Search engine optimization (SEO) for photographers


Be it for the best chilli recipes or the best photographers, people often begin their web browsing journey with a Google, Bing, or DuckDuckGo search. So if you are a photographer and you want these search engines to find your website, you need to optimize it for these search engines.

What is SEO

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, but the term is used more generally to describe how a website presents itself to search engines. Search engines search the web for information that matches the search terms and return a list of links that match those terms. Imagine you are browsing a Word document, but in this case the entire Internet is the Word document.

The hardest part of what search engines do is ranking this information. Which of the millions of possible search results for a range of terms should the search engine return and in what order? When you type "Best Chilli Recipes", which one should come first?

To find out, search engines use sophisticated algorithms to calculate how useful a particular website is likely to be for that visitor. In other words, the search results returned are an estimate of the likelihood that the specific links are what you're looking for. The process of adapting your website to these algorithms is known as search engine optimization, or SEO.

Universal SEO techniques

Below we are going to review some tried and tested SEO techniques that work for all types of websites that are just as suitable for us.

Let yourself be analyzed

Set up Google Analytics (GA) on your website so you can see the impact of your SEO. This should be mandatory for anyone with a website; without it, you cannot find out if what you are doing is working at all. Although platforms like SquareSpace and Photofolio provide some statistics, you want your data to take you everywhere you go. GA will do that. And it's free!

You can also sign up for Google's Search Console for access to more detailed information.

Do your research

Try to imagine what keywords potential visitors will use when searching for your website. You should include these keywords in the tweaks below. Imagine if you were an art buyer looking for photographers - what search terms would you use? Find out what keywords your competitors are using and which are the most popular keywords for photography companies in your field, and pick the one that you think you can compete with.

Not sure which keywords to use? Google is here to help.

Ride the long tail

As tempting as it may be, don't try to compete for headline search terms like "best photographer". These generic, very common search terms, known as head words, are hard to get to, and the same is true of any other search that brings up big brand names or famous people. A much better use of your time is to focus on terms that involve unique factors, such as your location and area of ​​expertise, where there is less competition. This is what is known as a long-tail keyword.

Remember, these are also the terms that serious art buyers will use. You don't want someone else's idea of ​​the so-called "best photographer". You want to find a list of potential photographers who cover their desired area of ​​expertise and location. This is called "intention" in the SEO world. The more specific a search term, the more likely it is that a user will respond to that search term.

Use the "meta tags" of your website

These tags contain text that is not visible to visitors but can be seen by the search engine's robots. This text will likely appear as a description of your website in Google's SERPs to help potential visitors get a feel for what to expect. Well-written meta text can go a long way towards improving your click-through rate and thus your ranking in search results. Keep it short - no longer than a tweet (140 characters).

Title your pages carefully

Make sure the title of your website describes who you are and what you do while including your chosen keywords. Run with your primary keywords and put your (business) name at the end. For a food photographer, an example title could be:

Food and Beverage Photography | Joe Weaver Photography

Most importantly, keep the title of your website concise and accurate. Google won't display website titles longer than 55 characters.

joe-weaver-screenshot-1000px-copy-800x563.jpg

Member of the Wonderful Machine photographer Inti St. Clair has some great cover art. Browser tabs always shorten the title text, but the full version reads “Inti St. Clair | Lifestyle | Healthcare | Travel | Portrait Photography. "Our own Bill Cramer uses" Philadelphia Environmental Portrait Photographer, Bill Cramer, "which is great too. Both include the name and specialty.

Maintain a blog and update it regularly

This is a rich source of keywords for search engines, and the SEO benefits your blog offers are automatically correlated to your main website (assuming they both exist under the same domain). While writing is not a photographer's preferred means of expression, a successful web marketing strategy requires a blog. Find out more in our article on building your web presence and get some writing tips for creatives who hate writing.

Get a word in Edgewise

There are a number of hidden spots where you can put text. For example, you can use your page titles, gallery titles, link titles / anchor text, page urls, and image file names to insert text into your site. You may or may not be in control of some of this information, but if you can control it, use it wisely. Use human readable syntax and add keywords if necessary.

Use your "About" page effectively

If you have the option of having human-readable text, like your About page, make the most of it. Our Minnesota food photographer could write the following as the first sentence on his About page:

Alex is a Minnesota-based food photographer with three decades of experience working with corporate and agency clients to create commercial photography in Minnesota and throughout the Midwest.

Stay social

As a photographer, you should take care of your social media audience. This is invaluable for SEO purposes. While widespread Facebook and Twitter posts may or may not have a direct impact on your search results, the visitors who direct your social media channels to your website will help improve your search ranking organically. Even if you bring a social media user to your Facebook page through an ad, all of the links they click on your page are organic. In addition, it is not uncommon for creatives to find and hire photographers via Facebook and Instagram. Don't spend all of your time on it, but don't ignore it.

Just do good things

By far the most important success factor for your website is high-quality content. While all of the tips and tricks we recommend are valuable, they don't get you nearly as much as excellent content. Make sure your website is easy to navigate, shows great images relevant to your area of ​​expertise, and makes it clear who you are as a photographer.

Potential (search engine) pitfalls and problems

Stay fresh

SEO is changing as fast as the internet, so the techniques that were in vogue in 2013 could be worthless today - or even harmful. As search engines refine their results, they switch from one metric to another, and to keep your ranking up, you need to keep up. Unfortunately, you can't just optimize once and leave it forever. If possible, repeat the process annually.

Wear the white hat

Search engines are now penalizing websites that implement black hat SEO techniques. This means trying to cram a bunch of keywords into your HTML code, inaccurately describing your site in your meta or title tags, spamming blog comments, hiding invisible or tiny text on your site, or other recognized ones Using other bad practices will make you lose your rank on the search engine results pages.

Exercise patience

You won't see results right away. This process takes at least four to six months. But keep an eye on your analytics - if you get it right, you will see a slow but steady surge in traffic to your website.

Put your wand down

None of these techniques alone will dramatically improve your search engine ranking. Think of each as a small step in the right direction that cumulatively and incrementally leads to better results over time.

Take the wide view

While we've focused on general website optimization, that's not the full picture. In addition, there is a whole world of search engine marketing techniques, but getting the above steps right will be important in any subsequent marketing strategy.

further reading

Think of the above as a brief introduction. There's a lot more to do and learn if you really want to get into it. If you want to dive deep into SEO, an internet full of information is at your fingertips. Here are some great starting points:

This article was originally written by Thomas Lawn in 2016 and revised by Ashley Vaught in 2021

About the author: Ashley Vaught works for Wonderful Machine, an art production agency with a network of 600 photographers in 44 countries. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author only. This article was also published here. If you have any questions or need help with your SEO, you can contact Wonderful Machine via email.

https://dailyaffiliatemarketingnews.com/search-engine-optimization-seo-for-photographers/

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