Are you looking to add a recipe post to your food blog website, but don’t know where to start?
If so, you’re in luck!
Adding a recipe to your website doesn’t have be hard – especially when it comes to making sure that it is SEO friendly.
In this article, we’ll be going through the steps of how you can add a recipe to your website and make sure it is optimized for search engine visibility. If you want to learn how to design your own food blog website check out my tutorial on how to design your own food blog website with Elementor.
Step 1: Install the Recipe Card Plugin
The first step to creating an SEO-friendly recipe post is to install the Recipe Card Plugin on your WordPress website. This plugin will help you create a schema for your post, which tells search engines that this post contains a recipe. To install the plugin, head over to your WordPress dashboard and go to Plugins > Add New. Then, search for “Recipe Card Plugin” by WPZoom and click Install Now.
Step 2: Create Your Recipe Post for SEO
Are you ready to take your recipe blog to the next level? In this concise guide, we’ll walk you through the essential steps to create a captivating recipe blog post that not only delights your readers but also boosts your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts
Crafting the Perfect Title:
When it comes to your recipe blog post, strike a balance between clarity and conciseness. Grab attention with a catchy title that includes the dish name and a brief description. By doing so, you increase the chances of your recipe appearing in relevant searches.
The Power of the WordPress Editor:
While page builders like Elementor have their perks, the basic WordPress editor is perfect for blog posts. It keeps things simple and allows for easy integration of plugins like the recipe card plugin, which we’ll explore later. Stick with the WordPress editor unless you have a specific need for advanced features.
Structuring Your Post:
Organizing your content with paragraphs and headings is crucial for both readability and SEO. The H1 tag represents the title of your blog post, while subsequent topics are denoted by H2 tags. Thoughtful H2 tags can potentially appear as search results or answer common questions, so consider what users might be searching for and optimize your headings accordingly.
The Recipe Card Plugin:
Now, let’s add the recipe card block to your post. Use the plus icon and search for the recipe card schema. This plugin allows you to include an image specific to the recipe, separate from the featured image. Speaking of which, don’t forget to set a featured image for your post and provide an ALT text description for better accessibility and SEO.
Length Matters:
When it comes to recipe posts, longer content tends to perform better in search engines. While it doesn’t have to be extremely long, you want to demonstrate to search engines that you’ve made the recipe and know what you’re talking about. Share your cooking tricks, personal anecdotes, or the recipe’s history to engage both readers and search engines.
Step: 3 Enhancing Your Blog Post for SEO and Reader Engagement
In order to make your blog post visually appealing and optimize it for search engine optimization (SEO), incorporating relevant images is crucial. Images not only break up the text and make the content more visually appealing, but they also provide additional information to your readers. Follow these steps to effectively add and optimize images in your blog post.
- Choose the Right Image: When adding an image for a recipe, consider using a different image from the featured image of the post. This allows you to showcase the dish more prominently. If you don’t have an image of the actual dish, selecting a related image can still work well.
- Set the Featured Image: To add the featured image, navigate to the right-hand side of your post editor and click on “Post.” Scroll down to “Featured Image” and click on “Set Featured Image.” Upload the desired image file, ensuring it accurately represents the content of your post.
- Alt Text Description: It’s important to provide an ALT text that describes the image. This description not only helps with SEO but also makes your content accessible to visually impaired readers. However, avoid going overboard with excessive details unrelated to the image or post content, as this can lead to penalties from search engines.
- SEO Benefits: Including relevant alt text descriptions in your images improves your search engine rankings. When search engines crawl your website, they consider the alt text as a valuable piece of information about the image and its context within the post.
Remember, a well-optimized blog post with visually appealing images can enhance reader engagement and attract more traffic to your website. So, make sure to add images strategically and optimize them with meaningful alt text descriptions.
Step 4: Using the recipe card plugin
To and fill out the recipe card on the blog post, follow these steps:
- Fill out the card: Provide the necessary information in the designated fields. Some details can be directly added to the card, while others require clicking on the block post.
- Recipe settings: On the right side, you can find the recipe settings. Consider adding a video by uploading it or inserting a URL link to your YouTube video demonstrating the recipe. Under the recipe details, you can toggle options for course, cuisine, difficulty, and more.
- Keywords: Add relevant keywords that relate to the recipe, which can help with search engine optimization.
- Cooking details: Specify the number of servings, preparation time, cooking time, and optionally calculate the number of calories. If there are any custom details you want to include, you have the option on the recipe card block side.
- Ingredients: Begin adding the ingredients by inputting the initial items provided. Click “Add ingredient” to include more ingredients. The pro version allows for easy drag and drop functionality for a list of items, but the free version works just fine too.
- Directions: Add the directions for the recipe in a similar fashion to adding ingredients. Click “Add more steps” to include additional steps as needed.
- Video (optional): If you have a video for the recipe, add it to the card.
- Review and optimize: Double-check that all the necessary information is filled out. To ensure completeness, you can click on the structured data testing and verify if any fields are missed, such as description, video, keywords, recipe category, or cuisine.
- Description: Paste a short description of the recipe between the servings and prep time sections, in the designated area.
- Preview: Click the “Preview” button to view the completed recipe card and ensure everything looks good. You can preview it on desktop and open it in a new tab for a thorough review.
Step 5: How to add a jump to recipe button
The Importance of the Jump to Recipe Button:
Some readers prefer to skip straight to the recipe, and that’s where the jump to recipe button comes in handy. By including this feature, which is part of the recipe card plugin, you enhance the user experience and prevent frustration caused by excessive information. Remember, striking a balance between valuable content and ease of navigation is key.
Steps to adding the jump to recipe button
Once you’ve completed the recipe card and verified that everything looks good, it’s time to add the jump to recipe button. To do this, navigate to the top of the post. Place the curser where you want the “Jump to Recipe” button to show up. At the top of the editor, look for the “+” icon. Search for the “Jump to Recipe.” This will add a small link at the very top of your post for readers who wish to skip straight to the recipe section.
Step 6: Publish Your Recipe!
Once you’ve written your recipe post and optimized it for SEO, you can submit the post for review. Before publishing your post, double-check that all images and recipe cards are properly formatted as well as all text content is accurate and free of errors.
Assign your post a category, tag it with relevant keywords.
Once everything looks good, click “Publish” to make your blog post live! You can also schedule it for a later date and time if needed.
Now that your post is published, start promoting your recipe blog across various channels. Share the link on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
By following the above steps, you can easily create and optimize a recipe blog post for SEO and reader engagement.
For more tips on creating a successful food blog check out our other food blogging hints!
