Google ends recipe pilot that left creators fearing web-traffic hit

The company’s retreat on the recipe feature comes amid a larger debate about whether the terms of engagement between the search giant and publishers should be renegotiated as generative AI remakes the web. — Pixabay

Google has ended tests of a feature that would have let users open a snapshot of cooking-recipe content directly in web search results – a welcome development for creators and food bloggers who were concerned about eroding traffic to their sites.

In recent months, Alphabet Inc-owned Google has tested Recipe Quick View, which showed some food bloggers’ content in search. The company framed the feature as an attempt to help users determine whether they are interested in a recipe before visiting a website. But some bloggers said they feared that the product would keep users from clicking through to their sites, depriving them of traffic and ad revenue.