In today’s highly competitive Web environment, the importance of search engines cannot be underestimated. Did you know that search engines drive over 70% of all Internet traffic? Consequently, if your website is not listed on page one of a search, then chances are you’re not in “today’s phone book!” Your absence gives competitors a chance to gain more exposure, book more shoots, and become more successful.

Today, Phil Holland from Holland Photo Studio joins us to talk about SEO and tips to make Google love your site.

As Phil mentions below, onsite and offsite SEO are equally important.  collagesGSO program helps you build your offsite SEO and long tail keyword strategy and with Phil’s advice you can work to strength your overall SEO and make Google love your site.  The goal of collagesGSO is to have you appear in Google’s organic search results – and as high as possible on page one – for a set of keywords that relate to your business. When you sign up for collagesGSO, we’ll work closely with you to define keywords that will drive the type of traffic that you desire. We then work with you on a daily basis to maintain your site on Google page one. collagesGSO is designed to get you on Google page one within 45 days.*  Learn more about collagesGSO.

I’m Phil Holland, a wedding photographer in Dallas.  I’m photographer because when my Dad died five years ago, I had to be.  That’s the only way I know to put it.  My Dad’s dad was an old school photographer from the 1920’s on and founded Holland Photo Studio in the early 20’s.  I hope they’re proud.  My wife and I are lucky to have two young amazing kids who love being photographed!

I Overcame The 10 Biggest Photographer SEO Mistakes & Made Google Love Me

So you’ve got this amazing website and into it you have poured your heart, soul and every ounce of creative know how.  The only problem is you just can’t seem to get it in front of the right people.  If only my site was in front of eyeballs, I would have more business than I could handle you tell yourself. But how…

If you type the text Dallas Wedding Photographer into the google search box, I’m proud to say you’ll find me at number two and I’m going to share some of the mistakes I overcame along the way.
*My site is built with WordPress which offers the ultimate in control.  All of my  advice may not be possible with other systems.

1. Don’t make YourCity Wedding Photographer your sole obsession.
This is a common mistake and one I certainly fell victim to.  The shorter and more general a keyword phrase is, the more competitive the ranking will be.  Optimize your only home page for the short tail keywords.  Support the main page with interior site pages ranking well for long tail keywords.  If you try to make every page rank well for *yourcity* wedding photographer you’re fighting a losing battle and diminishing the strength of your home page.

2. On your home page tell Google what’s going on in your website.
Your beautiful landing page with three pictures linking to a Blog, Flash Site and Whatever else you’ve got may be cute with it’s 5 words of text but Google has no idea what you site is about.  Write several paragraphs of text explaining what you do.  Tell the reader why you’re amazing using internal links with good anchor text to your site’s internal pages.  Don’t spam those keywords.  Google is very good at catching spammers and getting better all the time.  Place your keywords in a relevant conversational style.  If you don’t say “wedding photographer” in every sentence in your day to day life, don’t do it on your site.  Visit my site to see what I’m talking about.

3. Page Titles are important but you already rank for your business name.
The Page Title is the text that appears appears above the URL in your web browser.  You’ve got 60 characters so make it count.  This is an extremely important ranking factor.  I’ve seen photographer web sites that have “YourCity Wedding Photographer | Joe Shmo Wedding Photography” as the page title for every page on the site.  Another common alternative is to see “*Blog Post Title* | Joe Shmo Wedding Photography.” When you set page titles like this you’re wasting precious keywords.  Joe Shmo already ranks well for his business and doesn’t need the business name in the page title.  Keep it under 60 characters. Anything more will diminish the strength of your target keywords.

4. Target a new keyword phrase with every blog post.
Long tail keywords are the obscure, specific phrases.  Keywords like Dallas Wedding Photographer may be searched close to 6000 times a months while a direct phrase like hilton dallas lincoln centre wedding photos may only see two or three clicks a month.  My site ranks #3 for that long tail phrase right under two corporate Hilton links.  How’s that for a qualified searcher?  You’ll often hear the argument that SEO is a waste of time due to unqualified inquiries.  I say hogwash!  By ranking well for the short and long phrases I get my site in front of tons of brides.  Some may catch a glimpse of Holland Photo Studio in a search for Dallas wedding photographer, find me again after they select their venue that I’ve blogged about and then again in a Google image search.  SEO is awesome!  I rank for page one in either a keyword or image search for almost every post on my blog.

5. Describe your images as you would to someone without sight.
If you don’t know about ALT tags, you’re missing out.  Even if you do you may be missing an opportunity.  ALT tags are the image meta data that describes your images to Google.  Search engines can’t see images so they rely on our descriptions to provide relevant content to the searcher.  The big misses here are having no ALT tags or using the ALT tags to spam with…that’s right, once again…YourCity Wedding Photographer.  Use your tags to accurately describe your images.  This is the best way to move up the image search ranks.  Remember, a rising tide lifts all boats.  For example, when you image search on Google for Perkins Chapel the first image you’ll see is my watermarked HDR photo of the chapel from my blog post.

6. Control your URL structure.
If you use WordPress, take control of the link structure on your site.  By default the permalinks in WordPress look like http://example.com/?p=N.  Ugly and worse yet…there are no keywords.  I use the All in One SEO Pack to customize my permalinks as well as individual post/page Titles and Descriptions.  With the plugin I can write a nice cute post title like “Tom + Nina {married}” and still have a URL with searcher targeted relevant keywords.  I do not put any kind of date structure or numbers in my permalinks as they diminish the value of my target keywords.

7. Use your imagination to acquire valuable links.
I’m not addressing it as much in this article but I cannot state the importance of off site SEO.  Most folks that have dabbled with their own SEO know that inbound links are important.  How do we get them?  Paid links generally have little or no value for SEO so keep that PayPal account logged out!  I know you’re an expert in something!  What is that area of your photography or business that you could talk about for hours?  (Guess what mine is.) Reach out to wedding planning, photography blogs or any other site where your knowledge can fill a void.  Look for well maintained popular sites with good page rank.  You’ll be surprised the enthusiasm that greets you when you offer your passion and expertise.  Write an amazing article and ask for a link back to your site.  Make sure you’re specific about the anchor text you request.  Remember you already rank well for Joe Shmo Photography, ask for a link that looks more like “be sure to visit Phil’s awesome Dallas Wedding Photography website.”
*Anchor text is what you call the wording of the link.

8. Link to yourself.
Internal links are also important.  Linking to relevant pages within your own site leads your reader as well as Google from point A to B with in your site.  Toss in a link every paragraph or so with relevant anchor text to keep everything organic and connected in your site.   Remember that when you start nailing those long tail keywords in your blog posts every page is a landing page.  Lead your reader with relevant content and Google will love you.

9. Meta descriptions are for searchers…keep it real.
The meta description is the text that displays underneath your site link on the search results page.  Use the All in One SEO Pack to customize for individual posts/pages.  This data isn’t measured by Google in ranking but encourages clicking by searchers once you actually start ranking.  Again, keep it honest and real and no keyword stuffing.  Talk like a human and you’ll gain SEO Karma!

10. Be an expert and write static pages with value.
This is another great opportunity to express your passion and expertise.  Write a static page that’s permanent in your menu structure.  Load it up with your expertise on engagement session planning, the importance of the perfect DJ with links to the vendor you wish was at every wedding or anything else where your knowledge shines.  These pages may not always bring in clients but if they are strong and genuine their rank will strengthen your entire domain.  My site for example ranks #1 in the US for FAQ’s for brides.  It certainly can’t hurt and I get several readers a month from that phrase.
Doesn’t it feel like a battle? How do we arm ourselves to win?  Who are we even fighting?  Is it Google or is it ourselves?  As I sat down to write this I thought of the scene in Full Metal Jacket with the Rifleman’s Creed.  I thought I’d write my own version…I hope it gives you a chuckle.  You know how I feel don’t you?

This is my website. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
My website is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life.
My website, without me, is useless. Without my web site, I am useless. My website SEO must be true.  I must optimize faster than other photographers. I must rise faster than them before they pass me. I will…
My website and myself know that what counts in SEO is not the keywords we stack, the alt tags we write, nor the links we gain. We know that it is the clicks that count. We will get clicks…
My website is human, even as I, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strength, its parts, its page titles, its inbound links and its landing page. I will ever guard it against the ravages of algorithmic changes and damage as I will ever guard my legs, my arms, my eyes and my heart against damage. I will keep my website current and ready. We will become part of each other. We will…
Before God, I swear this creed. My website and myself are the defenders of my business. We are the masters of our web presence. We are the saviors of our sustainability.
So be it, until Google page one is mine!

I’m grateful for the great folks at Collages.net for letting me share this with their readers.  I’m pretty new to Collages.net but I know I’ve finally found the perfect home for my professional print lab, wedding album, and selling images online needs.  If you haven’t hired them to take care of these needs be sure to reach out to them.  They are real people and will care about your success!

I had a tough time limiting this list to ten but I wanted to stay focused.  There is so much work, energy and creativity that goes in to tackling each one.  If you have any questions or comments on these ideas please let us know in the comments or contact me through my website.