SEO for photographers, or how to get found on Google

Getting found on Google is important for most businesses. For many types of photography businesses, it can make the difference between a successful and failed business. For photographers moving up the Google ranking can be easier than for other businesses. You tend to be only competing on a local level with other photographers. There are no big regional and national players to complete with. As Sam says you only have to be better than the people around you.

We go through a few important things to think about for SEO.

1. What  words and phrases do you want to be found for and where do you want to be found for them? As we have discussed on other shows ( Ep 5 Generalise or Specialise) having a niche will help, as all your content will be focused on one area of photography.
2. Technically your website needs to be error free  and well setup with correct use of page titles, meta descriptions and other technical details. Google Search Console is a free platform that can help you with some of this.
3. Visitor numbers. It’s a bit of a Catch 22 but visitor numbers are a key metric Google uses when judging how useful your website is. If Google sees lots of engaged visit to your website, it’s thinks it must be useful. So, sends more people there. You need a plan to getting visitors to your site. Giveaways and great content on your site are you friends here. You then need a place to send them from social media, paid ads and an email list are great ways to do this.
4. Backlinks These are links from other websites to your website. These a great way of moving up the Google ranking, especially when the back linked sites are of a high quality/value. A great tip is to get a free listing on business directories. Also produce great content that others will want to link to.  
5. Content is key. If your site contains engaging, unique, useful content that’s really important. It engages visitors and tells Google what you do.  You can also create blogs specifically to help with SEO on specific search terms. Creating blogs that answer your potential clients questions is a good place to start. Sam has a great blog about blogging here.
6. Engagement or “bounce rate” is important so have a site that is rich in information, easy to navigate and engaging. Bounce rate is simply a measure of how many people leave your site without interacting with it. Don’t worry, lots of people do this. Some people are simply in the wrong place, and others simply wanted your phone number, so have no need to interact.

We go on to discuss the use of AI content engines such as Chat GPT and how this may effect your SEO.  Marcus’ dream where unique images on your websites will have a positive effect on SEO still seems a long way off!