# What's the deal with these online recipe sites? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 19, 2019, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-these-online-recipe-sites/845113 "2019-12-19T20:42:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2019, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-these-online-recipe-sites/845113/41 "2019-12-23T21:38:16Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > I always begin at [seriouseats.com](http://seriouseats.com), because they are, well, serious. Der. I like epicurious. Because I am. But I also read allrecipes and some others. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2019, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-these-online-recipe-sites/845113/42 "2019-12-24T00:20:39Z")
> [@Athena](#): > > OMG you have changed my life. Thank you! That’s great! Thank you from me, too! Sometimes I’m interested in the history or family backstory, but 90% of the time I just want the freaking recipe. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2019, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-these-online-recipe-sites/845113/43 "2019-12-24T00:37:08Z")
> [@Reeses\_Monkey](#): > > Chrome has an extension called Recipe Filter that takes you straight to the recipe. I love it! I love you soooo much!!! ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2019, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-these-online-recipe-sites/845113/44 "2019-12-24T00:50:06Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Top searches are for [allrecipes.com](http://allrecipes.com) and foodnetwork and the like, because they’re enormous. How does a tiny little blog get into the top searches for a recipe like dal? I figure there are only two possibilities: either have an ultra-kickass recipe, or manipulate the search results. > . Well, there are both more and less possibilities than that. One big one being how often other people link to your website. And I doubt the awesomeness of recipe matters, except in that many people may link it. People get paid big money for google optimization. “Make it longer” seems, I don’t know, not what a smart search engine would worry too much about for recipes ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2019, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-these-online-recipe-sites/845113/45 "2019-12-24T04:54:49Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Well, there are both more and less possibilities than that. One big one being how often other people link to your website. And I doubt the awesomeness of recipe matters, except in that many people may link it. > > People get paid big money for google optimization. “Make it longer” seems, I don’t know, not what a smart search engine would worry too much about for recipes If you’re right, you’d expect to see a proportional number of non-bloggy recipes from small cites among the top results. And you’d expect that people who do this for a living wouldn’t tell recipe writers to “make it longer.” I don’t know how to calibrate the first, but [professional SEOs](https://fatfrogmedia.com/recipe-seo/) have some advice: > [@](#): > > Long-Form Is The Best Form > > Write recipe blog posts that hit 800-1200 words. > > Despite what you might have heard, longer content still works well for recipe SEO. > > Don’t pay attention to the haters that complain about long recipe posts. The trend for food bloggers is to write the story behind a recipe and give some background history. There’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, it’s a good thing. Those complainers just want you to do the hard work but get nothing in return. Ignore those people. > > If you publish a bare recipe, the likelihood is that nobody will see it. Instead, add context and life to a recipe so that google can understand what it’s about and who it’s for. Edit: note that I didn’t do much research, just searched for “How does google rank recipes” and clicked the first link. I figure that’s the best way to find the best SEOs :). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-these-online-recipe-sites/845113.md?page=2)