SEO is something that we photographers work on constantly and are always tweeking. This fabulous article was written by Rachel Noah of PhotoBlog 101 on imaging tagging.
As a photographer your images are probably the most important thing to get in front of your clients. Image-tagging will help get you there.
Let’s do an experiment, shall we? Let’s search for something on google… “newborn photographer” is a good search term, don’t you think? Okay… (If you are going to follow along, make sure you are signed out of your google accounts for this exercise!)
Wow, now THAT is a lot of hits… Over 1 MILLION results.
So, how does your client find you?
Let’s scroll down on our google search to just below the map… I’m a client. I’m visual. I like to click on pretty pictures…
I see THIS! Bingo! As a client, I’m loving these… I’m asking myself, WHO TOOK THESE? I want to book this person! Let me click on one!
I click on the first one and find out that the photographer has put their web URL strait across the picture as a water mark. I may not get to this site directly, but I now have a link I want to follow!
So, what have we learned so far?
1) I want my images to index as well as my site. Potential clients might click them and any inbound traffic to my site is fantastic!
2) Generic search terms being used by our clients generate a TON of hits.
3) I need to tag my images to get up in this little spot on my google search if I can
…
…
How?
EASY! When you upload your photos, name them with your search terms. The first image in that string above is actually NAMED seattle-newborn-photographer1.jpg. Instead of DSC_001.jpg or Name01.jpg, upload a picture that has an SEO friendly name!
Steps to success!
1) Name your images with keywords for YOUR search area. In this case simply “newborn photographer.jpg” isn’t going to help you much for LOCAL hits. Try “your-city-newborn-photographer.jpg” instead. Change up the way you name your images to hit your most desired search terms.
2) URL prominently across the photo helps direct people to your site. Use your watermark as well, but make sure your URL is easy to read and see!
And, of course this post would NOT be complete without a gorgy-newborn picture from one of my favorite photographers, Tracy of http://tracytisdale.com. Head to her blog to see more gorgeous photography!
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