For the Love of Food

Yesterday I blogged about Part 1 of How to Get More Traffic from Search Engines – today’s promised Part 2 covers’s the same topic, but with image search engines like google images.
We food bloggers, as well as many recipe-searchers, are very very visual people. I know I will rarely try a recipe that doesn’t have a picture. I just like to know what I’m going to get before I invest my time into making something.

Because of that, when I do a google search for a recipe, I go straight to google images and click on all the yummiest looking pictures. Many of you do the same.

So, how do you get your pictures to show up on google image’s search results??

This article I read goes into detail on the subject, but for our purposes, I will sum it up here.

You need to:

1. Name you photos properly
2. Tag your photos properly

As an example we will use this photo:

When I took my picture my camera automatically named it “DSC_9601.JPG”. The “DSC” stands for Digital Still Camera, the “9601″ tells you what number photo it is (in this case, yes it is true, this is my 9,601st picture taken with this camera), and the “.JPG” tells you what kind of file it is (in this case a JPEG image).

Now, when I upload my picture to my blog or Flickr and I leave the title of the image as “DSC_9601.JPG” my image will never come up for a search for Kung Pao Chicken!

In this case, it’s best to name the photo “Kung_Pao_Chicken-close.JPG” – telling the search engine that it’s a close-up of Kung Pao Chicken.

Now, when you’re saving the titles into Flickr, you want to be more specific and remove all the underscores and the “.jpg” so that it looks like a regular lable. In this case, I would name the photo “Homemade Kung Pao Chicken – recipe”.

On to Tags:

The afore mentioned article described very precisely how we should be tagging our photos: like we are describing the photos to someone over the telephone. Search engines don’t have eyes, so we need to tell them what they’re looking at.

In the case of my picture, tags I would use to describe it would be:

• Kung Pao Chicken
• Recipe
• Asian
• Spicy
• Chicken
• Poultry
• Main Dish
• Savory

To be honest, I use Tags very seldom because I get lazy. However, I’m certain it would increase traffic to my site even more.

I wish you all happy, successful, high-traffic blogging!

This topic has been sitting in my mind for quite some time now and I just need to let it out.

Lately I have come across many great food blogs through links from other blogs. Because of one reason or another, I never get around to bookmarking the blogs or recipes I found, later on, when doing a google search for the recipes I find NOTHING.

Why?

Because many bloggers (I used to make this mistake too) give great catchy titles to their blog posts, but forget to tell you what it’s really about.

For example, I could have titled the previous post “The Beet Goes On” because I’m talking about beets and it hints at them and sounds catchy. BUT, when you are doing a google search for “beet chips” or “beet recipe” you will never in a million years find my recipe. And, as a food blogger that can lead to disaster. We want new people to find our recipes and get addicted to our blogs, why else would we be blogging??

A while ago my husband sent me a link to a YouTube Video of an interview with Cory Doctrow, Boing Boing blogger.

After watching this I decided to change how I titled my blog posts. They may not be “exciting” any more, but, guess what, I have increased traffic from google. People are finding my recipes when they search for BLT Steak Recipe, Papaya Sushi Recipe, Homemade Chocolate Chips, etc (click on each search phrase to see the google search results).

So, what do searchers want to see:

1. the name of the recipe
• ex: “BBQ Beef Brisket”
2. What is it? A recipe, a stock photo, or a restaurant menu?
• ex: “BBQ Beef Brisket – recipe” or “BBQ Beef Brisket – restaurant review”
3. How involved is it?
• ex: “Homemade BBQ Beef Brisket – recipe” OR “grilled BBQ Beef Brisket – how to”

Number 1 tells me exactly what I’m making.
Number 2 tells me that I can click on this link and find a recipe to make it myself or a review of a restaurant I’d like to go to, and not just some stock photo.
And, Number 3 lets me know that I won’t just be going to the grocery store to buy a pre-made brisket to pop in the oven, but rather that I am getting the “full-blown” recipe with marinade and all. OR that I will be getting a pre-marinated brisket at the grocery store and this post will tell me how to grill it.
This concludes Part 1 of How to Get More Traffice from Search Engines. Check back tomorrow for Part 2.

This post under contsruction due to vandalism.

This post under contsruction due to vandalism.

I came across these absolutely adorable rolls while searching for some other maki rolls. Not only do they look good – stun your friends at your next sushi party – they are really easy to make.

One tip: slice them really thin or you may not be able to fit them in your mouth! The last thing you want is to have to eat a bite without the yummy fruity filling. Continue Reading »

Wednesday I talked about how to roll maki sushi, and I promised some recipes. Unfortunately, this is the only picture I have of all the rolls.

Rolls made:
Bacon, roasted bell pepper, & green onion
Lox & roasted asparagus
Roasted bell pepper & asparagus (x2)
Bacon & Green Onion Continue Reading »

I got adventurous – this is the first time I’ve used something close to raw fish: smoked salmon carpaccio – which is smoked and salted salmon cut into see-through thin slices.

This roll was a big hit – even my husband liked it and he hates anything with fish – and my 14-month-old son loved it!

Here you’ll get the recipe and how-to on how to roll and inside-out maki sushi roll. Continue Reading »

This post under construction due to vandalism.

It’s “sushi week” over here at For the Love of Food. It’s finally Spring and it’s time to pull out my sushi rolling mat.

This post is not a complete sushi recipe – it’s about the rice, sushizu, and rolling – the recipes will follow during the week. Continue Reading »

The other day I came across this yummy-looking recipe from Smitten Kitchen for her sweet potato fries.

They were super easy to make and a BIG hit with the whole family. In fact, we’re making them again this weekend! Continue Reading »