Couple Kissing At Reception, Header Image Of Seo For Photographers

SEO for Photographers – Generating Organic Growth for Your Business

Byhonestedgephoto

Last updated on March 26th, 2024 at 07:43 pm

SEO for Photographers growing your business organically

If you are looking to grow your business this intro to SEO for photographers will give you a great jumping-off point. In it, we will break down what SEO is and some key factors to give you a place to get started.

Couple Kissing At Reception, Header Image Of Seo For Photographers

Why should you focus on SEO as a photographer?

The biggest advantage to optimizing your website for search is that it will provide you with constant, free leads. Once you put in the work you will be able to have a reliable way to connect with clients. Unlike social media, which has a shelf life of 48 hours, a webpage can continue to bring for years to come

Understanding SEO for photographers

Definition: SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, a crucial process for making your online content more accessible and understandable to your target audience, ultimately driving engagement and revenue.

Search Engines Explained

A search engine is a tool for accessing internet content, ranging from Google to social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. Each platform has unique optimization strategies.

Optimization ensures that your content is tailored to be easily discoverable and relevant to your audience, enhancing visibility and engagement across different platforms.

However, when most people talk about SEO they are referring to optimizing a website for Google Search.

Deep Dive into SEO for Photographers

Google, the most widely used search engine, employs an algorithm to deliver the most relevant content for a user’s query, considering over 200 factors to determine content quality and relevance.

I think the best way to think about Google is to think of it as a question-answering machine. 

So if you are talking to someone and ask them a question like “Where should I get dinner?” What makes a good answer to a question?

You want good information (Onpage SEO).

You would like to know their credibility. A friend who only eats hot pockets is less credible than a foody. (Offpage SEO)

They need to say the answer in a language that they understand. (Technical SEO)

Onpage optimization – Understandability, & Originality & Value

One of the primary factors that Google will look at in search engine optimization is on-page optimization. This means is if someone lands on your site does it provide the necessary information in a well-organized and sensible way that answers their question

Understandability – What is this page about?

The first thing we want to focus on here is it your page answers their question. 

Keywords

When someone is looking for something on the Internet they will type in a keyword there are both long-tail and short-tail keywords.

Short-tail keywords are very broad topics with a very high volume of searches. These are exceptionally difficult to rank and not always the best.

An example would be HairColor

  • The search intent of this keyword could be buying hair coloring, getting hair coloring, learning how to color your hair, looking for a school to go to for hair coloring, it could be removing hair coloring. Because it is so broad it gets a lot of search volume, but it is a very difficult “question” to answer
  • A short tail keyword is something like “how to dye my hair red” or  hair coloring in Missoula”
Graph From Semrush Illustrating Long And Short Tail Keywords. This Is Helpful In Seeing How Keywords Impact Seo For Photographers

When choosing your keywords you will go through the process of keyword research. Through this you will be looking at the search volume for various longtail keywords to be able to see which ones will get you the most traffic.

Tools to use:
  • Keywords everywhere: This is a Google Chrome plugin that will allow you to see the volume of searches. If you pay $10 you get a bunch of credits and are able to use this. Just make sure to turn it off so that you don’t burn your credits on your normal Google searches
  • Ubbersuggest: you can get a lifetime subscription for 1 site.
    This is a great tool for the average person looking to grow their site. It features research tools, backlink checkers, competitor analysis tools, and tons of other stuff.
  • Other high-end tools: Semrush, and Ahrefs, both incredible tools, but very expensive. They will give you way more in-depth data. Ahrefs has a free option for your site’s technical SEO analysis.

When optimizing your pages you want to target these short tail keywords because while the funnel is smaller, there is less competition and the more specific intent will mean the person is more likely to book with you. For example: ranking for Photographer Missoula, would be more advantageous than ranking for Photographer Montana. 

Keywords should be mentioned throughout your page but in an annoying way.

For example: If you are wondering how to dye my hair red. You will want to buy red hair dye to dye your hair red. When starting to dye your hair red you will open the box of red hair dye.” 

This is annoying, google will recognize it as “keyword stuffing” and it will hurt your click-through rate.

Headings

When optimizing your page layout use headings. These act as points in a table of contents. Make sure there is only 1 H1 heading. This heading is your main topic. You do not want a page with more than one main topic. Use subsequent headings (H2, H3, H4,) to organize your thoughts. I like to think of this as taking notes in a lecture

Example

  1. SEO for photographers (H1)
    1. Onpage Seo (H2)
      1. Understandability (H3)
        1. Keywords(H4)
          1. Shorttail and longtail (H5)
          2. Keyword stuffing (H5)
        2. Headings (H4)

You want to structure your whole page in a similar manner so that it is easy for people to understand and reference. They can jump through headings to get the information they need.

Originality & Value – SEO for Photographers

In the day of AI, both users and Google want informative original content. People want to hear your thoughts on something. They don’t want to see the same thing over and over again. Provide your insights, professionalism, and expertise to really set it apart!

Click through rate. 

 CTR  This is a main factor Google will look at. Do people go to your site, spend time on it, and keep looking through it for more info? In short, does this site provide good information that answers the question? Make sure your pages are linked together with clear calls to action. This will drive people to your site and help you improve your SEO.

Off Page SEO – Credibility 

You can have the best site in the world, but if you are not a good source, who cares?

One of the most important factors Google is looking at is do other websites point back to your website as a source for their information. This is called backlinking

Imagine you are going to give a keynote speech on wedding photography and right before you step onto the stage, Taylor Swift hops up and says “Wow! This person is my favorite photographer, they do amazing work and I love them” 

People will listen to you. Backlinking works in the same way.

Backlinks to build your credibility as a source

Backlinks come in a variety of types but what you want to focus on is, authority, Niche, and local. Links do not need to check all of these boxes, but it is helpful the more boxes they check.

For example, for a wedding photographer, getting linked by a magazine like Brides will give you an authoritative niche source. While your local Chamber of Commerce will give you an authoritative local source. 

Different websites have different Domain ratings on a scale of 100. You get this info from ubersuggest, Moz.com, or Keywords everywhere. Each will give you a different score, but it will give you general ideas.

Of all the factors, backlinks will be one of the easier things you can control to rank higher. 

Local Directory Links

When building local links you will need to have the same information all over the web. This tells Google that your business is legit!

For example, if on one directory it says you are located at 123 Main Street and another says you are located at 1021 South 3rd, this will hurt your credibility. 

Now where this gets finicky is that your information needs to be EXACT. 123 Main St. is not the same in Google’s eyes as 123 Main Street or even 123 Main st (no period)

So how in the heck are you supposed to get this information correct across the whole internet and put yourself on hundreds of directories? 

You could do it by hand and it will take you a long, long time. Or you could use the Marketers Center. This site allows you to pay to have your site listed on directories and check and correct information across the internet.

One quick note: When different directories ask for a bio make sure this information varies. It will hurt your ranking to have duplicate information here as Google sees it as copy and paste not original.

Google My Business

As a local business, you need this. Many people will only use the maps at the top of a search to find what they are looking for. You can get your business listed here.

Technical SEO for Photographers

This is the messiest part of SEO and where it can make a lot of sense to hire someone. Basically, Technical SEO focuses on things like page load times, and broken links (something that doesn’t go where it should.) Not having a sitemap uploaded to Google, not having your site listed on Google.

There is a massive amount of information here but here are some good places to start:

Ahrefs – This will show you what is messed up on your site

Jpeg Mini, – As a photographer working on SEO you will need to prioritize image optimization.

Search console – This is how you get your site listed on google and where you will submit your sitemap. A site map tells google how your page is laid out and tells it all the pages on your site.

Google Analytics – It will show you how people are interacting with your site once on it

Pagespeed insights – This will show you how fast your site loads on desktop and mobile. 

Once you have the info you need you can look into diagnosing these problems. Some are very easy to fix and others are a giant pain!

SEO Tools mentioned in this article