Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Photographers

Back in the early days of the Internet, marketing on the web meant putting up a web page up, joining a webring, stuffing your web pages with keywords, posting to forums, paying to be included in portals like yahoo…and traffic would come to your website (of course it was really more difficult than that but you get the idea).

Those times have changed though.

Google change the landscape of internet marketing forever with the advent of their PageRank algorithm that used a more social approach to determine what was the most relevant content on the web.  PageRank uses a well guarded algorithm to determine how ‘relevant’ a web page is based on links to that page, what keywords are used when link to the page and a whole host of other issues to determine where each web page ‘ranks’ in Google’s search results.

There’s a whole science behind PageRank and tons of really smart people working on the algorithm.  In addition, there are thousands of SEO consultants out there that live and breath this stuff on a daily basis and depend on SEO to pay their bills.

That said, the basics of SEO are fairly straightforward.   In this post, I’m going to provide a basic introduction to search engine optimization (SEO) and try to put the basics of SEO into context for photographers trying to market their services.

Being found by prospective clients online is the lifeblood of any service business.  To be found, you’ve got to utilize SEO appropriately.  Hopefully this introduction and subsequent SEO and Marketing Tips for Photographers will help you understand, use and grow your photography business.

What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

SEO is the art and science of creating content on the web so that the page can be found by search engines.  As I mentioned, the previous methods of ‘keyword stuffing’ doesn’t work any longer…today you’ve got to focus on quality content and proper keyword selection so your web page is found and linked to.

The first step in SEO is thinking about the main keywords and terms that you are wanting to capture traffic for.  As a photographer, you have a fairly narrow range of terms and keywords (e.g., wedding photographer, etc) but you’ll want to make sure you think through all the possibilities including all the city/state/region keywords and terms you might want to be found for.

Let’s look at an example:

You’re a boudoir photographer in Dallas.

You need to consider what keywords and terms you’d like to be found for when people are searching for your services.

The first term is easy: Dallas Boudoir Photographer.

But the first term may not be the one that the majority of your prospective clients are searching for.  What about those people that search for “Dallas Sexy photographer” or “Couture Photographer Dallas” or “Dallas Romantic Photographer”.

One thing you’ll notice is that the city (Dallas) is listed in each search.  I don’t have any hard statistics, but most experts will tell you that the majority of searchers will always put in the city name into the search when searching for a local service provider.

So…all of your search terms should contain the city you’re targeting.  If you’re targeting multiple cities, states or regions, you’ll need to think about all those keyword/terms in addition to the targeted keywords.

Find the right keywords

How do you know what terms people are searching for?  This is where you’ve got to dig in and do some research…or hire someone to research it for you.

Rather than get ALL the search terms, you want to focus on only those that will deliver the most value (and traffic) to your website. To find the ‘right terms’, you can use  some online tools to find the most important keywords that are being searched for.

A few tools to use to find the ‘right’ terms are:

• WordTracker
• Trellian Keyword Discovery
• SEO Research Labs
• Google Adwords Keyword Tool

Wordtracker offers a free limited version while Trellian and SEO Research Labs are pay for use. The Goolge Adwords Keyword Tool is an excellent option (and easiest to use IMO).  Whether you use the free tools are pay for this research, the time and/or money is well spent as it allows you to focus your keywords and terms to the most searched for terms.

So back to our example:

To gather your search terms, jump over to one of the above tools and start searching for keywords to target.  Let’s use Google Adwords Keyword Tool and type “Dallas boudoir photographer” into the tool.  A screenshot of this tool is shown below.

What do we see?

Google Adwords example for Dallas Boudoir Photography

The results show that the search for that particular term (Dallas Boudoir Photography) doesn’t get a lot of search traffic but ‘boudoir photography’ does.

So…now what?

After some more research and looking through the results, we know that since we are focused strictly on Boudoir Photography in Dallas, we want to focus on that term and we’ll want to ‘own’ that term when someone searches for it (more on that soon).  After more research. we’ve decided on two main search terms for our boudoir photography studio:

• Dallas Boudoir Photography
• Dallas Boudoir Photographer

These terms are easy to target and will bring in the most interested potential clients.

Creating Content with SEO in mind

Now comes the fun stuff!  You’ve got to start building your content.

While creating this content, be sure to focus on the keywords you’ve selected.  Work them into your content as much as you can but be careful of falling into the keyword stuff trap. You’ve got to create content that is readable and interesting…don’t just stuff your keywords into each post and hope Google finds you.

Let’s look at an example:

You’ve got your blog setup and you want to write a post about your recent boudoir session.   Your post might look something like this (my notes are in italic and keywords are bolded):

Title:

Beautiful Boudoir Photography Session in Dallas – or think of something much more creative…but try to get your keywords in the title as early as possible

Body:

I was lucky to meet Julie over the weekend for her Boudoir session.  What a beautiful woman!   We met at Hotel Zsa Zsa in Dallas (a wonderful hotel and they are happy to host photographers).  Julie lives in Plano TX and signed up for her Boudoir Photography Session after seeing the session I did for her friend Denise last month. (use this as an opportunity to link to another post if you can)

Add as many photos as you feel comfortable….and don’t forget to add “Alt Text” to the photos!  This helps tremendously in SEO.

{Photo 1}

{Photo 2}

I heard from Julie today and she’s absolutely in love with the photographs and has recommended me to her friends. If you’re interested in booking your own Boudoir Photography Session in Dallas or surrounding areas, please let me know!

See what I’ve done here? I’ve made a readable and enjoyable post that has all my keywords listed as many times as they make sense.

Is SEO all you need?

No.

SEO alone isn’t the answer to being found nor being successful in any business. SEO is a piece of your marketing strategy.  Creating a proper inbound marketing strategy includes looking at search engine optimization and SEO techniques but it also includes a strategy of engagement. Engaging with past and current clients and reaching out to potential clients.

Check back soon for more inbound marketing and search engine optimization tips for photographers.

In my next tutorial, I’ll walk through the specifics of writing a blog and what pieces of each post need to be considered. I’ll also highlight the topics that Google seems to think are most important.

Related posts:

1. SEO Tips for Photographers: On-page optimization
2. Inbound Marketing for Photographers