SEO Strategies For Wedding Photographers
SEO is easily one of the most overlooked marketing strategies that I see Wedding Photographers sleeping on.
Social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok make it easier than ever to visually show off your work and get it in front of potential clients BUT there’s a catch…
The content you make on social media platforms lasts for days maayyyybe weeks if you’re lucky.
AND you have to show up consistently in order for it to pay off!
Not to mention every other photographer in the world is showing up in the same FYP feed.
SEO (search engine optimization) is SO often ignored in the photography industry it’s crazy!
What if you didn’t have to do another cringy lipsynch or get on camera with another “hey guys!” for the 238576th day in a row?
What if you could bring in new paying clients from Google based on content that you made MONTHS ago!?!
That’s the power of SEO!
You don’t need to say “buh-bye” to all your favorite social media platforms but it never hurt anyone to have a backup plan. Especially if that backup plan keeps bringing you new brides passively for years to come!
I’m going to walk you through some different strategies that you can use to get found by brides that are googling “best, most awesome, incredible wedding photographers near me”.
1. GMB or Google My Business Profile
Say hello to the easiest way to show up in Google search results. *hello!*
GMB or Google My Business profiles are the little cards that pop up on the Google Map results when you’re looking for something. They get priority in results over regular results and make it super easy for customers to contact you and book.
Take a peep at my local search results for “Wedding Photographer Near Me”
While I wouldn’t say that relying only on a GMB listing is a good SEO strategy, it is a pretty basic must have for getting found on the internet. So many amazing photographers that I see on Instagram or Facebook don’t even have these listings and those that do severely neglect them!
So how do you get your GMB listing to the top?
Great question, you treat it like you do any other marketing strategy and give it some attention now and again!
GMB is not nearly as needy as other platforms and will only require a fraction of your time. If you already have a GMB listing but it’s not performing well OR if you just need to know how to maintain one in the first place you can check these quick tips below.
- Craft a catchy about section to compel people to book with you
- Update your offers regularly
- Update your photos regularly
- Refer past clients to leave you a review after working with you
- Leave a public response to any reviews you receive
Revisit your GMB listing on a monthly or quarterly basis and make some updates. It is the kind of thing that pays off sooner or later!
Google greatly prefers to give attention to businesses that have good reviews so if you don’t have any or many reviews on your Google account, then don’t expect it to be successful overnight.
Not only does Google prefer businesses with lots of reviews but customers do too.
Once you get some regular feedback going it’s bound to bring in more and more business.
If you need more help getting your GMB listing up and running you can check out this post about how to set it up and maintain. This post is written primarily for venue owners but the basic premises can be applied to any business.
2. Blogging
Content creation is the lifeblood of any solid SEO strategy. You have to actually write stuff about weddings and photography if you want to get found by brides searching for stuff about.. Weddings and photography (sometimes we just have to say the quiet part out loud to get it to sink in)
BUT its not 2008 anymore and a super vague post with 300 words about a random wedding subject isn’t going to cut it anymore.
Any SEO bros or faceless SEO agencies telling you that one super basic 300 word post a month for the low cost of $1500 a month is lying to you.
It takes a little ingenuity to come up with a decent blog post (I don’t want to admit how long it’s taken me to come up with this one!) but once you get the hang of it you won’t want to do it any other way.
One easy way to specialize and niche down your blog content is your location. Write content specific to the areas that you want to book brides that cater to women actively preparing for their wedding.
Here are some blog post examples that I would write about if I were a wedding photographer who shoots in Nashville TN and has an editorial style.
- Top 10 luxury wedding venues in Nashville TN
- Hidden gem venues in Nashville TN
- The best boho florists in Nashville TN
- Top 10 budget hacks for Nashville brides
- 3 dates to avoid planning in wedding planning in Nashville TN
- Vintage inspired wedding at *insert venue name here* in Nashville TN
- Where to shop for wedding dresses in Nashville TN that don’t look like everyone else’s
- Best wedding expos to attend in Nashville TN
- Editorial spring wedding at *insert venue name here * in Nashville TN
- Eloping to Nashville TN dos and donts
- Best elopement locations in Nashville TN
You get the idea? PS Feel free to use these ideas yourself! Right there are 11 solid blog post ideas to get you started!
There is a basic formula of wedding related + niche adjective + location that will get you in front of the right bride without having to compete with giant wedding conglomerates like The Knot and Wedding Wire etc.
Be sure to share your work in the form of blog posts, There’s nothing wrong with photo heavy blog posts just be sure that you don’t bog down your site speed and don’t be afraid to explain every detail of the wedding in the form of words.
Tell the story about the couple, talk about the ceremony, reception, venue, flowers etc. There’s almost no such thing as too much detail. Highlight your favorite shots and link back around to your booking page.
3. SEO Optimized Image Titles
If you have 300 photos on your website that are all titled something like img_2938.jpeg or smith_family_ outdoor_23848.jpeg and missing meta descriptions that’s 300 missed opportunities for your images to show up in search results.
Don’t lie no one will judge you here!
Not only does this prevent your images themselves from showing up in search results but it hurts the entire page and website’s ability to rank.
This is a step that I see skipped over all the time across all industries but it’s easy enough to fix, especially for you photographers out there!
You can edit the image title super easily when you’re exporting images from Lightroom or Photoshop.
An SEO optimized image title should look something like this:
- Nashville-outdoor-wedding-photography
- Nashville-wedding-photography-venue-name-here
- Editorial-wedding-photography-Nashville-Tennesse
- Rustic-wedding-venue-Nashville-Tennessee
- Glamorous-wedding-dress-Nashville
- Nashville-bride-editorial-photoshoot
Always include the location and never waste space with the client’s name.
Meta descriptions are little blurbs of information hidden within your website’s code that describe what’s happening in the image for screen readers and search engines to read.
So many small businesses that are DIYing their sites just ignore these meta descriptions altogether which means more opportunity for you!
Adding a quick 1-2 sentences that describe the photo with your keywords sprinkled in will go a long way in making Google and other search engines happy. Do not just keyword stuff a bunch of junk in your meta descriptions, that will only hurt your ranking and flag your website for spam.
Now don’t panic I don’t think you HAVE to go through your whole website and retitle every single image but consider it a lesson learned and add it to your “to do” list the next time you are adding images to your website.
PS If you are hiring for SEO services this is absolutely something they should be doing!
Alright, who’s got two thumbs and now has an SEO plan for their website?
That’s right you do! Okay, I am assuming that you have two thumbs and if you don’t I hope you’re laughing with me at the irony and not writing me an angry email.
If you walk away from this post and only implement one of these strategies it will pay off with time!
If you’ve made it this far you might also be interested in reading about the 8 things that every wedding photographer’s website needs which you can read about here.
Check back here often for more tips about marketing and website design! Until next time!
