by Kristen Wile

Author Chrissie Nelson Rotko of Off the Eaten Path. Photo courtesy

Recipe creators, like any other content creators online (including media outlets), are often battling changing algorithms to get their content to show up first in Google’s search results. The result often means that smaller sites — even if they’re offering the best recipe for the zucchini muffins you’re hoping to make — aren’t at the top of Google’s recommendations. Instead, larger sites with a bigger budget to put towards winning the Google game take over the top of your results.

We spoke with Chrissie Nelson Rotko, the blogger behind Off the Eaten Path and the author of cookbook Stunning Spreads, to get some tips on how to make sure you’re finding the tastiest — not the most keyword-heavy — recipes online. As a content creator since 2013, Rotko has seen how things have changed in searching for recipes as Google has taken more control over what pops up in your search.

Unpretentious Palate: When you’re looking for a recipe online, how do you go about it?
Chrissie Nelson Rotko: So I try to be as specific with my search terms as possible. If you are able to narrow down exactly what you’re looking for, I think that will first populate more trustworthy websites.

And then once I search for whatever I’m searching for, the next biggest thing I do is I always look at all of the results on the first page of Google. Google has been — with Google stories and other things — they prioritize certain things at the top and who can say on any given day what is the priority and what pages will show up at the top, either as an answer to a question or through Google stories, or anything like that, or because they have a video. So rather than just clicking on the first result I see, I scroll down, I would say, between the first and second page of results and look to see what websites came up as part of my search and see if there’s any bloggers that I currently follow that have a recipe, and I know that I can trust them because I’ve made their recipes before. Or if there are recipes with much more reviews than other recipes. I tend to also filter out any of those really big sites that always seem to appear at the top, like AllRecipes or Spruce Eats or things like that. And then try, if I’m able to, to find one from a blogger or a content creator.

UP: Why do you try to find a smaller site?
CNR: As a blogger, I want to support other bloggers. I know the amount of work that goes into recipe testing and recipe development, taking the photos and writing the post. So if I can support someone that way by going to their site in the first place, but then maybe eventually even making one of their recipes — that’s a good way to do it. And I just tend to trust them more than, for example, AllRecipes. And I think sometimes when we’re getting to bigger sized websites, it becomes a little bit of a game of just like ranking for the keyword.

I don’t mind taking the time a little bit more after searching for a recipe to go through the results and make a decision not based on just what Google tells me is the top, but using some other factors to determine what I think I would want to make.

UP: People always complain about when you go to find a recipe, you have to scroll forever to actually find the recipe. As someone who does this, why is that?
CNR: It does go back to SEO, to search engine optimization. When people are searching for things, whether it be a recipe or travel guides or anything that they’re looking for on the Internet, a person writing the website or blogging wants to tell Google that they’re an expert in this area. And so they’re using certain keywords so that when someone is searching on Google for those keywords, the goal is that their website would show up in search results, and the ultimate goal would be that it would show up towards the top of the search results.

In order to get Google to understand that you have good content and that you have knowledge about whatever you’re writing about, you have to have more than just a couple of words. You have to kind of tell Google that this recipe is about, for example, I have one about roasted jalapeño poppers. You have to use that keyword throughout the post and you have to have a certain amount of words. It’s more likely going to rank if you have more words with it because Google is valuing basically your knowledge.

It’s not a game of just like repeating yourself a lot, but you want to be helpful to your audience. So those long blog posts, I know a lot of people complain about, we don’t need to hear your life story. But a lot of those also kind of go through the step by step of how to make the recipes. They talk about substitutions. They talk about if you can make it ahead of time, or how to store it in the fridge or how long it will last as leftovers. A lot of that content is actually really helpful to someone making the recipe and leads into the recipe. A lot of creators now also have a jump to recipe button, even though they’re putting all of this effort into the step-by-step or some stories.

UP: What are some some pitfalls to be aware of when just clicking on one of the top recipes that comes up on Google?
CNR: The best thing is to be aware of just like keyword stuffing, to kind of see if it’s just a big site trying to rank for number one or if you can do a scroll through and decide whether or not to trust their content. One of the pitfalls we see is bloggers getting away from the passion that they have, the reason that they started creating and writing and photographing and creating recipes. It more so becomes like this competition to be seen on Google, and so for me, that’s why I always try to take in several of the first results that I see when I search something. I want to make sure that I’m supporting someone with a passion that shines through, and that I find them to be credible. And they’re not just doing it for page views or for money.

UP: Who are some of the bloggers that you follow?
CNR: It really depends on the recipe. I really like Tanya Harris Fleming, My Forking Life (she is local to Charlotte); Susannah Brinkley Henry, Feast and West (she is also local to Charlotte); Jess Larson’s Plays Well with Butter; Tieghan Gerard, Half Baked Harvest; Sarah Fennel, Broma Bakery; and My Baking Addiction.

UP: You’ve got your cookbook, you’ve been doing recipes for a while now, but you took some time away from the blog after welcoming a new addition to the family. What are you doing these days on Off the Eaten Path?
CNR: I am starting to post more regularly than I was. I took a hiatus from the fall of last year until spring of this year, but I’m trying to post more regularly. There are a few new recipes that I’m working on. I started as a Charlotte blog, exploring the restaurants in Charlotte when I first moved here in 2013. So I’ve kind of gone back a little bit into some travel-type of writing — a little bit of Charlotte coverage and then some North Carolina travel guide stuff as well has been really fun for me to write. So it’s, it’s a combination of some easy recipes, still, and then a little bit more travel focused content as we’ve been getting out with our baby and exploring the state on weekend trips and stuff like that.

UP: If somebody goes to your site and is going to make one recipe, what recipe do you want them to make?
CNR: The most popular one by far is my jalapeño poppers. I’m not sure why, but I think they’re really good and they’re really easy. I would say that’s probably the one that gets searched for the most and is just like a tried and true favorite. It’s football season, and with party season coming up, it’s a really good, easy appetizer for tailgates or holiday parties or anything like that.