Over the years, many professional photographers have visited our agency, with the great regret of not having the visitors they had hoped for. There is no lack of service. One incredible picture followed another, the prices were reasonable and the site was attractively designed – it couldn’t have been the eye for beauty that failed.
However, what is often forgotten is that beauty is by no means everything. SEO (or search engine optimization) is one of the most successful marketing tools when it comes to being found in search engines such as Google and ranking high in the search results.
In this article, we take a closer look at what makes SEO so difficult for photographers, but why it doesn’t have to be so complicated if the right tricks and measures are applied in a targeted manner. So photographers take note – search engine optimization is an investment that will also pay off for you.
What is SEO
As already mentioned, SEO stands for search engine optimization and is a variant of search engine marketing (SEM) alongside search engine advertising (SEA). Basically, SEO is responsible for ensuring that your website appears in the search engines and, in the best case, that it is so high up thanks to a high ranking that you are visible to your customers and achieve high visitor numbers.
Google in particular – as the largest and best-known search engine – wants users to see only the best results listed first in a search query. To achieve this, these search engines use sophisticated A, which scrutinize the individual websites very closely and use special criteria (some of which are known and some of which are more of a black box) to decide how relevant they are for the respective search query or keyword.
So if you offer photos on the subject of weddings in Hanover and want to be found for a search query such as “wedding Hanover”, you need to fulfill these quality criteria in order to be high up in the top rankings.
Universal SEO techniques
So how do you manage to be the result that is visible and clicked in a sea of millions upon millions of results for a keyword? Ultimately, all SEO techniques can be applied to your website, even if you often have to think outside the box when it comes to photography. We would therefore like to show you how to do it – without any problems.
Analyze
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 won’t be able to find out if what you’re doing is working at all. Although platforms like SquareSpace and Photofolio provide some statistics, you probably want your data to go with you – no matter where your website goes. Google Analytics will do that. And it’s free of charge!
You can also sign up for Google’s Search Console to get access to more detailed information.
Do your research
Try to imagine what keywords potential visitors use when they search for your website. You should include these keywords in the following optimizations. Imagine you are an art buyer looking for photographers. Which search terms would you use? Find out which keywords your competitors are using and which search terms for photography are most popular in your field, and choose the ones you think you can successfully compete with.
Don’t know which search terms to use? Google can help you.
Use the long tail
As tempting as it may be, don’t try to rank for keywords like “best photographer”. These generic, incredibly common search terms, the so-called head terms, will make it almost impossible for you to rank for them. The same goes for any other search that returns big brand names or famous people. A much better use of your time is to focus on terms that include unique factors, such as your location and specialty. There is also significantly less competition to beat. These unique search terms are the so-called long-tail keywords.
Longer and more specific terms are what serious buyers will use when searching for your service. You are not looking for the idea of a so-called “best photographer”. You want to find a list of potential photographers in the search results that cover your desired specialty and location.
This is called “intention” in the SEO world. The more specific a search term is, the more likely it is that users will take an action based on this keyword and visit your website.
Use the meta tags of your website
These tags contain text that is not visible to visitors, but can be seen by the robots of the search engine (the so-called crawler). This text is likely to appear as a description of your website in Google’s SERPs, giving potential visitors an idea of what to expect on your website. A well-written meta text can significantly improve your click-through rate and therefore your ranking in the search results. Keep it brief. A guideline is not to be longer than one tweet (140 characters). Tell us in short sentences what will be on your website and what makes you stand out as a photographer (USP).
Title your page carefully
Make sure that the title of your website describes who you are and what you do and includes your chosen keywords. Start with your primary keywords and put your (business) name at the end.
Above all, you should keep your page title short and precise. Google does not display website titles with more than 55 characters and it would be a shame if important keywords remained hidden from your visitors.
Keep a blog and update it frequently
This is a rich source of keywords for search engines and the SEO benefits your blog provides will automatically correlate with your main website (assuming both exist under the same domain). Although writing is not a photographer’s preferred means of expression, a successful web marketing strategy requires a blog. Nothing is better suited to ranking for niche keywords and your primary keywords without having to lose focus on your images. The blog exists in parallel and still attracts the desired visitors to your website.
Finding the right words
There are a number of hidden places where you can insert text. For example, you can use your page titles, gallery titles, link titles/anchor texts, page URLs and image file names to get some text into your website – without losing focus on your images. You have full control over this information and if you learn to use it effectively and apply it correctly, you will quickly reap the benefits. Use a human-readable syntax and insert keywords where appropriate.
Use your “About you” page effectively
If you have the option of using user-readable text, such as your “About You” page, make the most of it. Describe your career, what makes you special and sets you apart from other photographers, the way you founded your company or became self-employed, special values. There are no limits here. It is important to use keywords and content effectively to convince your visitors to read your website.
Stay social(e media)
As a photographer, you should cultivate your social media audience. This is invaluable for SEO purposes. Even if widely shared Facebook and Twitter posts don’t have a direct impact on your search results, the visitors that come to your website via your social media channels will help to improve your search rankings organically. Even if you bring a social media user to your Facebook page via an ad, any links that are clicked on while the user is on your page are organic. It is also not uncommon for professional photographers to be found and hired via Facebook and Instagram. Our tip: Don’t spend all your time on it, but don’t ignore it.
Simply deliver good content
By far the most important factor for the success of your website is high-quality content. While all the tips and tricks are valuable, they won’t do nearly as much for you as excellent content. Make sure your website is easy to navigate, shows great images that are relevant to your specialty, and makes it clear who you are as a photographer. It is particularly important for you to be able to convince with high-quality images and to write the text blocks that you can usefully integrate with care and the right added value.
It’s definitely not rocket science, but it does require your full attention and dedication. Users will recognize content that has simply been carelessly added to your site as not being of high quality and Google will find out more quickly than you think.
So our final tip: Simply deliver good content!
