Do Not Include the Sub-Heads Within HTML List Elements
– Example, <OL>, <UL>
Source: Steamy Kitchen, “Mother’s Famous Chinese Egg Rolls Recipe
Don’t Forget a Meta Description
• Always Include the Name of Your Recipe
• Stick to 150 Words (First 30 are Key)
• Recipe Searchers See This First Before They Click, So Make This Count
– A good meta description can increase your click-through rate
Optimize Your Recipe Photos
• Make the First Photo That of the Finished Recipe
• Your Post Title & Photo Name Should Match
• Describe Photos Beyond the First Photo in Your Post
• Put Dashes Between Each Word When You Save a Photo
Source: $5 Dinners, “Spanish Stew – Vintage Recipe”
Converting Your Recipes to hRecipe
• The hRecipe Microformat Tells Google “This is a Recipe”
– e.g. <li class=“ingredient”>2 eggs</li>
• hRecipe Makes Your Recipes More Relevant to Google
• Free WordPress Plugins – ZipList Recipe Plugin
– RecipeSEO – EasyRecipe
Contact Me
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/ziplist
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/ziplist
• Email: [email protected]
• Free E-Book: 26 SEO Tips for Food Bloggers – http://bit.ly/foodblogseo
• ZipList Recipe Plugin – http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/ziplist-recipe-plugin/