Let’s set the scene.
You’re feeling a little bit fancy, you want to try something new in the kitchen and are on the hunt for the perfect recipe.
Oh! This one looks tasty…scroll, scroll, never mind, you have to scroll through someone’s life story to get to the good stuff.
And repeat. For what seems like an eternity. Until you decide no, you’re just going to have a jacket potato.
Why do writers do this?!
It can be infuriating, we know. You just want to get to the point.
This doesn’t happen solely with recipe blogs, either. If you’re trying to find some stats, for example, you may need to scroll through a load of “waffle” before getting to the information you want.
Wait… are we doing the same thing now?
There’s a reason people do it, we promise.
If we’re still just talking about recipes, Mashable writes the below:
“There’s a more technical element at play where recipe narratives are concerned: search engine optimisation (SEO). Recipe bloggers want to catch the attention of the elusive Google algorithm - and, ideally, land their recipe on the coveted first page - so they must demonstrate ‘authority’ in their field.
(If you are a J&PR client or have attended one of our training courses on content you will have heard us talk about EAT and the importance of authority!)
“This means more comprehensive content, which is really hard to pull off with a concise recipe alone. (Tons of people will be using the phrase ‘apple crumble’, for example, but only you can write your own story about it).”
That’s not all…
Yes, SEO plays a huge part; in fact, Google’s latest content update means writing this “spiel” in your blogs is probably more important than ever.
However, there will be a number of other reasons why people write so much before getting to the point of their article.
The first, of course, being to provide information to the reader. This should be the aim of every blog! It can have a huge impact on SEO, and will also impact whether that reader returns to the blog or recommends it to other people. If they didn’t find the right information on there, they’re not going to do either of those things.
Other reasons include (but aren’t limited to):
- Wanting a higher time spent on the page. If people are spending longer on the article, this can seem like a good thing!
- Giving people a bit of background about the writer/their experience. If the “waffle” at the beginning of a recipe blog explains the author is a Michelin-starred chef, you’re more likely to use the recipe!
- Hoping to see an action taken; this might be a newsletter sign-up or an affiliate link to purchase something recommended in the blog.
Essentially - it’s quite important!
Google no longer judges content by how short or long it is (perhaps it never did?) but search engines do consider a number of factors when it comes to ranking blogs - most of which can be included if you write a lengthy intro and a conclusion.
If you’re getting into the world of copywriting and want to write a blog which doesn’t need much content - such as sharing some company stats for the year - it’s worth adding an introduction so readers have context, and a conclusion with a CTA in case people want to get in touch or purchase from you.
And with that said…
(This is all very meta, isn’t it?)
We write blogs every single day for clients in a number of industries, so we know a thing or two about content. If we can help in any way - from writing monthly blog posts so you don’t have to, to a 1-1 Two Hour Takeover to teach you our tips - email us at info@jandpr.com or give us a call on 01952 951 263.
