Google’s Search Liaison, Danny Sullivan, posted that he is aware of the complaints about recipe pages being too long and hard to find the ingredients and directions. He added that this is something content producers might want to keep in mind. “If you want to appeal to that audience, you might want to ensure your recipes are helpful in that way, easy access to the key parts,” he added. Initially the word “appeal” was “appear” but Danny corrected that, just a heads up.
To me, this seems like some sort of warning about an upcoming Google search algorithm update that might target those really longwinded, SEO-written, recipe blogs and pages.
Danny Sullivan wrote on X, “I will add that I well know the complaints that recipe pages sometimes go really long while some people just want to get to the ingredients. I think that’s something content producers might want to keep in mind. If you want to appear to that audience, you might want to ensure your recipes are helpful in that way, easy access to the key parts.”
This was in response to a question posted that read, “Help me understand Danny! RE recipe sites: in theory the user wants a recipe and that’s it. No fluff. No tweaks. But will Google really rank (and know how to) a stripped back barebones list of ingredients and method?”
Danny Sullivan replied, “Some people want just a list of ingredients. Some people want recipes from people or places they might recognize. Some people might want a recipe along with some background about the recipe, what it means to the person who is sharing it and so on. All people don’t want the exact same things. Our systems try to show what seems generally helpful.”
Then he added the warning about the fluff, which is something Google spoke about a year ago, saying, fluff content is hard for Google to understand.
“But if someone wants to tell you more about their recipe because they want to, because it’s important to them, because they think that’s useful to them and their readers — that’s up to them. That should be respected,” he then added.
Then he says it is not about the length, “We’re certainly not saying don’t write a recipe long or short. We’re saying, as with any content, just write it in a way that makes sense for people first. That also means don’t just add stuff because you somehow heard we want “long” copy and so on.”
Do you think this is a warning to recipe bloggers to get to the point?
Some people want just a list of ingredients. Some people want recipes from people or places they might recognize. Some people might want a recipe along with some background about the recipe, what it means to the person who is sharing it and so on. All people don’t want the exact…
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) October 26, 2023
Forum discussion at X.
