This document provides tips for optimizing food blogs for search engine optimization (SEO). It recommends focusing on consistent structure by having recipe titles, title tags, and URLs match. It also suggests using appropriate HTML elements like unordered lists for ingredients and ordered lists for instructions. The document advises including a meta description and optimizing recipe photos. It also introduces hRecipe, a microformat that tells Google a page contains a recipe.

1. SEO for Food Blogs
Geoff Allen, ZipList
August 27, 2011

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. Contact Me
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/ziplist
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/ziplist
• Email: geoff.allen@ziplist.com
• Free E-Book: 26 SEO Tips for Food Bloggers
– http://bit.ly/foodblogseo
• ZipList Recipe Plugin
– http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/ziplist-recipe-plugin/