WP Recipe Maker Best Settings for Free

WP Recipe Maker is a powerful WordPress plugin designed to help food bloggers create SEO-friendly, user-engaging recipe cards. Its free version offers robust features that, when configured correctly, can elevate your food blog’s visibility on search engines like Google and Pinterest while enhancing the reader experience. This comprehensive guide dives deep into the best settings for the free version of WP Recipe Maker, focusing on structured data, user engagement, and practical tips to maximize its potential. Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned food blogger, this article will help you configure WP Recipe Maker to drive organic traffic and delight your audience.

1. Template Editor

Get Access to More Recipe Templates

• Recommendation: Upgrade to WP Recipe Maker Premium if you haven’t already. It unlocks:
  • More template styles
  • Enhanced customization
  • Pro-level features like nutrition facts, unit conversion, and more.

2. Recipe Template

Show Non-Food Recipe Types

• ✅ Enable if:
  • You plan to publish how-to guides, DIY, or non-food recipes (e.g., homemade cleaners, beauty products, etc.).
• Disable if your site is strictly food recipes — it keeps the interface cleaner.

Show Advanced Options

• ✅ Enable this setting.
  • You’ll be able to customize archive pages, AMP pages, and RSS feed templates.
  • Helpful for consistent branding across all recipe displays.

Default Recipe Template

• Choose a template that fits your brand. Some strong choices:
  • Chic: Modern and clean with good readability (great choice for “Yum Tonight”).
  • Elegant: Great for longer recipes with lots of notes.
  • Simple White: For minimalistic, print-friendly displays.

Food Recipe Template

• Set to Chic (as mentioned in your note).
  • Why it’s good:
    • Beautiful layout with visual focus on the recipe.
    • Responsive design.
    • Clean typography and good mobile experience.

Template Customization Tips (with Template Editor)

• Add “Jump to Recipe” and “Print Recipe” buttons – these improve UX and SEO.
• Include Nutrition Facts if possible (Premium feature).
• Use affiliate-enabled fields (like equipment or ingredients) for monetization.
• Enable ratings and comments within the recipe card.

3. Print Version Settings

Print Template Settings

• Default Print Template / Food Recipe Print Template:
  ✅ Use same as Default Recipe Template (Chic) – if it prints cleanly.
  🔧 Or, select a minimal print-friendly template in the Template Editor with:
  • No background images
  • Large, readable fonts
  • Full ingredient and instruction visibility
• Admin Print Template:
  ✅ Same as Default – unless you want a stripped-down version for internal use.

Appearance

• Accent Color:
  🎨 Choose a soft or muted tone that contrasts with white text but prints well in black-and-white (e.g., soft green, slate blue).
• Remove links:
  ✅ Enable – Links aren’t useful in print format.
• Every recipe on its own page:
  ✅ Enable – Prevents overlap when printing multiple recipes.
• Use HTML for Print Credit:
  ✅ Enable – Lets you style the credit section.
• Print Credit: Recipe from Yum Tonight: %recipe_name% – %recipe_url% or Thanks for printing! This recipe is from Yum Tonight: %recipe_name% (%recipe_url%)
• Show QR Code Link to Recipe:
  ✅ Enable – Nice modern touch, especially if someone wants to pull it up digitally again.
• Print Footer Ad: Want more comfort food? Visit yumtonight.com

Functionality (Toggle Defaults)

These settings determine what visitors see by default on the print version:

• Email Link Button: ✅ Enable (handy!)
• Default Show Recipe Image: ✅ Enable
• Default Show Equipment: ❌ Disable (unless equipment is essential to your recipes)
• Default Show Ingredient Images: ❌ Disable (clutters print)
• Default Show Instruction Images: ❌ Disable (unless your brand heavily uses visuals)
• Default Show Recipe Notes: ✅ Enable (great for tips!)
• Default Show Nutrition: ✅ Enable (good for SEO and health-conscious readers)

Premium & Pro Options

• Adjustable Servings: ✅ Enable (Premium)
• Unit Conversion: ✅ Enable if available (Pro Bundle)
• Size Options: ✅ Enable – allows flexible printing.

Advanced Settings

• Open Print links in New Tab: ✅ Enable (preserves UX)
• Print Slug: wprm_print (keep unless conflict)
• Print Recipe Identifier: ✅ Use recipe slug in print URL
• Disable pinning on print page: ✅ Enable (no value in pinning print page)
• Redirect to parent post: ✅ Enable – always bring users back to the full post.

4. Recipe Snippets Settings

Automatically Add Snippets

• Enable this setting.
  • Ensures that every recipe post has a consistent and visible Jump to Recipe and Print Recipe button at the top.
  • Improves user experience, especially for repeat visitors or mobile users.
  • SEO boost: Increases time on page and helps with user satisfaction.

Default Snippet Template

• Set to: Snippet Basic Buttons
  (or a custom version of it if you’ve edited one in the Template Editor).
  • This includes the Jump to Recipe and Print Recipe buttons — ideal for food blogs.
  • Avoid choosing a full recipe template here to prevent duplicate display (as noted).

Advanced Settings

Add Hash to End of URL when Jumping

• ✅ Enable
  • Adds #recipe or #recipe-video to the URL when using jump buttons.
  • Improves scroll behavior and lets users easily copy/share direct recipe links.

Use Custom Hash for First Recipe on Page

• ✅ Enable
  • Standardizes the URL anchor as #recipe instead of a long unique ID (e.g., #wprm-recipe-container-46783).
• Custom Hash: recipe

Use Custom Hash for First Video on Page

• Enable only if you use videos at the top of your posts regularly.
• Custom Hash: recipe-video

Bonus Tips

• Custom Snippet Styling: If you want the Jump/Print buttons to match your blog’s color palette or branding, I can help you customize the snippet template with CSS or a tailored template.
• Snippet Placement: While the default is top-of-post, you can manually use [wprm-recipe-snippet] elsewhere for flexibility (e.g., after an intro paragraph).
• Analytics Tip: Consider tracking clicks on “Jump to Recipe” buttons using Google Tag Manager or similar for UX insight.

5. Nutrition Labels

Nutrition API (Pro Bundle)

• Get the Pro Bundle if:
  • You want automatic nutrition calculations (huge time-saver).
  • You post recipes frequently and want accurate, editable labels.
• Otherwise, you can still enter nutrition manually or use external calculators (like Cronometer or MyFitnessPal) to fill in fields.

Display Manually

• Use the shortcode: plaintextCopyEdit[wprm-nutrition-label] Or, for more control: plaintextCopyEdit[wprm-nutrition-label id="123" align="center"]
  • Place it below the recipe instructions or near the recipe notes for best UX.
  • You can also embed it inside your template using the Template Editor.

Customize Appearance

Nutrition Label Style

• Set to: Modern – Editable layout
  • Clean, updated look.
  • Easier for visitors to read.
  • Plays well with responsive design.

Nutrition Label Layout

• Use the default layout unless you want to customize which nutrients show. You can:
  • Reorder fields (e.g., calories on top)
  • Hide less relevant info (like trans fats, if not always provided)

Would you like a sample custom layout that matches your recipe types (e.g., comfort food vs. light meals)?

Default Serving Size Unit

• Set to: portion
  • Best for general use, especially if your recipes are home-cooked dishes with variable servings.
  • Other options: grams, cups, slice — but those are more specific and useful for standardized items.

Show Values When 0

• ✅ Enable if you want to transparently show all nutrition fields, even if a value is zero (e.g., 0g trans fat).
• ❌ Disable if you prefer a cleaner look, hiding nutrients with no value.

Suggested Setup Summary:

Setting	Recommended Value
Style	Modern – Editable
Layout	Customize if needed
Default Unit	portion
Show Values When 0	(Optional)

6. Glossary Terms Setup – Best Practices

Manually Adding Terms

• Use when you want full control over placement: plaintextCopyEdit[wprm-glossary id=123]
  • Helpful for unique terms that might only be used occasionally.
  • Find the term ID under:
    WP Recipe Maker > Manage > Features > Glossary Terms

Automatically Adding Terms (Premium)

Enable this if available – it’s a time-saver and ensures glossary support across your site.

Automatically Search & Tooltip Display In:

• ✅ Recipe Summary
• ✅ Recipe Equipment (if you mention tools like “mandoline”)
• ✅ Recipe Ingredient Group Headers
• ✅ Recipe Ingredients
• ✅ Recipe Instruction Group Headers
• ✅ Recipe Instruction Steps
• ✅ Recipe Notes

💡 Tip: Start with Ingredients and Instructions as the highest priority — that’s where readers are most likely to stumble on terms like “sauté,” “al dente,” or “tempering.”

Matching

• ✅ Case insensitive matching
  (So “Sauté” and “sauté” are both caught — more user-friendly.)

Appearance Settings

Styling for Glossary Terms

• Enable styling unless you have a custom theme and want to use your own CSS.

Recommended Appearance:

• Text Color: Use a slightly darker or contrasting color (e.g., slate blue or soft brown) to subtly differentiate.
• Underline Style:
  • Set to Regular (simple and clean).
• Hover Cursor:
  • Set to Help Icon – clearly signals that it’s interactive.

Styling Tip for Yum Tonight

Want the glossary tooltips to feel a bit cozier or on-brand? I can help you:

• Style the tooltip bubble (colors, rounded corners)
• Add subtle animations or transitions
• Match glossary terms to your font style or tone (e.g., italicized definitions for warmth)

Suggested Use Cases for Yum Tonight:

• Ingredient terms: “Tempeh,” “Umami,” “Shallots”
• Techniques: “Deglaze,” “Fold,” “Blanch”
• Tools: “Dutch oven,” “Microplane,” “Pastry cutter”

7. Custom Styling Overview

Use Custom Styling

• Enable this setting
  (Only disable if you want to style everything manually through your theme or a custom stylesheet.)

CSS Code Fields

Recipe CSS

Add custom styles that apply to recipes on the front-end (not print).

Example: To soften and style your recipe boxes to match a cozy theme:

cssCopyEdit.wprm-recipe-container {
  background-color: #fffdf8;
  border-radius: 16px;
  box-shadow: 0 2px 8px rgba(0,0,0,0.08);
  padding: 24px;
  font-family: 'Georgia', serif;
}

.wprm-recipe-name {
  font-size: 28px;
  font-weight: bold;
  color: #5a3e2b;
}

Recipe Print CSS

Target print layout only (great for making printouts clean and readable).

Example:

cssCopyEditbody {
  font-size: 14px;
  line-height: 1.6;
  font-family: 'Georgia', serif;
  color: #000;
}

.wprm-recipe-container {
  border: none;
  box-shadow: none;
  padding: 0;
}

Want me to build you a custom recipe card style or print layout that fits the Yum Tonight brand aesthetic? I’d be happy to help.

Tooltips Appearance

You can apply branding to glossary tooltips here.

Suggested Settings:

• Background Color: #fff8ed (warm cream tone)
• Text Color: #333333
• Link Color: #a05d3d (rust or cocoa tone)
• Style dropdown in tooltip: ✅ Enable if you use dropdowns — adds polish

Popup Modal Styling

These are modals for servings, nutrition, or print options.

Suggested Yum Tonight Modal Styling:

• Font Size: 16px (readable and accessible)
• Background Color: #fffdf8
• Title Text Color: #5a3e2b (warm brown)
• Content Text Color: #333
• Button Background Color: #a05d3d (matches your accent)
• Button Text Color: #fff

Pro Styling Summary

Setting	Value
Use Custom Styling	✅ Enabled
Font	Serif (e.g., Georgia) or warm sans
Backgrounds	Cream or light tan (#fffdf8)
Accent Colors	Warm tones (rust, cocoa, sage)
Tooltips & Modals	Match your branding palette

8. Integrations

Shoppable & Monetization Integrations

1. Jupiter (Brands & Coupons)

• What it does: Connects your content with top CPG brands for sponsored recipes and coupons.
• Availability: US & Canada.
• Benefit: Earn from brand campaigns and provide added value to readers.
• Setting: ✅ Enable Activate Jupiter to join.

2. Instacart Shoppable Recipes

• What it does: Adds an Instacart button so users can shop for ingredients directly.
• Availability: US only.
• Monetization: Requires signup for Instacart Tastemakers Affiliate Program.
• Setting: ✅ Agree to the Instacart Button Terms to enable.

3. Walmart Shoppable Recipes

• What it does: Adds a Walmart “Shop Ingredients” button via eMeals integration.
• Availability: US only.
• Setting: ✅ Enable Automatically add Shop Ingredients with Walmart Button or manually add via template editor.

4. Chicory

• What it does: Adds contextual in-recipe ads + shopping functionality (Instacart, Walmart, Kroger, etc.).
• Availability: US only.
• Monetization: High potential; used by major food publishers.
• Setting:
  • ✅ Click Sign Up with Chicory to register.
  • ✅ Enable Activate Chicory to turn it on.
  • 🔁 If you use Mediavine, activate Chicory via your Mediavine dashboard instead.

International/Advanced Integrations

5. SmartWithFood (Collect&Go)

• What it does: Converts ingredients into real products for grocery platforms like Collect&Go.
• Requirement: You need a SmartWithFood Token.
• Setting: Paste the token in the provided field to activate.

6. NAKKO – Your Own Recipe App

• What it does: Turns your site into a branded iOS/Android app with full WP Recipe Maker integration.
• Monetization & Loyalty: Boosts traffic, retention, and offers app store visibility.
• Setting: Click to Request a Free Compatibility Check to get started.

Suggested Activation for Your Blog (U.S.-based, using Rank Math and aiming to grow traffic and monetization):

Integration	Activate?	Notes
Jupiter	✅ Yes	Great for brand deals/coupons
Instacart	✅ Yes	Easy affiliate income
Walmart	✅ Yes	Widely used retailer
Chicory	✅ Yes	Passive income + shoppability
SmartWithFood	❌ Optional	Only if you have EU/Collect&Go audience
NAKKO App	⚠️ Optional	Depends on long-term goals

9. Best Practices for Recipe Roundups

Template Selection

• Use the default template: Food Recipe Roundup Template
  • This gives you a clean, well-structured format for recipe collections.
  • You can customize it in the Template Editor if needed (e.g., adding headers or special notes).

External Links Settings

These settings affect how links to external sites appear in your roundup (e.g., if you link out to other food blogs or sources).

• Nofollow Default:
  • ✅ Enable nofollow on external links to avoid passing link juice to other sites (good for SEO).
• Open in New Tab Default:
  • ✅ Enable so external links open in a new tab, keeping readers on your site longer.

Advanced Roundup Settings

Only Show Published Posts

• Enable this option to ensure only live recipes appear in your roundup.
  • Avoids showcasing drafts or unpublished content, making your roundups more professional.

No Metadata When Recipe Metadata Exists

• Enable this if you don’t want the ItemList metadata (used for rich snippets) to repeat when a recipe is already on the same page.
  • Keeps things tidy and prevents redundancy in search engine results.

Open Internal Links in a New Tab

• Enable for internal links (to your own site) to open in a new tab, which improves user experience and encourages deeper site exploration.

Microlink API

This feature pulls in automatic titles, summaries, and images for external recipes or roundup items.

• Use the free plan if you only have a few roundups each day.
• If you frequently create large roundups, consider using your own Microlink API Key to avoid hitting request limits.

Microlink API Key

• Add your Microlink.io API Key if you want to manage requests directly. Otherwise, the default free plan should work for basic needs.

Example Recipe Roundup Structure for Yum Tonight

1. Recipe Name
   • Short Description or Quote
   • Link to full recipe
   • Optional image (grabbed automatically if using Microlink API)
2. Roundup Title (e.g., “10 Quick Weeknight Dinners”)
   • Introduce the roundup and its value (e.g., “Perfect for busy evenings when you crave comfort and flavor”).
3. Recipe Grid or Carousel
   • Automatic item carousel shown by Google in search results.

SEO & User Experience Tips

• ItemList Metadata:
  Ensures recipes show up as a carousel in Google, improving visibility in search results.
• Internal & External Linking:
  Use internal links to keep users navigating through your site (boosts SEO) and open external links in a new tab to improve UX.

10. Media

Instruction Media Toggle

• ✅ Enable Toggle: Yes — this gives readers control to hide or show step-by-step media (especially useful for mobile users).
• 🔘 Starting State:
  • Set to “Show instruction media” so readers immediately see any helpful visuals when they land on the page.

Lightbox Settings

Enable this for a smoother user experience when viewing images up close.

• ✅ Clickable Recipe Image: Yes — allows readers to click the main recipe image and view it larger.
• ✅ Clickable Instruction Images: Yes — especially useful for step-by-step visuals (e.g., what “dough should look like”).
• 📏 Clickable Images Size:
  • Set to full (best quality/resolution).
    If image load speed is an issue, you can change it to a preset size like 800x800.

💡 Tip: Make sure your images are optimized (compressed) to avoid slowing down your page.

Video Settings

If you don’t currently use recipe videos, you can leave the following settings disabled:

• Autoplay Video: ❌ Off (no recipe videos)
• Loop Video: ❌ Off
• Force video ratio:
  • ✅ Enable only if videos look wrong in your theme (e.g., stretched, squashed)

If you do plan to add video later:

• Use uploaded MP4s for autoplay/loop features.
• Embed YouTube/Vimeo for easy sharing — autoplay doesn’t apply here.

Recommended Yum Tonight Setup Summary

Setting	Recommendation
Instruction Media Toggle	✅ Enabled
Starting State	Show instruction media
Clickable Recipe Image	✅ Enabled
Clickable Instruction Images	✅ Enabled
Clickable Images Size	full
Force Video Ratio	⚙️ Enable if layout looks off
Autoplay / Loop	❌ Off (no recipe videos)

11. Rating Feature Overview

You can enable two types of ratings:

1. Comment Ratings (Recommended)

• Enable this one.
• Allows readers to leave a star rating as part of their comment.
• Boosts engagement and gives your recipes more credibility.
• Contributes to your recipe’s aggregate rating for Google rich snippets (hello, stars in search!).

2. User Ratings (Premium Only)

• Allows readers to rate with just a click on the stars without leaving a comment.
• Great for casual users who don’t want to write — increases total ratings.
• If you have Premium, definitely enable this too for more interaction.

Best Setup for Yum Tonight

Feature	Status	Why
Comment Ratings	✅ Enabled	Encourages thoughtful engagement and boosts SEO
User Ratings	✅ If Premium	Increases total ratings with quick interaction

Tip for More Ratings:

In your recipe post, gently prompt readers to rate:

“Tried this recipe? Leave a star rating and a comment below — I’d love to hear how it turned out for you!”

Would you like help customizing the star rating design (color, placement, or animation) to match your site’s look? I can guide you or give you the CSS for it!

12. Appearance

Recommended Star Rating Text for Yum Tonight

No Ratings

Default: No ratings yet
Better:
👉 "Be the first to rate this recipe!"
→ Encourages action, sounds more inviting.

One Rating

Default: %average% from 1 vote
Better:
👉 "Rated %average% from 1 happy cook"
→ Adds a friendly, personal touch.

Multiple Ratings

Default: %average% from %votes% votes
Better:
👉 "Rated %average% from %votes% votes by fellow food lovers"
→ Builds community feel, which suits your brand.

User Voted

Default: (Your vote: %user%)
Better:
👉 "You rated this recipe: %user% ⭐"
→ Clear, friendly, and uses a visual cue.

User Not Voted

Default: (Click on the stars to vote!)
Better:
👉 "Click the stars to rate — your feedback means so much!"
→ Encourages participation with warmth.

Final Settings Summary:

Setting	Custom Text
No Ratings	Be the first to rate this recipe!
One Rating	Rated %average% from 1 happy cook
Multiple Ratings	Rated %average% from %votes% votes by fellow food lovers
User Voted	You rated this recipe: %user% ⭐
User Not Voted	Click the stars to rate — your feedback means so much!

Comment Ratings Settings – Optimized

Stars Color

• Choose a warm accent color that aligns with your site (like gold #F4C542, apricot, or soft coral).
• For a classic look, gold/yellow stands out well without clashing.

👉 Example: #F4C542 for a rich, food-friendly gold tone.

Star Size

• You’ve got it set to 18px — that’s a good size for readability without overpowering the comment.
• ✅ Keep at 18px unless your font size is very large.

Star Padding

• 3px is decent, but if you find the stars feel “tight” or are hard to tap on mobile:
  • Try increasing to 5–6px for better spacing.
  • Especially important if your audience often browses on phones.

Stars Position in Comments

• Above the comment is best — they’re visible right away.
• ✅ Keep this as-is.

Stars Position in Comment Form

• Also set to Above the comment field — perfect.
• Users will see the stars before writing, so they’re more likely to rate.
• ✅ Keep this setting.

Comment Rating Label

This is the text next to the stars in the form. Instead of a plain “Rating,” try something warm and friendly:

Option	Label
🍴 Friendly	"How’d it turn out?"
💬 Conversational	"Your star rating:"
🌟 Simple	"Rate this recipe:"

👉 Recommended: "How’d it turn out?" — it’s personal, warm, and invites feedback.

Recap of Recommended Settings

Setting	Recommended
Stars Color	#F4C542 (gold)
Star Size	18px
Star Padding	5px (if needed for mobile)
Stars Position in Comments	Above the comment
Stars Position in Form	Above the comment field
Comment Rating Label	How’d it turn out?

13. Recommended Settings for Adjustable Servings

Allow visitors to adjust serving size

Keep enabled — this is a must-have for reader flexibility and a great UX touch.

Round quantity to

Recommended: 2 decimals
Perfect balance — avoids weird precision like 1.3333 tbsp, but still accurate for baking.

✅ Keep as 2

Show adjustable buttons when no servings set

Enable this, especially for older or more casual recipes that don’t have serving data — it keeps the interface consistent with the 1x/2x/3x buttons visible.

✅ Turn on

Advanced Adjustable Servings (for baking pans)

If you post baked goods often:

• Enable this — your audience will love being able to adjust based on pan size.
• Example: 8×8 inch vs 9×13 inch sheet.

✅ Enable if baking content is part of your plan.

Unit Conversion

• Let readers switch between cm/inches (especially for international visitors).
• This also plays nicely with the baking pan size setting above.

✅ Enable

Use Fractions

• Highly recommended for measurements like 1 1/2 cups instead of 1.5 cups.
• Readers find fractions more natural for cooking.
• Makes your recipes more kitchen-friendly.

✅ Enable

Set servings through URL

• Enable this for advanced uses like linking to a “double batch” version of a recipe.
• Example link: yourrecipe.com/banana-bread?servings=8

✅ Turn on if you’re likely to share recipes with adjusted servings via links (good for newsletters or socials!).

Decimal Separator

• Use decimal point (like 0.5) — it’s the most widely understood across English-speaking audiences.

✅ Leave as decimal point

Final Recommended Settings Summary

Setting	Recommendation
Allow adjustable servings	✅ Enabled
Round quantity to	2 decimals
Show buttons without servings set	✅ Enabled
Advanced Adjustable Servings	✅ If baking
Unit Conversion	✅ Enabled
Use Fractions	✅ Enabled
Set servings through URL	✅ Enabled
Decimal Separator	Decimal point (0.5)

14. Social Sharing

Pinterest Settings – Best Practice Setup

Opt out of Rich Pins

❌ Leave this unchecked

• Rich Pins display extra metadata like ingredients, ratings, and prep time directly on the pin.
• Helps with SEO and boosts click-throughs.

✨ Recommended: Keep Rich Pins enabled

Disable Recipe Image Pinning

❌ Do not disable — you want your main recipe image to be pinnable.

✅ Keep recipe images pinnable

Disable taxonomy term / equipment / ingredient / instruction image pinning

If you’re using custom or stock icons/images for ingredients, tools, or categories, pinning these isn’t helpful.

✅ Recommended: Enable these disables (i.e., prevent pinning of minor elements)

Setting	Recommendation
Disable taxonomy term image pinning	✅ Yes
Disable equipment image pinning	✅ Yes
Disable ingredient image pinning	✅ Yes
Disable instruction image pinning	✅ Yes
Disable external roundup image pinning	✅ Yes

This keeps Pinterest pins clean and focused on the main recipe image — not clutter from other visuals.

Pin Recipe Button

Pin Method

Recommended: Load pinit.js (required for Repin ID pinning)

• This ensures that Pinterest’s tools work correctly and your pin buttons behave consistently.

✅ Keep this enabled

Pin Image Setting

• If you have WP Recipe Maker Premium, set it to:
  Custom Image if set, otherwise recipe image

This gives you control — you can design a tall, Pinterest-optimized image (e.g., 1000×1500 with title text overlay) for pins.

✅ Use Custom Image fallback for best Pinterest performance
(You can upload this in each recipe post)

Final Recommendations Summary

Setting	Recommended
Rich Pins	✅ Enabled
Disable recipe image pinning	❌ No
Disable taxonomy/equipment/etc.	✅ Yes
Pin Method	✅ Load pinit.js
Pin Image	✅ Custom Image if available

15. Links

General External Link Settings

Use noreferrer for external links

• Prevents the browser from sending your site as the referrer when a visitor clicks a link.
• Good for privacy, but it doesn’t impact SEO.

✅ Recommended: Yes (enable)

Use noopener for external links

• Essential for security when using target="_blank" (opening links in new tabs).
• Prevents malicious sites from controlling the original tab.

✅ Recommended: Yes (absolutely enable this)

Archive Page Links

These enable internal links to category-like pages for your recipe ingredients, equipment, and custom taxonomies — helpful for SEO and navigation if you have those archive pages styled and populated properly.

Archive Link	When to Enable	Why
Ingredients	✅ Yes, if you want clickable ingredient links like “Click to see all recipes with Chickpeas”
Equipment	✅ Yes, if you use this feature (e.g., “See more slow cooker recipes”)
Other Taxonomies	✅ Yes, if you’re using custom recipe tags or categories (e.g., “High-Protein” or “Weeknight Dinners”)

✅ Enable only if the archive pages exist and are styled well
If they’re blank or ugly, disable for now.

Final Suggested Settings Summary

Setting	Recommendation
Use noreferrer	✅ Yes
Use noopener	✅ Yes
Enable Ingredient Archive Links	✅ If using
Enable Equipment Archive Links	✅ If using
Enable Other Taxonomy Archive Links	✅ If styled

16. Analytics

Local Tracking

• Enable Analytics: ✅ Yes — this tracks things like print clicks, star ratings, servings adjustments, etc.
• Stored Locally: This data is kept on your own server/database — privacy-friendly and compliant for most privacy laws (but still update your cookie/privacy policy if needed).
• Days to Keep: 90 Days (Default) — You can increase this if you want more historical data.
• Exclude IPs: Add your own IP and team members’ IPs here to avoid skewed stats.

Google Analytics Integration (Optional but Powerful)

• Enable GA Tracking: ✅ Yes (only if you’re already using GA via gtag.js)
  • This sends events to your Google Analytics (GA4 or Universal depending on your setup).
  • Useful events tracked: recipe views, print clicks, rating submissions, servings adjusted, etc.
  • Makes it easier to measure what content actually performs.

⚠️ Make sure gtag.js is already loaded on your site — if you’re using Rank Math, it may already be in place.

Suggested Settings for You

Since you’re focused on SEO and site performance with Rank Math, here’s what I recommend:

• Enable Analytics: ✅ Yes
• Days to Keep: 90–180 depending on your needs
• Exclude IPs: Add your own + anyone on your team
• Enable GA Tracking: ✅ Yes, only if gtag.js is active

17. Recipe Editing

Defaults When Creating New Recipes

Use Post Title for Recipe Name

Recommended: Yes

• Automatically uses the blog post title as the recipe name — super helpful when you’re writing a recipe post per page.

Use Image from Parent Post

Recommended: Yes

• If you forget to set a separate recipe image, this will fall back to the post’s featured image. Keeps everything looking clean without manual fixes.

Default Temperature Unit

Recommended: Fahrenheit (°F) — Already selected

• Perfect for U.S.-based readers. If you’re targeting an international audience, you could consider Celsius, but °F is ideal for most U.S. food bloggers.

Author Settings

Default Author: Don’t Show

Recommended: Yes, unless you want to highlight yourself as the author on every recipe.

• If your audience knows it’s you behind every recipe, hiding it is fine.
• Want a branded touch? You can change this to show your name or Yum Tonight as the author.

Author Image: Leave Blank

Optional: Only set this if you want a specific user image to show consistently.

• If you want your personal photo or logo to appear next to the author name, insert the user ID of your author account here.

Recipe Author – Take over author of parent post

Recommended: Yes

• Ensures the author of the blog post is also listed as the recipe author — cleaner and consistent.

Other Settings

Use Days for Recipe Times

Recommended: No (leave disabled unless you post lots of multi-day recipes)

• Most recipes will only need hours and minutes. Enable only for things like multi-day fermentation, marination, or slow cooking.

Automatic Amount Fraction Symbols

Highly recommended

• Turns things like 1/2 into ½ — better for readability and accessibility, especially on mobile.

Final Suggested Settings Summary

Setting	Recommended
Use Post Title for Recipe Name	✅ Yes
Use Image from Parent Post	✅ Yes
Default Temperature Unit	✅ Fahrenheit
Default Author	✅ Don’t show (or set your name/brand)
Author Image	❌ Leave blank unless needed
Recipe Author (Post Author)	✅ Take over author of parent post
Use Days for Recipe Times	❌ No
Automatic Fraction Symbols	✅ Yes

18. Import

Ingredient Parsing Settings

Range Keyword

• Keyword: to
  • Allows phrases like “1 to 2 teaspoons” to be parsed properly.
  • You could also support other formats like “–” or “-” if you often write “1–2” instead. Let me know if you’d like to add that.

Import Units

• You’ve included a comprehensive list of units already — this is excellent.
• Tip: If you use any niche units (like “sticks” for butter, “sprigs” for herbs), you can add them here too.

Ingredient Notes Identifier

• “Comma or parentheses, whichever comes first” — this is a great default.
  • Example: 1 cup sugar (organic) or 1 cup sugar, sifted will parse notes correctly.

Remove Identifier

• ✅ Yes — this ensures cleaner ingredient notes by removing the punctuation used to separate them after parsing.

Instruction Parsing

Split Instruction Steps

• “Split on linebreaks” — this is usually the most accurate method.
  • Just make sure when pasting instructions during import that each step is on a new line.
  • If your instructions are long paragraphs, consider manually breaking them up for clarity and better SEO/voice assistant support.

Optional Enhancements

Want to make this even smoother?

• Add support for dashes in range keywords:
  • E.g., if you sometimes type 1–2 tbsp or 1-2 tbsp, add – and - to the Range Keyword list.
• Custom units (if applicable):
  • If you use “sticks”, “bunch”, “sprigs”, or “cans”, consider adding them to the Import Units.
• Instruction prefixes:
  • If your imports often have steps like “Step 1: Preheat the oven…”, we can auto-clean those. Want help setting that up?

19. Changelog

Changelog Overview

Enable Changelog

• This turns on change tracking for your recipes — super helpful for monitoring updates, collaborating with others, or restoring information if something breaks.

Send Email To

• You can enter an email address to get notified when recipe changes happen (e.g., ingredient edits, instruction updates).
  • Tip: Use your main blog or admin email, or even a team/shared address if someone helps manage content.
  • Leave it blank if you don’t want email notifications.

Days to Keep

• Default: 90 days — this keeps changelogs for 3 months.
  • You can extend this if you like keeping longer-term records for compliance or content audit purposes.
  • Or reduce it to save database space.

Recommendations

• Enable it if you’re actively updating recipes or have collaborators helping you.
• If you’re the sole editor and don’t need a detailed history, it’s okay to keep this disabled — but it’s still a nice backup tool.
• Consider pairing this with backups or version control tools if you ever need to restore previous recipe states.

20. Post Type & Taxonomies

Recipe Post Type

Recipe Existence – Parent Post (Recommended)

• Parent Post ensures your recipe is tied to the post it’s in. This is the default setting and it works great for most use cases. It allows each recipe to have its unique page while keeping the content within a parent blog post.

Keep this option as is: Parent Post
This will create individual recipe pages within your blog posts and ensure seamless integration.

Automatically Lock First Parent Post

• Locks the parent post once a recipe is set. This prevents accidental changes or deletion of the recipe from a post once it’s assigned. It ensures that the relationship between the recipe and its post is consistent and doesn’t get messed up by accident.

Recommended: Enable this setting for reliability and peace of mind.

Taxonomies

Show Default WordPress UI

• This setting controls the UI for your taxonomies (categories, tags, etc.) within WP Recipe Maker. When enabled, it allows you to use the built-in WordPress UI to manage taxonomies, making it easy to assign categories like Vegan, Quick Recipes, Holiday Dishes, etc., within your recipes.

Recommended: Enable this setting for ease of use.

Archive Pages

Control Output for Recipe Archives

• If you want to take full control of how your recipe archive pages look (listings of recipes by category, tag, etc.), you can use WP Recipe Maker’s template system.
• However, if you want to rely on your theme’s archive settings, you can let the theme handle it.

Recommended: Let WP Recipe Maker handle this for better flexibility and customization in the future.

Archive Pages Template

• The template used for your archive pages. WP Recipe Maker offers a default template, but you can customize this for your unique needs if you want to give your archives a branded look.

Recommended: Start with the default and customize later if needed.

Final Suggested Settings Summary

Setting	Recommendation
Recipe Existence	✅ Parent Post (default)
Automatically Lock First Parent Post	✅ Yes
Show Default WordPress UI	✅ Yes
Handle Archive Pages Output	✅ Yes (WP Recipe Maker)
Archive Pages Template	✅ Use default, customize later if needed

21. Recipe Metadata

General Metadata Integration

Integrate with Yoast SEO

• Yoast SEO is one of the most widely used plugins for optimizing content. Enabling this ensures that WP Recipe Maker will integrate with Yoast’s Schema Markup, allowing your recipes to be properly indexed and appearing as rich snippets in search results.

Recommended: Enable this setting to improve SEO and visibility in search results.

Integrate with Rank Math

• Rank Math is another powerful SEO plugin. If you’re using Rank Math, this integration will ensure your recipes show up in search results with rich snippets as well.

Recommended: Enable this if you’re using Rank Math for SEO purposes.

Recipe Fields Metadata

Include Ingredient Notes

• If your recipe includes special ingredient notes (such as substitutions or tips), enabling this option will include these notes in the Schema markup. This can help Google understand your recipe better and present more relevant information to users.

Recommended: Enable this to ensure all your recipe details are captured and indexed for SEO.

Use SuitableForDiet Metadata

• This option helps you define suitable diets for each recipe, like vegetarian, gluten-free, or low-carb. This can help your recipes show up in search results when users search for specific diets or dietary needs.

Recommended: Enable this setting if you post a variety of recipes with different dietary needs.

Keyword Metadata

Show Keywords in Template

• Enabling this will allow keywords to be shown in your recipe template, in addition to being included in the metadata. This can improve the relevance of your recipe for search engines and users.

Recommended: Enable this to help increase your SEO ranking and improve how Google indexes your recipes.

Final Suggested Settings Summary

Setting	Recommendation
Integrate with Yoast SEO	✅ Yes
Integrate with Rank Math	✅ Yes (if using Rank Math)
Include Ingredient Notes	✅ Yes
Use SuitableForDiet Metadata	✅ Yes
Show Keywords in Template	✅ Yes

Review Metadata Settings

Include Review Metadata

• This setting allows reviews from your visitors to be included in the structured data for your recipe. This helps search engines understand that your recipe has real user feedback.
  • Always include when there are comments with ratings from users.

Recommended: Enable this to capture all reviews and ratings for search engines.

Append Featured Reviews

• If you have featured reviews, this setting lets you choose whether to append them to the regular comments with ratings or exclude regular reviews if there’s at least one featured review.

Recommended: “No” if you want to show only the featured review, otherwise, allow all reviews.

Guided Recipes Settings

Restrict Ingredient Length

• This setting is useful to avoid an “Invalid string length” warning when the ingredient notes are too long. It ensures that ingredient notes stay within an appropriate length for structured data and Google.

Recommended: Enable to avoid issues with lengthy ingredient notes and keep everything streamlined.

Instruction Name Field

• Google recommends that every instruction step in a recipe has a name field, which makes it easier for search engines to understand the context of the instructions.
  • This setting allows you to use regular instruction text if the instruction name is not set.

Recommended: Enable to ensure the instructions are in line with Google’s recommendations.

Archive Pages and ItemList Metadata

Automatic ItemList Metadata

• This automatically outputs ItemList metadata on archive pages. ItemList schema helps search engines understand the collection of recipes on an archive page and can improve the visibility of your recipe pages in search results.

Recommended: Enable to make sure your archive pages also include valuable structured data for SEO.

Video Metadata Settings (YouTube)

Agree to YouTube Terms of Service

• Enabling this option allows WP Recipe Maker to retrieve video details from YouTube using the YouTube Data API. This ensures your recipe videos are properly integrated into the recipe metadata.

Recommended: Enable if you regularly use YouTube videos for your recipes.

Google Privacy Policy

• When you use YouTube embeds, WP Recipe Maker will store video details (like title, description, and thumbnail) for recipe metadata. Google’s privacy policy applies to this data handling.

Recommended: Enable to ensure you comply with Google’s privacy requirements.

Personal YouTube Data API Key

• If you’d like to use your own API key for YouTube video metadata (instead of the default shared key), you can set it here. This is optional and typically useful for those who have higher traffic or video integration needs.

Recommended: Leave blank unless you need a personal API key for higher usage limits.

Final Suggested Settings Summary

Setting	Recommendation
Include Review Metadata	✅ Yes
Append Featured Reviews	✅ No (unless you want only featured reviews)
Restrict Ingredient Length	✅ Yes
Instruction Name Field	✅ Use regular instruction text if name is not set
Automatic ItemList Metadata	✅ Yes
Agree to YouTube Terms of Service	✅ Yes (if using YouTube)
Google Privacy Policy	✅ Yes (if using YouTube)
Personal YouTube Data API Key	✅ Leave blank unless necessary

Output Recipe Metadata Settings

Output Recipe Metadata Location

• Option 1: “In HTML head element”
  • This option ensures that the recipe’s metadata is placed in the head section of the HTML document, making it visible to search engines as soon as the page loads. This is typically the preferred option for SEO because it ensures that recipe metadata is part of the page’s core information from the start.
  Recommended: Enable for optimal SEO performance.

Only Show Metadata for First Recipe

• This setting ensures that only the first recipe on the page gets its metadata output. If you have multiple recipes on a single page, enabling this will avoid having multiple recipe metadata blocks, which can confuse search engines and dilute SEO efforts. Recommended: Enable if you have multiple recipes on a page, such as roundup pages, to avoid metadata duplication.

Force Mediavine Video Metadata

• If you’re using Mediavine video ads on your recipe pages, this option will include Mediavine’s video metadata alongside your recipe video metadata. While this can improve video visibility in search engines, it might cause duplicate video metadata if you already have video metadata integrated via the recipe. Recommended: Disable unless you specifically need to integrate Mediavine video metadata to avoid duplication.

Suggested Settings Summary

Setting	Recommendation
Output Recipe Metadata Location	✅ In HTML head element
Only Show Metadata for First Recipe	✅ Yes (for pages with multiple recipes)
Force Mediavine Video Metadata	✅ No (to avoid duplicate video metadata)

22. Performance

Performance Settings Breakdown

Output Combined Stars in Comments

• This option combines the stars in comment ratings into a single image to reduce the number of DOM nodes. It’s more efficient for loading, but if you prefer customizable star colors, you might need to disable it. Recommended: Enable for improved performance and a simplified comment rating system.

Only Load Assets When Needed

• This setting ensures that JavaScript and CSS files are only loaded when a recipe is present on the page. It reduces unnecessary resource loading, improving page load speed. Recommended: Enable for better performance on pages without recipes.

Load Admin Assets Everywhere

• This option forces admin assets (such as admin scripts and styles) to load on all pages. It increases compatibility with other plugins, but it might slightly reduce performance if you don’t need these assets on the front-end. Recommended: Disable unless you have a specific need for admin assets to load on the front-end.

Exclude Assets from Caching Optimization

• This setting prevents WP Recipe Maker assets (like JS and CSS) from being optimized or minified by caching plugins. Since WP Recipe Maker already minifies and combines assets, excluding them from caching plugins can avoid compatibility issues. Recommended: Enable if you are using caching plugins and want to prevent conflicts.

Template Assets Location

• By loading template assets in the footer, you can improve page load speeds, as the browser loads content in the order it’s needed. However, this could sometimes cause layout shifts (CLS). If you want to avoid that, you can load them in the header instead, but this may affect performance. Recommended: Enable to load template assets in the footer for better performance.

Default Snippet and Recipe Templates in Footer

• Similar to the template assets, you can choose to load default snippet templates and recipe templates in the footer to speed up page loading times. This is particularly useful if you have a lot of content on your pages. Recommended: Enable both options for faster page load times.

Suggested Settings Summary

Setting	Recommendation
Output Combined Stars in Comments	✅ Enable
Only Load Assets When Needed	✅ Enable
Load Admin Assets Everywhere	✅ Disable
Exclude Assets from Caching Optimization	✅ Enable
Template Assets Location	✅ Load in footer
Default Snippet Templates in Footer	✅ Enable
Default Recipe Templates in Footer	✅ Enable

23. Permissions

Permissions Settings Breakdown

Prevent Printing of Non-Published Recipes

• This option ensures that unpublished recipes cannot be printed by visitors. It will redirect visitors to the homepage if they try to print a recipe that has not been published yet. Recommended: Enable if you want to prevent the printing of drafts or unpublished recipes, keeping them hidden from public access.

Prevent Printing of Restricted Recipes

• This option ensures that a recipe can only be printed if it is included in the content of its parent post. It’s useful for membership-based sites or when you want to restrict certain recipes from being printed or viewed unless the user has access to the full content. Recommended: Enable if you are using membership plugins or need to restrict recipe access to certain users.

Suggested Settings Summary

Setting	Recommendation
Prevent Printing of Non-Published Recipes	✅ Enable
Prevent Printing of Restricted Recipes	✅ Enable

Conclusion

WP Recipe Maker’s free version is a game-changer for food bloggers looking to create SEO-friendly, user-focused recipe cards without spending a dime. By optimizing settings like structured data, appearance, and snippets, you can boost your blog’s visibility on Google and Pinterest while delivering a seamless experience to readers. Pair these settings with best practices for entering ingredients, instructions, and metadata, and you’ll be well on your way to growing organic traffic.

For beginners, the free version offers everything needed to start strong. As your blog grows, consider upgrading to unlock advanced features, but rest assured that the free version’s robust capabilities can carry you far. Experiment with the settings outlined here, monitor your analytics, and engage your audience with delicious, well-presented recipes.

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