Best Served Hot: October 19–25, 2025

This week’s issue is free for a limited time, enjoy!

Hey there!

I’m Rachel Cunliffe, food blog designer and data scientist, and you’re reading Best Served Hot, your weekly, actionable look behind the scenes of the top food blogs.

This week, we’re taking a look at content strategy metrics: how often top bloggers are publishing, the importance of a large content archive, and how they are organizing their recipes through category structures. In the recipe charts, “squash” and “potatoes” each make their appearance for the first time.

I run these reports every single week, publishing the freshest data every Sunday. This isn’t theory; it’s exclusive trend analysis blended with clear-cut actionable insights.

(P.S. When I say “top food blogs,” I mean recipe-focused sites running Raptive ads, not lifestyle, cocktail-only, or aggregator sites. This week, I’m tracking 1,993 of them.)

Got a burning question about the food blog world? Let me know! Your questions guide the next data deep dive.

Finally, word-of-mouth is what keeps this project sustainable. If you find these trends valuable, please share this Substack with a fellow creator!

Thanks for your support!