The hRecipe plugin for WordPress will also considerably simplify your recipe formatting, whether you use it correctly or not.
However, if you do use hRecipe correctly, expect to see big future benefits for your website SEO results on your recipe pages.
Here’s why…
Exploiting semantic technology for your recipes
If you’re like most people, on the web or off, you don’t really much care about the nuts and bolts of technology.
Seriously, how much do you really care about Search Engine Optimization? Heck, I’m a technogeek, and I don’t care about how SEO works. Not at all! I just want to know exactly what to do, and how to do it, so my website gets ranked highly for my topic areas.
As you have figured out, it isn’t that simple.
We both need to know a little about SEO, a little more than we want to know.
Semantic web is same sort of thing. Well, almost. Turns out I like poking around in this technology. Which is good for you: I handle the details, you just learn enough to use semantic techniques correctly. In fact, I’ve made it even easier for you to benefit from semantic techniques: learn a few simple formatting rules for hRecipe, I’ll handle all the nuts and bolts so you don’t have to.
Again: You follow a few simple rules for recipe formatting, I’ll handle the semantic web details.
Semantic web promises better search results
As of August 2009, I suspect most web technologists would assert that the semantic web has been a failure. In some respects, they are quite correct. In other respects, I believe semantic web techniques have become critically important, and thanks to WordPress, practically ubiquitous.
See, all that stuff you read about SEO title tags, meta descriptions, how to use header tags, etc… all that’s part and parcel of “POSH,” Plain Old Semantic HTML. As it turns out, the minuet playing out between Google and WordPress is getting POSH widely implemented. WordPress encodes POSH techniques, Google rewards well-written (POSH) web pages with an edge in search results. Wash, rinse, repeat.
It may turn out that POSH is a necessary foundation for building more specialized semantics into the web.
It’s too early to say… but it’s a good bet, and I’m taking it!
Semantic web is in it’s infancy
So far as I can tell, nobody in the SEO industry knows anything about “Web 3.0,” the semantic web. And SEO is an industry, make no mistake about that. Once the SEO experts do learn about semantic web techniques, there will be gold rush attempting to corner semantic web “properties.” That is, to be the first to define and implement viable semantic web technologies that are acceptable to search engines. The spammers, scammers and other assorted black hats will be right there in the thick of it, too.
When you already have all your recipes formatted using hRecipe, you’re ahead of the power curve!
By now, I’m sure you want to know exactly how to use hRecipe to leverage semantic web techniques. I’m planning on showing you just how to do that very soon, so stay tuned.
And, I would be delighted to discuss semantic web in general or in particular with anyone. If you want to “stake your own semantic web claim,” let’s talk. If you have any questions, let me know. If you think I’m full of BS, let me know. If I’ve made a mistake somewhere, I’d like to know that as well.
