Are you a photographer feeling lost in the world of SEO? You’re not alone! It can seem like everyone has different advice, and it’s hard to know what actually works. Many people claim to be experts in SEO for photographers, but truly understanding it takes experience and constant learning.
This is where expertise meets real-world photography experience. With the right strategies, you can grow your website organically and rank at the top for photography-related keywords. Whether you’re starting from scratch or looking to improve your existing site, mastering these techniques is the key to standing out in a competitive digital space.
This guide breaks down SEO, explains why it matters for photographers, and gives you seven easy SEO tips you can use today.
What is SEO for Photographers?
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is all about optimizing your online presence to get more traffic from search engines. While most people think of Google when they hear “SEO,” it also includes other search engines like Bing, DuckDuckGo, YouTube, and even TikTok. However, this guide will focus on Google, as it’s the most commonly used search engine.
Think of SEO as having five key parts or pillars:
- Keywords
- Technical SEO
- Core Page SEO
- Content/Blog SEO
- Link Building
Let’s explore each of these pillars in more detail.
Keywords
Keywords are the words or phrases people type into search engines. If you want your photography website to show up when someone searches for a photographer, you need to target the right keywords. The goal is to rank number one for keywords relevant to your business. For example, if you’re a portrait photographer in Seattle, you’d want to rank high when people search for “portrait photographer in Seattle.” You can research what keywords are best.
Each keyword has a search volume and a difficulty score. Search volume tells you how many people search for that keyword each month. The difficulty score indicates how hard it is to rank number one for that keyword. This depends on the websites already ranking for that keyword and their domain authority. Domain authority is basically how credible a website is, based on things like the number of quality backlinks it has and how long it’s been around.
Technical SEO
Technical SEO is about cleaning up the behind-the-scenes aspects of your website. This includes things like sitemaps, robots.txt files, error pages, and site speed. It’s called technical SEO because it involves some technical knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. But don’t worry, you don’t need to be a coding expert to tackle technical SEO. Good technical SEO sets the stage for success in other areas.
Think of your photography website as your home base online. Technical SEO is like building a strong foundation. If you build your house on a weak foundation, it’s likely to crumble later. You can also get a free photography SEO audit to see how you’re doing.
Core Page SEO
Core pages are your money-making pages – typically your product or service pages. Ranking well on these pages can drive more leads and revenue to your photography business. For a photographer, these would be your niche + location pages, such as “portrait photographer in Seattle,” “headshot photographer in Boston,” or “wedding photographer in Austin.”
Core page SEO involves optimizing these pages for your target keywords. This means making sure your on-page elements – the URL, headers, meta tags, images, and content – are all targeting your keyword effectively. Getting the right mix on core pages is critical.
Content/Blog SEO
If you have a photography blog (or are thinking about starting one), this pillar is for you. By ranking well with your blog content, you can drive more traffic to your website, attract potential clients to your core pages, and establish yourself as an expert in your field.
For example, let’s say you’re a portrait photographer in Seattle and you write a blog post titled “Best places in Seattle to take pictures.” This article targets users interested in getting their picture taken in Seattle. By promoting your portrait photography services within the article, you can guide those readers to your portrait photography page. A blog can grow your content SEO.
Link Building
Link building is often considered the most challenging part of SEO. It involves getting other websites to link back to your website, which requires their approval. There are two main ways to acquire backlinks: organically and through manual outreach. You can also enhance your SEO with link building.
Organic link building happens naturally when you produce high-quality blog posts or offer excellent services that people want to mention on their websites. Manual outreach link building involves contacting website owners and asking them to mention your website.
Many SEOs have tried different manual outreach tactics like guest posting, link exchanges, and comment link building. However, these methods are becoming increasingly difficult as website owners are bombarded with requests. That’s why focusing on creating great content and providing outstanding services is often the best way to build links. If you provide quality, people will naturally want to link to you.
Why is SEO Important for Photographers?
SEO is as important for photographers as it is for any other business. It helps you drive more traffic to your website, so you can achieve your business goals, whether that’s building brand awareness, getting more clients, increasing sales, or something else.
About 70% of all online experiences start with a search engine, and around 60% of marketers consider SEO their best source of high-quality leads. In short, if you’re not focusing on SEO, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity.
7 Easy SEO Tips for Photographers
You’ve probably heard a lot of different SEO advice. But it’s important to understand why you’re doing something, not just blindly following instructions. The best way to learn SEO is to optimize websites, see what works and what doesn’t, and grow your own website organically from scratch. Here are seven easy SEO tips photographers can use to improve their websites today:
1. Check Whether Your Photography Website Uses HTTPS
HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) uses the SSL/TLS protocol for encryption and authentication, making your website safer. Search engines prefer websites that use HTTPS, which can help you rank higher.
To check if your website has an SSL certificate, use an SSL checker website. To get an SSL certificate and use HTTPS, check with your web hosting provider. Most basic photography websites use hosting providers like SiteGround, Bluehost, and GoDaddy. Just search for “[Hosting Provider] SSL Instructions” to find their tutorial.
2. Check Whether or Not You Have a CDN
A Content Delivery Network (CDN) helps with SEO by improving your website’s page speed. CDNs are a network of servers that distribute content to your website users with minimal delay, speeding up site performance and protecting against cyber security threats.
To check if your website is using a CDN, use a CDN checker tool. Cloudflare is a popular and easy way to get a CDN. Simply go to the Cloudflare website, sign up, add your domain, and point your domain to their name servers.
3. Optimize Your Image File Names and ALT Text
As photographers, our websites are usually full of images. This gives us a great opportunity to improve our SEO by optimizing our image file names and ALT text.
The image file name is the name you give your image when you download it. The ALT text (alternative text) is a short description of an image on a page. Web crawlers can’t “see” images, so the ALT text helps describe the image to them.
To optimize your image file name and ALT text, try to include your target keyword. For example, if you’re targeting the keyword “portrait photographer in Miami” on a core page, a poor image file name would be “image1.jpeg” or “DSC10002.jpeg.” An optimized file name would be “portrait-photo-in-miami.jpeg.” A poor ALT text would be “photo,” while an optimized ALT text would be “portrait photographer with client in Miami city on a sunny day.”
Just be sure to avoid keyword stuffing and include your keyword naturally.
4. Use Keyword-Rich Titles
The title tags on your page, also known as meta titles, are HTML elements that specify the title of a web page. It’s what you click on in the search engine results page (SERP).
When writing title tags, make sure to:
- Include your target keyword
- Avoid duplicate title tags across your website
- Keep your title tag from getting too long.
If your title tag is too long, it will get cut off with an ellipsis (three dots) in the search results, leading to a lower click-through rate. There are plenty of websites that can help check that your title is optimized for both desktop and mobile. If you have WordPress for example, you’ll need an SEO plugin that allows you to edit certain HTML elements for your page.
5. Ensure Proper Heading Structure
Heading structure refers to the heading tags used on your page, such as H1, H2, H3, etc. These headings are signposts for both users and search engine crawlers. They help structure your writing, making it easier to read, and let crawlers know what your page is about.
Remember, you should only have one H1 header per page, and it should include your target keyword. For example, if you want to rank number one for “New York headshot photographer,” that should be the H1 header of your page.
The other headers (H2, H3, etc.) should contain secondary keywords – keywords that align with your primary keyword. For example, if your target keyword is “New York headshot photographer,” secondary keywords could be “New York headshot photographer for fashion,” “headshot photographer in New York NY,” or “headshot photographer for actors.” Identifying the best target keywords and tailoring the strategy to specific business goals can be done together.
6. Ensure Mobile Responsiveness
Making sure your website is mobile-responsive is a big part of optimizing for search engines. Almost 60% of global web traffic comes from mobile devices, and that number is only increasing. Also, Google uses mobile-first indexing, meaning it crawls websites from the perspective of a mobile browser and uses that mobile version for indexing and ranking.
In short, how your photography website looks on mobile is even more important than how it looks on desktop. If your website is responsive on desktop but not on mobile, it’s hurting your rankings and traffic potential.
To test if your website is mobile-responsive, use the dev tools provided by Google Chrome. Open Google Chrome, click the toggle device toolbar icon, choose a mobile device to simulate, and view your website to make sure everything looks good.
7. Leverage Local SEO
If you service clients in your local area, local SEO is essential. Local SEO is a specific area within SEO that focuses on local results, which often appear when you add “near me” to your keyword.
The biggest ranking factors for local SEO are Google My Business optimization, local citations, and online reviews.
Google My Business (GMB) is a free tool from Google that allows your business to show up in the local map pack and Google Maps. If you’re a photographer who services local clients and you don’t have a GMB profile, set one up right now! Fill out all the sections, including services, images, information, and contact details.
Local citations involve ensuring your business is listed in popular online directories and citation sites with a consistent name, address, and phone number (NAP). Yelp is one directory you’ll want to be on. Create a Yelp profile and fill out the same information as your GMB profile to ensure consistency. It is also possible to target your social media marketing locally.
Finally, get reviews on your Google My Business profile and local directory listings like Yelp. Ask clients to leave a review after a successful photoshoot, when their experience is still fresh in their minds.
Final Thought
That’s it – your guide to SEO for photographers! If you find yourself making any of the improvements mentioned, be sure to implement them right away. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions. Good luck, and remember that focusing on keywords is an important factor in any SEO campaign.