SEO for Pet Photographers: 10 Ways to Improve Your Google Rankings
Are you interested in learning more about SEO for pet photographers? If you have a pet photography business, then having an attractive and well-designed website is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to attracting your ideal clients.
Your website not only has to look good but it has to be SEO-optimised too!
What Is SEO and How Does It Work?
SEO stands for search engine optimisation. This means getting your website found on Google by the right people. A website that is not SEO-optimised will not rank high in the Google search results when people search for pet photography services.
SEO essentially means getting your website found by potential pet photography clients. You can SEO-optimise your website using SEO techniques so that it has a greater chance of being found on Google.
In this blog, we will talk about organic SEO for pet photographers which means getting your website found on Google organically without the use of paid ads. SEO is not a quick fix and it takes time to improve the visibility of your website but in the long term it is definitely worth it.
1 - Do Thorough Keyword Research
Effective SEO for pet photographers means focusing on the right keywords that will get you seen on Google. To do this, you need to conduct keyword research using SEO tools. There are many different SEO tools available, some paid and some free (please be aware that free tools have limitations and less functionality).
Keyword Research Tools
Google Ads Keyword Planner (free)
WordStream (free)
Keyword.io (free and paid version)
Semrush (free and paid version)
Ahrefs (free and paid version)
Moz (free and paid version)
Keywords Everywhere (paid)
Ubersuggest (free and paid version)
2 - SEO-Optimise Your Images
It stands to reason that if you’re a pet photographer you will want to showcase your work on your website and show your best cat photography or dog photography images.
Remember to make sure your images are SEO-optimised because they can actually get you traffic from Google. Make sure when you save an image to your computer it has relevant keywords in the file name.
When you upload photos to your website, make sure to add alt tags so that Google knows what is in the picture. The alt tag should simply explain what is in the photo.
3 - Check Your Website Loading Speed
When it comes to SEO for pet photographers, website loading speeds matter. This is especially important for pet photographers because you will have more photos on your website than most.
Large photographs can impact the loading speed of your website, making it slow and negatively impacting user experience. This causes Google to rank your website lower in the search results.
To avoid this, make sure you compress all your images before uploading them. Some people use a free photo compressing website for this.
4 - Optimise Your Website for Mobile
According to Statista, around 52% of global website traffic comes from mobile devices. This means you can safely assume that at least half of the people viewing your website will be doing so on a mobile.
For this reason, it’s really important to make sure your website is optimised for mobile viewing so you don’t lose out on those potential customers.
5 - Add Location Info to Your Website
If you’re a pet photographer who serves your local area then SEO for pet photographers will involve letting people know your location. This sounds like a simple thing but if you only cover a certain area then you want to make this really obvious.
One really easy thing you can do is add your address and contact details to your website footer so it shows up on all your web pages.
6 - Use Local Keywords
Local SEO for pet photographers involves incorporating local keywords that relate to your location. This allows you to rank for location-specific keywords and show up in local Google searches, increasing your visibility to potential clients in the local area.
If you’re a travelling dog photographer or cat photographer then this would not apply and you would need to focus on global SEO instead.
7 - SEO-Optimise Your Website Content
SEO for pet photographers involves ensuring your website content is SEO-optimised with relevant keywords in the right places. This helps you to rank for these keywords on Google.
Your keywords should be included in places like your titles, URLs, meta descriptions, alt tags and main copy.
8 - Publish Regular Blog Posts
To get the most out of SEO for pet photographers you should ensure your website publishes new content regularly. This signals to Google that your website is up-to-date and helps your SEO.
A great way to publish new and relevant content is to start a blog on your website. This allows you to talk about topics that would not fit on your main website and to rank for more keywords.
9 - Use Google Search Console
Google Search Console is completely free and allows you to track different metrics on your website like your traffic from Google, which pages are indexed and if there are any issues with your website.
It’s a really useful tool for tracking the progress you are making with your website traffic. It shows your impressions (the number of times people see your site on Google) and your actual website clicks.
You can monitor which web pages or blog posts have been clicked on and how many times. It also gives you keyword data on what people are actually searching for to get to your site, which can be really helpful.
10 - Use Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a little bit different to Google Search Console and will analyse your traffic sources from everywhere, not just your clicks from Google search.
If you get a lot of traffic from different sources such as social media or paid ads, Google Analytics will track these as well as your Google search traffic.
Through Google Analytics you can find out more information about the people who are viewing your website such as age, gender and location. This can give you important insights into the types of people you are attracting and whether you are hitting your target market. Google Analytics is completely free.
Conclusion
SEO is a long-term strategy which takes work and dedication but when you start getting traffic to your website and more client bookings it’s definitely worth it.
Now you’ve learned 10 key strategies to improve your SEO for pet photographers, you will be well on your way to improving your Google rankings and growing your pet photography business.
