Since Google’s AI Overviews rolled out in March 2024, food bloggers have seen traffic plummet—many reporting 60–65% drops across previously top-performing recipes. Search queries like “easy chicken tikka masala” or “best banana bread” now show full AI-generated cooking summaries, often pulling content directly from your blog without sending you a click.
Pinch of Yum recently shared their own experience: an 80% drop in traffic from Google, with zero warning.
If you’ve built your business around SEO, this change is more than a dip. It’s an existential threat. But recovery is possible—with the right pivots.
Why Recipe Sites Got Hit So Hard
AI Overviews are designed to satisfy search intent instantly. For cooking queries, that means:
- Summarizing the full recipe inline
- Displaying prep and cook times
- Listing ingredients in bullet format
The user never clicks. Your structured content gets harvested, your page gets ignored.
This shift hits food blogs especially hard because:
- They rely heavily on SEO-driven traffic
- Monetization depends on ads (RPMs) and affiliate links
- Recipes are inherently formulaic—easy for AI to summarize
Unless you act, traffic won’t come back on its own.
How to Adapt — and Rebuild What You’ve Lost
1. Shift Your Recipe Content Strategy
Stop writing purely for search. Google doesn’t reward it anymore.
Instead, lean into what AI can’t replicate:
- Personal narrative – Tell the story behind the dish. Was it your grandma’s? Did it come from a trip to Vietnam?
- Culinary expertise – Explain why certain techniques or ingredients matter
- Unique formats – Use galleries, ingredient swap charts, or embedded timers
Google is optimizing for robots. You should optimize for people.
This aligns with Google’s own EEAT guidelines, which still (on paper) favor content with experience and authority. But don’t count on search alone.
2. Build a Newsletter You Control
Traffic is temporary. Subscribers are leverage.
Use your blog to grow an email list that delivers:
- Weekly recipe roundups
- Seasonal cooking guides
- Subscriber-only bonus recipes
Tools like ConvertKit and MailerLite make it easy to segment by diet (vegan, keto, gluten-free) or content format (quick meals vs. slow cooking).
A good list is your best hedge against algorithm changes.
3. Expand to Platforms AI Can’t Scrape (Yet)
- Instagram Reels & Stories – Fast-paced, visually-driven recipes outperform blog links
- YouTube – Voice + face = trust. Short cooking videos still generate strong engagement
- TikTok – Behind-the-scenes and “kitchen hacks” draw new audiences fast
Don’t just repost the same content everywhere. Tailor each post to the platform’s native style.
Check out Minimalist Baker’s Instagram and Fitwaffle’s TikTok to see how food creators are thriving off-platform.
4. Test Paid Traffic to High-Converting Content
Organic reach is shrinking. Paid traffic is now a necessity for many blogs.
At Traffic Masters, we help content creators test affordable traffic options—Pinterest clicks to recipe lead magnets, newsletter feature placements, or recipe ad funnels.
You don’t need to spend thousands to see results. Start small:
- Promote a free PDF download (7-Day Meal Plan)
- Retarget Instagram viewers with your best recipe content
- Drive traffic to email opt-ins, not just blog posts
Even $5–$10/day can make a difference when paired with conversion-focused content.