The Ultimate SEO Guide for Wedding Photographers in 2023
- Last Updated April 6, 2023
Founder & Chief Strategist of Pics and Clicks. With over a decade of experience in marketing and over 5 in SEO, Aaron has generated $10M+ in revenue for his clients. While the digital marketing world has lots of shortcuts, Aaron prides himself in remaining ethical and only pursuing marketing tactics that are fully above reproach.
Table of Contents
If you want to be a successful wedding photographer with consistent bookings, you need one of three things:
- To be willing to undervalue your time and work for next-to-nothing.
- A lucky break.
- A strong digital presence for your business that couples can find.
Wedding photographer’s that leverage Search Engine Optimization are able to improve their website’s visibility to book more weddings – it’s that simple. The team at Pics & Clicks has a combined experience of over 30 years of marketing experience and have seen SEO work first-hand for numerous clients.
In today’s digital age, a strong online presence is crucial for the success of any business. When it comes to wedding photography, it’s a little extra important. The Knot reports that 94% of couples look at online reviews before hiring a wedding photographer. What The Knot didn’t report is that 94% of couples look at online reviews of wedding photographers they are able to find online before hiring a wedding photographer. If you’re not being found when people are searching for wedding photographers, your reviews don’t matter that much.
Optimizing your website and business to appear higher on search engines is called Search Engine Optimization (SEO for short). There are a lot of resources online when it comes to how to optimize your website, but this is the only definitive SEO guide for wedding photographers that you’ll need.
The purpose of this guide is to help wedding photographers like you understand the basics of SEO to help demystify some of the complicated terms & strategies. In addition, you will learn how you can improve & optimize your online presence to grow your business. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or just starting out, this SEO guide will provide you with definitions, tips, and actionable strategies for optimizing your website, creating content, and building your online reputation.
By the end of this guide, you will have a solid understanding of how SEO works, how you can apply it to your wedding photography business, and what you can do today to help improve one of the most valuable assets of your business (behind you and your camera)!
SEO Basics for Wedding Photographers
What is SEO and Why It Matters
Search Engine Optimization, SEO for short, is the process of optimizing your website and online content to rank higher in search engines. The higher you rank, the more visibility you’ll get. The more visibility you get, the more bookings you’ll get!
With the right SEO, wedding photographers can appear higher in search engine results pages (referred to SERPs) which can lead to more website traffic and more bookings. By implementing some of the SEO strategies you’ll learn about later in this guide, you can make it easier for search engines to understand what your website is about and how you are the best photographer choice for couples.
Imagine you’re photographing a couple on their wedding day.
You have to be aware of all of the settings on your camera in order to capture the best possible shot. Your creativity in posing is obviously important, but if your ISO is way off or you’re using the wrong lens, it doesn’t matter. Your shot won’t come out well.
Now reread that, but pretend your camera is your website and the best possible shot is the #1 ranking on Google. It’s a great thing if your website is creative and unique, but if it isn’t optimized properly for search engines, people won’t find you.
On-Page SEO Factors
On-page SEO refers to optimizations & improvements that take place directly on your website for search engines and your users. Feel free to expand any of the following on-page SEO factors to learn more.
A clean, descriptive URL helps search engines understand your page content and improves user experience. Use hyphens to separate words and make sure the URLs match the content of the page. Don’t spam it with keywords.
The title tag (sometimes called meta title) is a webpage’s primary headline displayed in search results. It impacts click-through rates and SEO. Keep it under 70 characters and include your target keyword.
A brief summary of a webpage’s content, displayed under the title tag in search results. It should be engaging, include an honest description of what’s on the page, and a call-to-action to improve click-through rates.
These tags structure content and make it easily scannable. Use them to organize your content hierarchy and include relevant keywords.
H1 = Most important. Usually the biggest. Should only be one per page.
H2 = You guessed it, the second most important heading tag. These are typically subheadings and multiple should exist per page.
H3 – H6 = The higher the number behind the H, the lower importance it has.
Keyword density refers to the “golden ratio” of keywords you should have per 100 words of content. This is an outdated SEO factor. Google can now understand words instead of just reading them. If you’re producing high-quality content that satisfies your visitors’ wants/needs, you can rank just fine.
Being a wedding photographer, your pictures are very important for both proving to couples that you’re good at what you do and also being able to justify what you want to charge. There are multiple aspects to image optimization.
- Alt Text – Because Google can’t reliably understand what each image is (yet), they have a feature called alt text. It can be added to an image to help explain what the image is of. Most of the time search engines will be the only things to see at, but visually impaired visitors will most likely find it as well via screen readers. Very important.
- File Size – Images can make or break a site’s load time. How quickly a website loads is a significant SEO ranking factor. There are lots of tools out there that can help compress your images so that they look indistinguishable, but can lower the file size. One reliable tool for this is ShortPixel (not sponsored). Also, make sure that your image dimensions are reasonable for where you intend on placing your image.
- File Names – Some SEOs say this is a ranking factor, others say no. Regardless. As a wedding photographer, you’re going to be uploading lots of images to your website. Please spend the extra little bit of time it takes to add descriptive file names to your images. At a minimum, it helps keep everything organized.
User experience (ux) is a combination of several elements in all fairness, but generally, it is how enjoyable and easy your website is for visitors.
Good UX:
- Your website loads quickly.
- Your website is easy to navigate.
- There are no pop-ups on your website.
- Your website is memorable and informative.
- You are able to clearly satisfy your visitors.
Bad UX:
- Your pages don’t have any text.
- The names of your pages don’t make sense.
- Your website features no contrasting colors.
- Nothing on your website provides value to your readers.
- It’s difficult to navigate.
Linking to other pages on your website improves navigation, distributes link equity, and helps search engines understand your site structure. Use descriptive anchor text for internal links.
Ensuring your website is responsive and mobile-friendly improves user experience on mobile devices and positively impacts search rankings. Google primarily uses the mobile versions of websites for indexing, so it’s important your website looks and functions on mobile as well as it does on desktop.
Being a wedding photographer, you need to feature lots of images on your website which can really slow down your load time. Make sure your images are compressed. Circle back to the Image Optimization tip to learn more.
Here are a few tools you can use to check load time:
Depending on what platform (CMS) your platform is built on will determine how to improve load time. Search for “how to improve load time on [Pixieset, Wix, Squarespace, etc.]” to get an idea of what they recommend doing to help your website load quicker. If your site is on WordPress, it may be worthwhile to reach out to a professional to help.
Just like the images you take may have hidden exif data, your website has something called “structured data”. Structured data helps search engines understand your content better and can enhance your search result appearance. Consider implementing schema markup for reviews, events, and other relevant content.
Secure websites (HTTPS) with SSL certificates protect user data and are favored by search engines. Migrate your site to HTTPS to improve trust and search rankings.
These URLs indicate the preferred version of a page when multiple versions exist. Use canonical tags to prevent duplicate content issues and guide search engines to the correct page.
Adding buttons for social media platforms enables users to share your content easily, increasing visibility and engagement. In the wedding photography industry, couples may want to add your pictures to their Pinterest collection for wedding inspiration!
Effective CTAs guide users toward desired actions, like contacting you or booking services. Place CTAs strategically throughout your website to boost conversions.
Linking to authoritative external resources provides additional value to users and demonstrates your credibility. Use relevant, high-quality outbound links in your content if it will provide value to your visitors. Linking to local vendors and venues is a great start!
Off-Page SEO Factors
Off-page SEO refers to optimizations & improvements that take place elsewhere than on your website. Feel free to expand any of the following on-page SEO factors to learn more.
Building high-quality backlinks to your wedding photography website establishes authority and improves search rankings. Collaborate with wedding blogs, industry professionals, and guest post on reputable sites.
Consistent listings on local directories and review sites help improve local SEO for wedding photographers. Claim your profiles on sites like Yelp, WeddingWire, and The Knot, ensuring accurate and consistent business information.
Actively promoting your wedding photography on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest increases visibility and engagement, driving traffic to your website and helping with SEO indirectly.
Claim and optimize your Google Business Profile to appear in local search results, showcase your wedding photography services, and collect reviews from clients, thus improving your local search presence.
You can create a Google My Business profile by heading here: https://www.google.com/business/
Submitting press releases or getting featured in media outlets can lead to valuable backlinks and increased exposure for your wedding photography business, positively impacting SEO.
Winning or participating in photography awards not only builds credibility but also provides opportunities for backlinks from award websites and media coverage.
Getting featured in wedding or photography digital magazines can generate valuable backlinks, increase brand visibility, and attract potential clients to your website.
Creating a YouTube channel to showcase your wedding photography skills and share tips can drive traffic to your website, create additional backlinks, and improve your online presence.
Partner with wedding vendors (planners, florists, caterers) and venues to cross-promote each other’s services, build valuable backlinks from their websites, and increase exposure. Offer to provide photography services for their promotional materials and request to be featured on their websites, showcasing your work and attracting potential clients.
Keyword Research and Optimization
Keyword research is a crucial part of wedding photographer SEO, as it helps you identify the terms and phrases potential clients are using to search for wedding photographers. By targeting relevant keywords in your content, you increase your chances of ranking higher on search engine results and attracting more clients.
Finding the Right Keywords
To find the best keywords for your wedding photography business, you need to consider relevance, search volume, and competition.
Using SEO Tools
SEO tools like Ahrefs, Ubersuggest, and Semrush help you find relevant keywords by providing suggestions and search volume data. These tools also offer keyword difficulty scores, which can help you decide which keywords to target based on competition.
Analyzing Competitors’ Keywords
Analyze the keywords your competitors are targeting by reviewing their website content and using SEO tools to identify their top-ranking keywords. Use this information to find new keyword opportunities and improve your SEO strategy.
Long-tail Keywords and Their Benefits
Long-tail keywords are longer, more specific phrases that couples search for when looking for a wedding photographer. These keywords typically have lower search volume but higher conversion rates since they target a more precise audience. Incorporating long-tail keywords into your website copy and blog posts can help you rank higher for specific search queries and attract highly motivated clients.
For example, instead of simply targeting “wedding photography,” a long-tail keyword could be “LGBT destination wedding photography” or “rustic wedding photography in California.”
Incorporating Keywords Naturally into Your Content
Once you’ve identified the right keywords, incorporate them naturally into your content, such as in title tags, header tags, and throughout the body text. Avoid keyword stuffing, as search engines may penalize you for this practice. Instead, use synonyms and related terms to create engaging, informative content that appeals to both search engines and potential clients.
Optimizing Your Wedding Photography Website
Mobile-friendliness and Responsive Design
In today’s digital world, more and more people are accessing websites from their mobile devices. Ensuring that your wedding photography website is mobile-friendly and has a responsive design is crucial for both user experience and search engine rankings. A responsive website will automatically adjust to fit different screen sizes, providing a seamless browsing experience across various devices. To ensure mobile-friendliness, test your website on different devices and screen sizes and make necessary adjustments for optimal viewing and navigation.
Page Speed Optimization
As mentioned earlier, page speed and load time are essential factors for user experience and search engine rankings. Optimizing your website’s performance will help retain visitors and improve your SEO. These are a couple of specific examples, but remember to search for “how to improve load time on [website platform]” to get specific recommendations.
Image Compression Compress your images using tools like ShortPixel or TinyPNG to reduce their file size without compromising quality. Smaller file sizes will help your pages load faster, improving user experience and search engine rankings.
Minimizing Plugins Excessive plugins can slow down your website, so only use those that are essential for your site’s functionality. Regularly update and remove any unused plugins to keep your website running smoothly.
User Experience and Website Navigation
Good user experience and easy navigation are essential for keeping visitors engaged on your website. Ensure that your website has a clear structure, with pages organized in a logical manner. Use descriptive page names and headings, and create a simple menu for easy navigation. Avoid using pop-ups, and make sure your website offers valuable content that satisfies your visitors’ needs. Put yourself in your visitors’ shoes. What information do they know they want to see? What information do they need to see that they don’t know exists yet? Most of your couples are going to be getting married for the first time. The more insight you can share with them into the process, the better. Wedding photography SEO is less about “checking off boxes for Google” and more about providing your visitors with the best possible experience.
Metadata & Schema Markup
Metadata, such as title tags and meta descriptions, provide search engines with information about your website’s content. Ensure that your metadata is accurate and optimized for your target keywords.
Schema markup is a form of structured data that helps search engines better understand your content, potentially enhancing your search result appearance. Implement schema markup for reviews, events, and other relevant content on your wedding photography website to provide search engines with additional information and improve your SEO performance.
Creating High-Quality Content
Earlier, I mentioned that Google understands what words mean more than just knowing how to read them. That means that Google also knows how to determine what content is deemed high-quality. They do this by evaluating a website’s E-E-A-T.
What is E-E-A-T?
E-E-A-T is an acronym that stands for Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trust. It’s an essential concept in SEO that focuses on the quality and credibility of your website and its content. Search engines like Google use the E-E-A-T framework to assess the value and relevance of your website when determining search rankings. For wedding photographers, adhering to the E-E-A-T framework can help improve your online visibility and attract more clients.
Experience: This aspect of E-E-A-T refers to your first-hand experience in the wedding photography industry. By sharing your personal stories, insights, and lessons learned throughout your career, you can demonstrate your extensive knowledge and skills in the field. Providing real-life examples and anecdotes helps establish credibility and showcases your unique perspective, making your content more relatable and engaging to readers.
Expertise: Demonstrating your expertise in wedding photography is essential for establishing yourself as a professional in the industry. This can be done by showcasing your skills through your portfolio, sharing your experience and qualifications, and offering valuable insights and advice through blog content.
Authority: Building authority involves being recognized as an industry leader or influencer in the wedding photography world. This can be achieved by collaborating with other professionals, getting featured in reputable publications, winning awards, or receiving positive client reviews.
Trustworthiness: Establishing trust with your audience is crucial for attracting and retaining clients. You can build trust by being transparent about your business practices, showcasing client testimonials, maintaining a professional online presence, and offering secure browsing through HTTPS and SSL certifications.
Understand the Different Types of Content
Educational articles and guides: Create informative articles and guides that offer valuable advice to engaged couples, such as tips for choosing a wedding photographer, preparing for engagement photos, or creating a wedding day timeline. This type of content demonstrates your knowledge and adds value for your audience.
Behind-the-scenes: Share behind-the-scenes stories from your experiences as a wedding photographer. This could include challenges you’ve overcome, memorable moments, or unique perspectives on the wedding industry. These stories humanize your brand and help potential clients connect with you on a personal level.
Tips & advice: Offering tips and advice for clients, such as how to pose for photos or how to choose a wedding theme, can establish you as a knowledgeable resource in the wedding industry. This content demonstrates your expertise and helps build trust with potential clients.
Vendors & Venues: Give recognition to vendors you’ve collaborated with and venues you’ve photographed at. This helps build local and topical authority within your industry and also helps build some great business connections.
Regularly Update Content
Keep your website fresh and engaging by regularly updating your content. This could include adding new portfolio images, posting new blog articles, or updating your bio with recent accomplishments. Regular updates show search engines that your website is active and relevant, which can positively impact your rankings.
Engaging Headings and Subheadings
Using engaging headings and subheadings makes your content more accessible and easier to read. This improves user experience and encourages visitors to spend more time on your website. Additionally, incorporating relevant keywords into your headings and subheadings can help with SEO and make your content more discoverable.
Linkbuilding Strategies
Guest Posting on Wedding Blogs
Guest posting involves writing articles for other websites, often within your industry. By contributing valuable content to popular wedding blogs, you can earn high-quality backlinks to your website, boosting your SEO and increasing your online visibility. Make sure to follow the guidelines of the blog you’re submitting to and provide insightful, engaging content that complements their existing material.
Collaborating with Other Vendors
Collaborating with fellow wedding industry professionals, such as florists, DJs, and makeup artists, can help you build relationships and earn valuable backlinks. Offer to write blog posts for their websites, share their work on your website, or partner on projects to create mutually beneficial content.
Creating Shareable Content
Design content that is engaging, valuable, and easy to share, such as infographics, videos, or helpful guides. Shareable content is more likely to be linked by others, earning you organic backlinks and improving your SEO.
Building Relationships with Venues & Wedding Planners
Establishing strong relationships with venues and wedding planners can lead to more referrals and opportunities for backlinks. Offer to provide professional photos for their websites, collaborate on styled shoots, or give them exclusive content they can feature on their blogs.
Leveraging Social Media
Sharing Your Content on Other Platforms
Promote your content on popular social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter to increase visibility and drive traffic to your website. Make sure to tailor your content and captions to suit each platform’s unique audience and style. Instagram is one of the largest inspiration sources for couples looking to get married & plan their wedding!
Engaging With Your Audience
Interact with your audience by responding to comments, answering questions, and liking their content. Building a loyal and engaged following on social media can lead to increased website traffic, more referrals, and higher search engine rankings.
Utilizing Hashtags and Groups
Use relevant hashtags and join wedding photography-related groups to increase your content’s visibility and reach a wider audience. Participate in discussions, share your expertise, and offer helpful advice to showcase your knowledge and attract potential clients.
Monitoring and Analyzing your Website’s SEO Performance
Using SEO Tools to Track Your Progress
Regularly monitoring your SEO performance is crucial for understanding the effectiveness of your efforts and identifying areas for improvement. Use SEO tools such as Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Ahrefs, or Semrush to track important metrics like organic traffic, keyword rankings, and user behavior. These tools provide valuable insights into your website’s performance and can help you make informed decisions about your SEO strategy. We also use Serpwatch to track our client’s rankings because that tool allows us to get search results from specific locations to get more accurate insight into your performance.
Making Data-Driven Decisions
Data-driven decision-making ensures that your SEO efforts are based on accurate information rather than intuition or guesswork. Analyze the data collected from SEO tools to identify trends, uncover opportunities, and make adjustments to your strategy as needed. Focus on key performance indicators (KPIs) like organic traffic, bounce rate, conversion rate, and average session duration to measure the success of your SEO efforts.
Adapting to Algorithm Updates
Search engines frequently update their algorithms, which can impact your website’s ranking and visibility. To maintain your SEO performance, it’s essential to stay informed about the latest changes and adapt your strategy accordingly. Subscribe to industry blogs, join SEO communities, and follow experts on social media to keep up-to-date with the latest news and best practices. By staying agile and adapting to algorithm updates, you can ensure that your wedding photography website remains optimized for search engines and continues to attract potential clients.
Final Thoughts
SEO is crucial for wedding photographers to increase their online visibility, attract potential clients, and stay competitive in the industry. By optimizing your website and content, you can boost your search engine rankings and gain more bookings.
I encourage you to start implementing the SEO strategies outlined in this guide, from optimizing your images and targeting relevant keywords to creating engaging content and leveraging social media. Each of these tactics will contribute to a more robust SEO strategy, helping you achieve success in the competitive world of wedding photography.
If you need additional assistance or resources on SEO fill out the form below and we’ll help you stay ahead of your competition and grow your wedding photography business!
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FAQs
There isn’t one “best” SEO tool since each one has different purposes and advantages. However, here are some of our favorites that help analyze and improve your SEO content in various ways:
- Ahrefs
- Ubersuggest (free version)
- Spyfu
- Semrush
The first step toward generating more wedding photography bookings is to launch your own wedding photography website. Once your website is up and running, you can start working on your SEO.
There is no specific number of images that you should have on your website. After all, the more photos potential clients see, the more likely they are to book your services. However, it is essential that having a lot on your site doesn’t slow down how quickly your pages load. There are many tools that can compress images to keep a very similar visual, but reduce the image size.
EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) tags your images with a location. However, having EXIF on your wedding photos won’t help with SEO.
It’s a tricky question because there’s no one definitive answer. If you have some free time, you could learn some SEO basics and start generating some traffic yourself. However, don’t be surprised if it gets discouraging not seeing results. There are lots of intricacies and nuances within search engine optimization and it is constantly changing. We would like to say that hiring professionals is the best answer, but that’s very biased. A lot of the tips and information above are helpful first steps for you to start doing SEO on your own. If you reach out to us and are interested in search engine optimization, we will be 100% transparent with you and let you know whether or not it makes more sense for you to hire a pro or bootstrap it. If we don’t put the effort into each potential partnership to make sure that it’s mutually beneficial, then we are failing at the most rudimentary level. We’re on your side. Don’t forget that.
Relevant blog posts aren’t the single key to successful SEO for photographers, but are very helpful for establishing topical authority. This is just a fancy way or telling search engines that you know, understand, and are good at photography. So, yes. If you have the bandwidth, create some relevant blog posts. Are they worth stretching yourself thin over? Not necessarily.
It’s also worth mentioning that there are other types of content worth creating as well. Service pages, location pages (venues), service area pages (cities/towns you shoot in), and informational resource pages can all prove to be valuable content. Even if you have 100 pages and blog posts, at the end of the day it comes down to the content quality. If it’s not high quality content, you’re not going to rank well.
Wedding blogs can help your wedding business gain exposure and attract potential clients. Collaborate with wedding blogs by submitting your work, providing expert advice, or sharing your experiences as a wedding photographer. This not only establishes your authority in the industry but also helps generate valuable backlinks for your website, improving your SEO.
Monthly search volumes give you an idea of how many people are searching for specific keywords related to your wedding photography business. While targeting high search volume keywords can lead to more traffic, it’s essential to balance this with keyword difficulty and relevance to your services. Focus on a mix of high and low search volume keywords to optimize your SEO strategy.
Creating an engaging piece of content involves thorough research, understanding your target audience, and providing value through relevant information. Share tips for wedding photographers, helpful guides, or behind-the-scenes stories to engage readers and encourage them to share your content on social media, generating more traffic and potential clients.
Effective link building strategies for wedding photographers include guest posting on reputable wedding blogs, collaborating with other industry professionals, and creating high-quality, shareable content. Also, consider reaching out to venues or wedding planners you’ve worked with to get featured on their websites.
Effective link building strategies for wedding photographers include guest posting on reputable wedding blogs, collaborating with other industry professionals, and creating high-quality, shareable content. Also, consider reaching out to venues or wedding planners you’ve worked with to get featured on their websites.
Yoast SEO is a popular SEO plugin for WordPress that can help optimize your website for search engines. It provides recommendations for improving your content, readability, and keyword usage. By following the suggestions provided by Yoast SEO, you can enhance your website’s SEO and increase your chances of ranking higher on search engine results.
Yes, many of the same SEO strategies used for wedding photographers can be applied to family photographer websites, such as optimizing images, using relevant keywords, and creating high-quality content. However, you should adjust your targeted keywords to focus on terms related to family photography and tailor your content to the specific type of photography services you offer.
Keyword difficulty is a metric that indicates how challenging it is to rank for a specific keyword. SEO tools like Ahrefs, Ubersuggest, and Semrush provide keyword difficulty scores. When choosing keywords, balance their difficulty with search volume and relevance to your wedding photography services.
Yes, using an SEO plugin like Yoast SEO can help you optimize your website and content for search engines more effectively. An SEO plugin provides suggestions and insights, making it easier to implement best practices for on-page SEO.
Well. That’s a loaded question because we’ve already answered that above, but to summarize.
Important tips for wedding photographers looking to improve their SEO include optimizing images, targeting both competitive and long-tail keywords, creating valuable content, leveraging social media, and focusing on mobile-friendliness. Implementing these strategies can help increase your website’s visibility and attract more clients.