Optimizing your photography website for SEO is simple. Whether you’re trying to sell more prints, attract new portrait or events clients, or simply get more eyes on your work, you can do it by following a few simple steps.
Content is what search engines use to identify what's on your page. Although some search engines like Google use natural-language processing to try to understand what each word means, the more specific in text you can be the better.
Your easiest SEO win starts here: go through your website and find headers, page titles, and blocks of body copy, and review them for simplicity and clarity.
Instead of saying, “The stunning skies over mountains in Utah’s national parks,” in a gallery description, maybe say, “Art prints of the mountains and sky in Zion National Park.” Both will tell a visitor similar information, but the second version is easier for a search engine to understand, making your page that much more likely to be found.
As you’re reviewing your content, also look for opportunities to build internal links. These are the linked words or phrases on most websites that help guide a user to the information they’re looking for. For example, your “Art prints of the mountains and sky in Zion National Park” might add an internal link to “Art prints” that leads to a catalog page, where users can browse the products you offer.
The keywords you use for these links help your visitors find the pages they’re looking for, and search engines use them to determine what each page is about. But be careful not to link the same words to two separate pages. This will cause confusion for search engines and potentially your customers.
Search engines will also look at the amount of links pointing to each page on your website. The more links you assign to a specific page, the more important a search engine will think it is. This gives that page more priority, so make sure your main galleries, signature shots, and business-generating pages are linked to from as many places on your site as possible.
Just like the copy on the page and internal links, wording matters on your images and galleries. Naming your images includes the actual name of the file, the title, the caption, and keywords.
These elements are used both by browser helpers for people with disabilities and search engines to understand what the image is about. A lack of image titles, keywords, and captions makes it harder for a search engine to understand what the image is, so the search engine will likely choose another photographer’s work to display.
Your words matter here as well, especially regarding genre and location. If you're selling a print of The Vessel in NYC, name your photo, “fine-art photo of The Vessel building in NYC.” If you're a sports team photographer, name a photo, “Soccer team group photo New Orleans.” Including specificity in your naming and keywording will go a long way toward getting your work found.
The naming and structure of your galleries also contributes to your site’s SEO. Start with the overall theme on a folder, then add niche galleries underneath.
For example, you could create a folder called Assateague Island Photos that houses all your favorite shots from this specific place. Inside this folder you could build galleries like “Assateague Beach Photos,” “Assateague Island Wildlife,” and “Camping Photos on Assateague Island.” If you make wildlife a folder, too, you could even build subgalleries for the island's famous inhabitants, like wild horses.
By naming your folders and galleries, you ensure your visitors and search engines both have a clear understanding of what's on a given page. As you add copy and internal links, you’re also providing easy navigation to help people find the exact shots they’re looking for.
Tip: Don't erase your EXIF data. Google and other search engines can use this information to determine where a photo was taken and verify the photo is actually of the area claimed in the title, filename, and caption. When uploading to SmugMug, we keep your EXIF data intact by default.
Google's My Business is a free service that helps Google understand what you do. You’ll want to create and verify your account, then make sure you fill out every field possible when registering for this service.
Make sure to define the area you serve (statewide? A few counties? Just in the city? Be specific!), list out the services you offer, and add hours of operation.
The more complete your answers are, and the more often you update your listings, the more chances you have for your business and photography website to show up in local search results like “portrait photographer in Tulsa” or on a map as someone is looking for “holiday photographers near me.”
For that second example, you can amplify your SEO by building a dedicated holiday page on your website, then updating your My Business listings with your new service, and even a discount if you’re a SmugMug Pro subscriber.
Once you have content that defines your pages, your images are named and keyworded, and your account on Google My Business is complete, you need to build what SEO experts call authority. This is how trustworthy or reputable your site is considered and can be done through citations and backlinks.
A backlink is a link from an external website to your SmugMug website. It’s important to make sure these links are naturally occurring and come from a trustworthy website like your local news, trade publications, other businesses, or niche blogs.
Often, professionals looking to increase their SEO will collaborate with each other, trading blogs and features to drive traffic to each of their sites while building authority. This can also be done through PR outreach to local publications and news outlets when you have something big to announce!
For example, if you’re hosting a workshop on wedding photography, you could ask a wedding blogger to give you a shout-out on their blog, reach out to venues and vendors you partner with and ask them to list you as a resource, and let the local news know about your event.
Just be sure you’re not spamming links to your website on forums, blogs, or irrelevant websites—these will get you penalized by search engines. If you look for natural fits for your photography, you’re likely to find lots of opportunities to connect.
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These four simple steps will help you get found by search engines and customers alike, so get to it and good luck!
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