JUNE 2011

SEARCH ENGINE

for photographersOPTIMIZATION

P H O T O S H E LT E R | S E A R C H E N G I N E O P T I M I Z AT I O N F O R P H O T O G R A P H E R S

There once was a man...

• Googled “toilet seats”• Clicked Kohler.com• Found a “quiet close” seat• Ordered online• Installed it• Much happiness

2

P H O T O S H E LT E R | S E A R C H E N G I N E O P T I M I Z AT I O N F O R P H O T O G R A P H E R S

The one that got away

3

P H O T O S H E LT E R | S E A R C H E N G I N E O P T I M I Z AT I O N F O R P H O T O G R A P H E R S

Searching for your own name and !nding your own website is not SEO.

!e goal is unsolicited web traffic.

That ain’t SEO

4

P H O T O S H E LT E R | S E A R C H E N G I N E O P T I M I Z AT I O N F O R P H O T O G R A P H E R S

Where is your website?

• DC photojournalist• reston portrait photographer• best vienna wedding photographer• lincoln memorial stock photo

5

Good SEO anticipates what others are searching for

P H O T O S H E LT E R | S E A R C H E N G I N E O P T I M I Z AT I O N F O R P H O T O G R A P H E R S

Recognize anyone?

6

P H O T O S H E LT E R | S E A R C H E N G I N E O P T I M I Z AT I O N F O R P H O T O G R A P H E R S

The “Long Tail” matters

7

P H O T O S H E LT E R | S E A R C H E N G I N E O P T I M I Z AT I O N F O R P H O T O G R A P H E R S

Universal search & SERP

8

P H O T O S H E LT E R | S E A R C H E N G I N E O P T I M I Z AT I O N F O R P H O T O G R A P H E R S

Local search is huge

9

google.com/places

P H O T O S H E LT E R | S E A R C H E N G I N E O P T I M I Z AT I O N F O R P H O T O G R A P H E R S

Google images

10

P H O T O S H E LT E R | S E A R C H E N G I N E O P T I M I Z AT I O N F O R P H O T O G R A P H E R S

A tree falling in the forest

11

P H O T O S H E LT E R | S E A R C H E N G I N E O P T I M I Z AT I O N F O R P H O T O G R A P H E R S

OMG. Good news for photographers?

12

P H O T O S H E LT E R | S E A R C H E N G I N E O P T I M I Z AT I O N F O R P H O T O G R A P H E R S

SEO doesn’t exist without good content

• On-page factors only account for 14% of SEO, but without content, there’s nothing to index

• Unique page titles with relevant text!• Descriptive pages with unique content• Longer pages seem to rank better

13

P H O T O S H E LT E R | S E A R C H E N G I N E O P T I M I Z AT I O N F O R P H O T O G R A P H E R S

Factors affecting SEO

14

SEOMoz, 2011 Search Engine Ranking Factors

P H O T O S H E LT E R | S E A R C H E N G I N E O P T I M I Z AT I O N F O R P H O T O G R A P H E R S

Text

On-page: Title and meta description

15

P H O T O S H E LT E R | S E A R C H E N G I N E O P T I M I Z AT I O N F O R P H O T O G R A P H E R S

On-page: Title and meta description

16

P H O T O S H E LT E R | S E A R C H E N G I N E O P T I M I Z AT I O N F O R P H O T O G R A P H E R S

On-page: Title and meta description

17

P H O T O S H E LT E R | S E A R C H E N G I N E O P T I M I Z AT I O N F O R P H O T O G R A P H E R S

On-page: Title and meta description

18

P H O T O S H E LT E R | S E A R C H E N G I N E O P T I M I Z AT I O N F O R P H O T O G R A P H E R S

On-page: Relevant text

19

P H O T O S H E LT E R | S E A R C H E N G I N E O P T I M I Z AT I O N F O R P H O T O G R A P H E R S

What we see

20

P H O T O S H E LT E R | S E A R C H E N G I N E O P T I M I Z AT I O N F O R P H O T O G R A P H E R S

What Skynet Google sees

21

P H O T O S H E LT E R | S E A R C H E N G I N E O P T I M I Z AT I O N F O R P H O T O G R A P H E R S

Every link is an endorsement or vote.

You must build links

• Link to yourself:• Build a blog• Join trade and community sites

• Get others to link to you:• Guest write articles on other sites• Shoot something interesting• Use social media• Get in!uential sites to link to you

22

P H O T O S H E LT E R | S E A R C H E N G I N E O P T I M I Z AT I O N F O R P H O T O G R A P H E R S

Anchor text matters

POORLY OPTIMIZED

Grover took some shots of the Empire State Building.

STILL POORLY OPTIMIZED

Grover took some photos of the Empire State Building.

OPTIMIZED

Grover took the best photos of the Empire State Building.

23

P H O T O S H E LT E R | S E A R C H E N G I N E O P T I M I Z AT I O N F O R P H O T O G R A P H E R S

Don’t be the needle in the haystack

• Increase your online footprint• Publish more pages of content• Publish on more websites• Make it easier for people to "nd you on the places where they

hang out

24

P H O T O S H E LT E R | S E A R C H E N G I N E O P T I M I Z AT I O N F O R P H O T O G R A P H E R S

Socialize

25

P H O T O S H E LT E R | S E A R C H E N G I N E O P T I M I Z AT I O N F O R P H O T O G R A P H E R S

Step-by-step to practical SEO

Just do it

• Create a keyword hitlist of 20-50 words that you want to rank for

• Compare this to the Adwords Keyword Tool to re"ne the list• Run searches against the terms in your list to assess the

competition• Run a backlink analysis so that you can understand which

terms are attainable

26

P H O T O S H E LT E R | S E A R C H E N G I N E O P T I M I Z AT I O N F O R P H O T O G R A P H E R S

Sanity check your keywords

27

google “adwords keyword tool”

P H O T O S H E LT E R | S E A R C H E N G I N E O P T I M I Z AT I O N F O R P H O T O G R A P H E R S

Assess your online competition

28

P H O T O S H E LT E R | S E A R C H E N G I N E O P T I M I Z AT I O N F O R P H O T O G R A P H E R S

Backlink analysis

29

P H O T O S H E LT E R | S E A R C H E N G I N E O P T I M I Z AT I O N F O R P H O T O G R A P H E R S

Monitor your results

Google Analytics can tell you if SEO is working.

% of traffic from search engine.

# of keywords driving search traffic.

30

P H O T O S H E LT E R | S E A R C H E N G I N E O P T I M I Z AT I O N F O R P H O T O G R A P H E R S

I’m not making this up

• If your website and marketing efforts don’t include SEO, you’re missing free traffic

• Effective SEO results in real sales and revenue• SEO is a long-term commitment, so start today!

31

P H O T O S H E LT E R | S E A R C H E N G I N E O P T I M I Z AT I O N F O R P H O T O G R A P H E R S

Get more info

32

photoshelter.com/mkt/research

P H O T O S H E LT E R | S E A R C H E N G I N E O P T I M I Z AT I O N F O R P H O T O G R A P H E R S

Connect with PhotoShelter

blog.photoshelter.comfacebook.com/photoshelter@photosheltervimeo.com/photoshelter

33