Google is up to something again, testing out a feature for how we find and use cooking recipes online. Dubbed “Quick View,” the new tool allows users to access complete recipes directly within search results. Imagine searching for “lemonade recipe” and, instead of visiting a blog, you click a button on the results page, and voilà — the entire recipe pops up with ingredients, photos, and step-by-step instructions. Without ever leaving Google, all this.
While this new feature hasn’t been deployed to everyone, it has caught people’s attention on the web. Recipe hunters might no longer have to scroll through long blog posts to reach the center of their search with Quick View. That’s not all there is to this story, however.
Google is testing "Quick view" buttons that show your content on Google, leaving the searcher with little reason to click over to your site – not good Google https://t.co/F90g94bhLQ via @tomcritchlow pic.twitter.com/2kaScsIQEP
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) October 10, 2024
Why recipes are staying on Google
Google’s goal seems clear: It keeps users on its platform as long as possible. Quick View is one step in that direction. A Google spokesperson, Brianna Duff, said,
“We’re always experimenting with ways to help our users connect with high-quality, relevant, and helpful information.”
Google is working with a small group of creators to experiment with different ways of showing people recipes, but in a way, it will remain in our search results, so you won’t lose out on anything, says she.
As one of the experimenters, All Recipes, a recipe blogger, will post content to the trial in which their content will appear. After all, recipe sites are rather dependent on search results traffic. However, Google has contracts with these bloggers, indicating that the company is pushing to balance user convenience and supporting content creators. However, many creators do not find this situation favorable.
Recipes sites are F’ed.
Google Quick View makes it so I don’t have to dodge a million ads to find how much oatmeal to use.
The internet is changing at an incredible rate.
And it’s not just recipe sites.
Any website supported by ad networks could get crushed.
Billions of… pic.twitter.com/rlCtO7idZ2
— John Timmerman | Organic Marketing is Better (@JohnnyTimbo) October 6, 2024
Recipe blogs and the SEO game
If you’ve ever wondered why recipe blogs often include lengthy backstories before the ingredients, it’s not because bloggers want to tell their life stories. And these blogs are structured in such a way as to capture Google’s attention. Usually, these are long introductions, family anecdotes, and detailed instructions to enhance their search engine ranks. These blogs can load higher in the search results and get visitors by giving Google’s algorithm lots of content to pick from.
With Quick View, the user may bypass these lengthy narratives and jump straight into the recipe now. For the bloggers, this is a win, but what about those who just want to quickly bake a batch of cookies? This means less traffic, which could mean less ad revenues and less income. But that feature, while potentially good news for bloggers participating in the experiment, may also yield some other benefits, such as increased exposure — or maybe even new ways to monetize their work — but it’s unclear what exactly.
Google's Quick View feature:
Good for users? Bad for creators?
— Liam (@liam_fallen) October 10, 2024
Is Google changing search forever?
It’s part of a larger trend at Google, which is finding new ways to make search quicker, even at the cost of people not having to go to other websites. It’s already provoked discussion on the future of the open web: the rise of AI-powered overviews (like summaries on search results) of webpage content. Placing your audience first ensures you provide what they need fast and keep them on your platform.
The Quick View feature is an early experiment, but you will want to watch how this transforms. So what if this was the recipe search of the future? If so, what happens to the traffic-dependent blogs that are now fully shown in search results?
If you’re a foodie, Quick View is your game-changer. But blogs raise questions about what’s to come for people creating content on a Google-dominated internet.
Image credit: Furkan Demirkaya/Ideogram
