Easyrecipes Import for default version or featured?

EasyRecipe import is part of the free version. We don’t have a Premium version for this plugin at the moment.

Hey, Brecht, congrats on the new plugin.

A couple of questions:

– Does this plugin cover ALL required data fields for fully enhanceable Google Rich Cards?
– Does this plugin allow you to use either JSON or Microformats depending on if the user wants to keep Pinterest Rich Pins fully enabled?
– Is there any custom coding possible to provide JUMP TO RECIPE and PRINT TO RECIPE coded at the top of the recipes?

Currently, with WP Ultimate Recipe you could only enable Nutrition and Aggregate Ratings by upgrading to your Premium version, correct? Those fields are required for fully enhancedable Rich Cards. Are these covered in the free plugin?

I would love to recommend this plugin so the more info you can provide on the above, the better.

Thanks in advance.

Hi Brecht –

I’ve been looking to replace Easy Recipe for both myself and my clients, and I’m optimistic that this will soon be it! (I much prefer the recipe-in-the-post strategy vs. custom post types, and I like the “fallback” strategy, like Easy Recipe.)

I’m very curious to hear your answer to Casey’s questiond about all required data fields (including nutrition and aggregate ratings), as well as the ability to do both JSON and Microformats so the recipes will work with both Google Rich Cards and Pinterest Rich Pins.

Thanks!

– Andrew

Hi Casey and Andrew,

At the moment the plugin only does JSON-LD metadata. I don’t think it’s a good idea to have both metadata formats at the same time. We might add an option to switch between both formats but I’m really just hoping that Pinterest implements this soon. It shouldn’t take them more than a few hours to do this, JSON-LD is so much easier than the inline metadata.

Ratings and nutritional information are currently not part of the plugin but on the todo list. I’m not sure if this will be part of the free plugin yet. We might release that as a Premium add-on.

Are you looking for a shortcode solution for the “Jump to Recipe” / “Print Recipe” links?

Just let me know if you have any other questions. Feel free to contact us at [email protected] as well.

Brecht

Thanks Brecht.

For ratings & nutritional information, since they’re required to get Google “Rich Cards,” it’s essential to have this option (even though I’m philosophically opposed to including nutrition information…sigh).

I’d be fine with those being included in a premium option, as long as there’s SOME way to make it happen.

I’ll go email Pinterest right now about JSON-LD to help give them a nudge…

Thanks,
Andrew

• This reply was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by Andrew Wilder.

Pinterest support got back to me within minutes:

“This has been a popular question lately. Currently, Pinterest is not looking to support JSON-LD yet. I will forward your feedback to developers”

Sigh.

Ratings and Nutritional metadata is definitely coming to the plugin, it just might be part of a Premium version.

I’m not sure why Pinterest is not willing to implement this yet. I’ve contacted our other partners (like Chicory, FoodFanatic, BigOven) when we made the switch and they all implemented it in just a few days calling it a piece of cake (which it is, compared to inline metadata). Pinterest will come around. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

Brecht, if you decided to go for the easyrecipe type, why not add rating as a free version like they have? There are plenty of advanced option that you can include in the premium plugin.

For example I am at the start, If my website will be a success I will definitellly buy the plugin, but I need the star rating from the start.

Cmon be a good guy and do a good thing ??

I need to make a living as well. Without money coming in there wouldn’t be any free plugin at all. Still haven’t decided.

Yes I agree, but I guess this is not your main source of money right? Probably this is your second income, more like a passion, so free rating for the comunity would be awsome. I am sure that they will pay for the premium as they did in easyrecipes case.

Woah, @paulalexandru. Trying to guilt a developer into providing a free plugin is just not cool.

Brecht needs to do what is right for him. It’s helpful to let him know what features we are (or are not) willing to pay for, but if you want a quality product, with the features and functionality that you want, you should be willing to pay for it. It’s simply unfair to ask him to work for free, or to ask others to pay for a premium plugin just so you can get what you want for free.

I am happy to pay for a premium plugin, because I want to support a developer and help ensure that the plugin development and support will continue. It’s in everyone’s best interests.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by Andrew Wilder.

Hey Brecht,

Really appreciate you coming into the thread to explain things.

However, clearly, if I’m going to recommend a plugin I want it to be “out of the box” able to fully enhance recipes on a client site for Rich Cards. So I really hope you can make all of the following attributes possible even if that means providing a premium option:

nutrition
cooktime
preptime
aggregaterating
description
author

Per Google, you will not get preference in the Recipe Carousel if you do not fill all these out. And the recipe niche is just too freaking competitive to not move all recipes to “fully enhanceable” with regard to Rich Cards.

As for Pinterest, most food blogs still get the majority of their traffic from Pinterest. It’s their largest referral. I’ve done I think around 120 individual recipe blog audits over the last 18 months, less than 15% had Google as their main source of traffic.

Based on those numbers, it’s understandable why food bloggers are not going to switch to a plugin with JSON that prevents their rich pins from functioning. That’s their livelihood.

I too hope that Pinterest makes the switch soon. But in the meantime, you can combine the structured data and run both microformats and JSON and it’s not going to kill you.

A great example of this being done right now is over on PinchofYum. They invested in a custom solution that allows both. And so far, they’ve noticed only increased traffic from Google.

I certainly understand your need to “make a living” and I’m with Andrew, no need to GUILT anyone into making a change they can’t make right now. But I will ACTIVELY PUSH a plugin that does what we need above as will Andrew. So we hope it comes to fruition soon , be it by you or someone else.

Thanks for working to improve the niche. Much respect.

I appreciate the feedback, everyone! While I would love to give everything away for free, making and selling WordPress plugins actually is my main income so it’s quite literally making a living for me.

Anyway. My main focus for now is:
1. Implementing inline metadata next to JSON-LD.
I always assumed that having 2 formats would have a negative impact on SEO, but if Pinch of Yum is doing it, then it’s probably not a bad idea. Would be a decent intermediate solution until Pinterest catches up with the times.

2. Creating some sort of user ratings system and the ability to add nutritional information.
Wether premium or free, I realise this metadata is necessary, so you should see these features in the plugin soon.

Brecht

I decided to work some overtime to get these essential features in the plugin as soon as possible. I just released WP Recipe Maker 1.1.0 which includes the following features:

1. Both JSON-LD and inline metadata, so Pinterest Rich Pins should work now.
2. New “Calories” field which is part of the metadata as well. That’s the only nutrition field that Google recommends, as far as I’m aware.
3. Comment ratings similar to EasyRecipe (they import as well!), also included in the metadata.

I decided to include all of this in the free plugin because we want starting food bloggers to have the best odds, SEO wise. An upcoming Premium version could include the rest of the nutrition fields and a user ratings system that doesn’t require commenting, for example.

Let me know if you have any other feedback!

Dude. Props.