30-second summary:
- The recipe space is a very competitive one
- While sites like BBC Good Food and the likes saw +22 percent hikes in search visibility, the good times may be over
- Award-winning performance marketing agency, Reprise Digital’s SEO Account Manager on how to rank while the algorithm update may still be at play
Google is a popular home for recipes. The search engine giant sees millions of recipe searches every day, with users seeking some inspiration or looking to learn how to whip up a specific meal, snack, or baked treat.
The recipe market is competitive, with big players such as BBC Good Food and Delish, brands including Gousto and Hello Fresh, and thousands of dedicated recipe blogs competing for your attention. Google does a great job of making this recipe content appealing in the SERPs with rich results showing the user ratings, how long the recipe takes, cuisine, and lots more. This means searchers can get all the information they need in a handy snapshot before clicking through.
Recipe sites saw significant increases post-algorithm update in November: sites such as BBC Good Food saw huge increases in visibility at +22 percent just a couple of months later. It was a similar story for most major recipe sites, with allrecipes.com increasing by a whopping 94 percent in the few months post-update. The aforementioned brand websites also saw huge increases. In fact, Gousto’s visibility went and increased by over 150 percent just three months after the update!
However, the good times may be over, at least for now anyway. Following the latest algorithm update in May, those generous portions of huge increases have been eaten away at and replaced with significant decreases. Sites like Gousto and Hello Fresh have been impacted the most, as these brands saw