Technical SEO for Photography Websites: Tips and Best Practices

Photography is all about making a good first impression. If you want to get ahead of the competition, SEO for photographers is one of the finest marketing methods you can do.

We've all been there: you've built a beautiful portfolio site to attract additional business. After the website is up and promoted on social media, you sit back and wait. Website visits increase immediately after you share it but gradually decline unless you keep promoting it. If only there were a foolproof method to drive traffic to your site without constantly posting on social media.

This is when knowledge of technical SEO by photographers is useful. We've culled the best technical SEO advice for photographers from across the web so you can optimize your site without delay.

Best Practises for Technical Search Engine Optimisation of Photographic Websites

1] Select the Best Keywords

Doing keyword research is the first step to technical SEO success. This means learning the search terms that people might use for your kind of photography online. To determine whether or not your website is relevant for particular searches, Google's algorithm employs a set of keywords. This implies that with diligent keyword placement, you may steadily increase your position in search engine rankings. And it's important because higher rankings mean more clicks. The top three results often get sixty to eighty per cent of all clicks.

Now is the moment to imagine what it's like to be your client. To get started, have a brainstorming session and write down all the different words and phrases that come to mind that may be used to describe your company. After compiling your list, utilize keyword tools to narrow it down to two primary and three secondary terms.

The next question is what you do with your keywords once you have them. The content on your website (including the homepage, "About" page, blog posts, and so on) is called "copy." Keep the number of keywords on each page to a reasonable two or three. You should also use keywords in the page's URL, SEO title, description (we'll come back to this in a moment), and H1 tags. The H1-tag should be used for the most crucial heading on your page.

2] Register your Sitemap Using Google's Webmaster Tools

Let's say you've just released a fresh new website and await when Google ranks your wonderful content. The days pass with little progress being made. Even Google is unaware you posted it. Fortunately, there is a simple action you can do to signal that your website is now accessible to the public and should show in search engine results.

Google's Search Console is where you should submit your sitemap.

Sitemaps are documents that outline your website's hierarchy and help search engines better index your photographic portfolio.

To do this, you must have the following −

• A site map

• Dashboard for Google Searches

3] Improve your URL Structure

When you're done editing your images, and you look at the collection as a whole, you get this amazing sense of satisfaction. Their elegance lies in their simplicity. Nothing is redundant or out of place, yet every significant event and recollection is recorded. That is precisely Google's stance on URLs. Having URLs that are easy to remember and type can boost your site's visibility in Google search results.

Incorporate your major keyword goal into your URLs, and eliminate any extraneous extensions formed by accident.

4] Reduce the File size of your Photographs to Improve Load Time

You probably have experience reducing the size of your photographs for online delivery or social media; you'll want to do the same for your website. Why? Try to picture this. However, the time it takes for the photographs to load and show on your website is lengthy. A frustrated visitor abandons their attempt to reach your site and instead visits your rival. Your photographs are stunning, but if users can't see them, the experience will suffer.

Each picture should ideally weigh in at less than 1 megabyte. If you're unhappy with that size, you may always make hero photos or significant images bigger, say, between 2 and 3 megabytes.

5] Make Sure Your Photos Include alt Text

Unfortunately, search engines still can't "see" pictures, so your photos won't do you any good. However, by using alt text, you can ensure that your photographs are understood. It's a smart move since search engines like Google and Bing will give your online resume an SEO boost as a result. In addition, including additional textual content boosts your site's discoverability on Google Images, which might result in significant traffic increases. Your photographs have a major effect on search engine optimization.

So how can we let Google and the others know about our pictures? The alternative text feature, sometimes known as "alt text," allows you to provide a brief description of your picture. It's not visible to site visitors (as a caption would be), but search engine robots examine it thoroughly. It's important to include as much detail as you can in the alt text. Imagine you're explaining a picture to a buddy who can't see it to help you develop SEO-friendly alt text.

Conclusion

There is no "silver bullet" for boosting your photography website's search engine rankings, but there are tried and true methods that may assist. Don't fall for scams that claim to improve your website's search engine rankings, especially if you're a photographer. The damage you do to the site or the company might be permanent.