In today's digital age, having a visually stunning photography website is essential for attracting potential clients and showcasing your artistic talent. However, creating a remarkable website alone is not enough. To reach a wider audience and stand out from the competition, you need to optimise your website for search engines. This blog post will provide you with valuable insights and practical tips on how to SEO optimize your photography website to improve its online visibility and attract more visitors.

Here are the 7 steps you should take

1. Conduct Keyword Research: Keyword research forms the foundation of any successful SEO strategy. Identify relevant keywords and phrases that potential clients might use when searching for the type of photography you offer. Tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, or Ahrefs can assist you in discovering popular and relevant keywords. Aim for a mix of broad and long-tail keywords to target a wider range of search queries. Sometimes adding keywords like ‘sexy’ such as in the title of this blog can have unexpected results but illustrate how important keywords are to getting found on the internet.

2. Optimise On-Page Elements:

   Page Titles: Craft unique and descriptive page titles for each of your website's pages. Include your primary keywords naturally and keep the titles within 50-60 characters to ensure they don't get cut off in search engine results. This is a bit harder on a photography website with mostly images, but having a text narrative or blog can help with the indexing.

   Meta Descriptions: Write compelling meta descriptions that summarise the content of each page. Although meta descriptions don't directly impact search rankings, they influence click-through rates, so make them engaging and persuasive.

   URL Structure: Keep your URLs clean and concise, incorporating relevant keywords where appropriate. Avoid long and complex URLs that are difficult for users and search engines to understand. This is an overlooked step when using services like Squarespace that auto-populate URLs by default.

   Image Optimization: Images are crucial for photography websites. Optimise your images by using descriptive filenames, alt tags, and relevant captions. Compress images to improve page load times without sacrificing quality. If you have Photoshop, this is easy to do. Otherwise there are some great, free, online websites that can help. Aim to keep images to a few hundred kbs at most.

3. Create Engaging and Relevant Content: Content is king when it comes to SEO optimisation. In addition to showcasing your portfolio, consider creating a blog section where you can share photography tips, behind-the-scenes stories, or in-depth guides. Regularly publish high-quality, original content that incorporates relevant keywords and engages your target audience. Remember to optimise your content with appropriate headings, bullet points, and internal links to enhance readability and SEO.If you are reading this, you should be familiar with the power of good content and Google keyword targeting.

4. Build Backlinks: Backlinks, or links from other reputable websites to yours, play a crucial role in SEO. They demonstrate your website's authority and relevance to search engines. Actively seek opportunities to acquire backlinks by reaching out to industry influencers, participating in photography communities, or guest blogging on relevant websites. Additionally, creating shareable content increases the likelihood of others linking to your website naturally.

5. Optimise for Local SEO: If you provide photography services in specific geographic areas, optimising for local SEO is essential. Claim and optimise your Google My Business listing, ensuring your business name, address, and phone number (NAP) are consistent across all platforms. Encourage satisfied clients to leave reviews, as they contribute to your local search rankings.This can be difficult for photography printing businesses where a product is being provided instead of a service, but the same principal applies. As a Queenstown-based photographer, I know that prints of local scenery will likely be sold to people with a connection to the area so I make sure to include this in my site’s SEO.

6. Mobile-Friendly and Fast-loading Website: With the majority of internet users accessing websites on mobile devices, it's crucial to ensure your photography website is mobile-friendly. Optimise your site's responsiveness and design to provide an optimal browsing experience across various screen sizes. Additionally, optimise your website's loading speed by minimising file sizes, leveraging browser caching, and using content delivery networks (CDNs). Whilst most purchases will still be done on a computer, most clients will start their search on a mobile, so having this experience set up is crucial.

7. Utilise Social Media: Social media platforms provide excellent opportunities for promoting your photography website and attracting visitors. Share your portfolio, blog posts, and special offers on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. Engage with your followers, participate in photography-related conversations, and include links back to your website whenever appropriate.

By following these 7 SEO optimization strategies, you can increase your photography website's visibility, attract more organic traffic, and ultimately convert visitors into clients. Remember that SEO is an ongoing process, and it may take time to see significant results. Regularly analyse your website's performance, adapt your strategy based on search engine algorithm updates, and continue refining your SEO efforts to stay ahead of the competition. With persistence and a well-optimised website, you'll pave the way for long-term success in the competitive world of photography.