SEO Blogging Tip # 1. Fill Out Your Alt Tags.
Photographers have a great sense of design and graphics for their websites and blogs but they forget that search engines do not see images or videos like we do. Search engines see text, not images, so we must associate all the important text associated with that image by filling out important information in the alt tag and description of the image.
This is also why we rename our images with keywords instead of leaving them with generic names like DCIM, DCS, IMG, etc. We are aiding the Google bots by supplying them with the needed information of what the image is about. Make sure, then, to fill out what is called the ALT TAG in your WordPress blog post.
This is where you can get very nitty gritty with the description and relay what each picture is about. So if it is a wedding bouquet, you can say “photo of yellow and white bouquet” or “bride and dad dance,” or “garter toss at ____ (venue).”
This is a great tip for trying to get those awesome photos ranked in Google images so that you are found before they even start looking for a photographer (*wink wink*). Don’t take my word for it; check out the video of Google guru Matt Cutts discussing how Google sees our images and the importance of the Alt Tag.
SEO Blogging Tip #2. Rename your Images.
Rename your images with your keywords or one main keyword per blog post. It can be a tedious task but you can rename your images for your website as well. I rarely do this, though. I only do this consistently when I am starting a brand-new website, so if you’re not doing it now, don’t panic!
SEO Blogging Tip #3. Don’t over stuff tags.
Go easy on the tags in your WordPress blog. You should really not use more than four tags, and they should be ones you will have more blog posts in the future or else this can actually decrease your rankings. Tags are becoming less and less used by Google, so use with caution.
SEO Blogging Tip #4. Keep one main idea per blog post.
This refers to what set of keywords you are tackling. Remember, don’t mix keywords in a blog post! If you are blogging a wedding, for example, either focus on the venue, the style of the wedding, or the city where that wedding took place. Never mix keywords and tags like engagement, family, newborn, and cities.
You can, of course, discuss your wedding day, but when you rename your images, your post title and other anchor text for linking URLs back to your website or blog should keep to one main idea. Keep it very concise and clean. One main keyword per blog post will also aid you in creating new content for your clients.
SEO Blogging Tip #5. BE A RESOURCE!
I hear photographers all the time saying that they don’t have time to blog or that they don’t know what to blog especially in the low season. As I have said before, all you need to do is to get all of the customer service questions you have ever had, and make a blog post! I can assure you that there will be at least 6 months of blogging content just by doing that alone.
Do you know any other blogging tip for photographers? Do share in the comments!
Great article!! 🙂
Vey Well said. Simple things like putting a relevant page title, meta description, adding at least one relevant image with alt tags can make a lot of difference to any websites’s Optimization. Also, a very important factor – DON’T be shy of sharing your content with your contact on Social Media platforms.