How we made a food blog rank and how you could do it too: Six quick tips to get you started

So, you have an experiential food blog and want the algorithm to pick it up for maximum visibility? Here are six quick hacks to ensure that your blog hits the mark and shows up on the first page!

Recently, two of our blogs, Where to Eat at Kala Ghoda Arts Festival 2025: A Foodie’s Walking Guide and A Guide to Best food stalls at Kala Ghoda Art Festival 2025, were picked up by Google algorithm and showed on top of the first page for basic food and event related keywords! The blogs were written for Godrej Industries Limited’s Vikhroli Cucina, based around the food experience of the Kala Ghoda Festival 2025.

A food blog is a fun exercise, for both the reader and the writer. Who doesn’t like reading about the who’s who and what’s latest in the Food and Beverage space.

In the age of a content-saturated web and smart algorithms that are always changing, it can be a challenge to write a blog that can be picked up by the search engine.

So, we compiled six handy tips to consider when writing a user-focused experiential food blog.

1. Tap into the topicality

Topical content, especially when it’s based around uber-popular festivals, always takes the helm. Multiple channels are already talking about it - use that as a trampoline to launch your blog! Remember, food is almost always the most looked-forward-to thing that cannot be missed, and most festivals, like the one that happens annually at Kala Ghoda, will have a number of restaurants, stalls, workshops and cafes, vying for visibility. So, tap into that!

2. Factor in the time and strike when it’s hot!

Your blog needs to get out there when everyone (i.e., the internet, media and social media) is talking about it. For instance, our Kala Ghoda story would be irrelevant if it came out after the festival ended. Think of it this way, if it’s a week-long festival and you have the first-view advantage on a weekday, your best time to strike is before the weekend searches for the festival roll in, i.e., the best time your potential audience will visit the food stalls. Sure, your audience already have some idea that Mumbai’s largest art festival is happening via social media, but that alone does not suffice, most will google the event schedule, the must-visit counters and so on… which brings us to the next important tip.

3. Use the right keywords

Pick up on the most-likely local search terms around the festival, do a little digging. Once you have the authenticity, the site authority and the meat to build your story, it is pertinent to get the keywords right. By keywords, we mean the most likely search terms your audience is using to gather more info about the event or festival. For e.g., when the user is in Kala Ghoda, they will use common search terms like, places to eat in Kala Ghoda or, if they’re planning to visit the festival, they would want to know what are the food options at the festival the key is to harp on the basic search terms. The user is less likely to search for “food available at the kala ghoda arts festival” and more likely to go for “kgaf food” or “kala ghoda festival food''. So, aim to capture that particular search trend.

4. Step into the shoes of your audience

So, you are at this most sought-after event. Great! Now, what would the user like to have ‘experienced’ if they were here? Now, wouldn’t it be great if the user had a roadmap of the food stalls – and most importantly, what to start with! This is exactly what you need to do. When conveying the experience to your audience, think of what they would look for in your blog. For e.g., each food stall will have a must-try item that should certainly be on their list. Each workshop will have a defining moment that needs to be seen or conveyed, and so on.

As Shilpa Naresh, Chief Operating Officer, TIC puts it, "With dynamic algorithms powered by AI, it’s not just about using the right keywords. What gets picked up is what the algorithm determines to be genuinely useful for the user. It’s smart enough to understand what people are searching for—and what keeps their attention. Creating content that genuinely solves problems is what drives visibility now. It’s all about the user!"

5. Go out and experience it yourself!

This is of the utmost importance. Don’t write at home, don’t use AI to write it. If you want to tell the user, a layman, your audience about an ‘experience’, you must experience it for yourself first! And this makes your content authentic and your voice original. Of the several visiting and writing about the festival, what makes yours stand out? It is certainly the authenticity that only comes from having experienced it yourself.

6. Curate a visual experience

Here’s the thing when it comes to a good experiential blog, food or otherwise. You need to use original photos. Yes, we know that in this day and age, every thought can have a corresponding visual Gen AI creation, and that with stock, there are countless visual matches to pick from. But nothing comes close to using photos that you click on-ground. This is your experience, your story and your creation and it should have your pics.

And there you have it! With the ‘luck of the algorithm’ and credibility on your side, you will be hitting the first page in no time! Keep the momentum going by keeping a tap on more such trending events happening in your city to establish your thought leadership in that space. And you will have enticed the algorithm to be in your favour!