STICKY:  SEO - Search Engine Optimization

Hikin Mike wrote in post #16627317
Looks good, SEO-wise. I even ran the vSlow plugin from Chrome, and you got an 'A'. Even my site gave me a 'B'.

Good job! Did you do anything special to get the page-load down?

Just to add, I noticed your <title> is VERY long (Philadelphia Wedding Photographers · Reiner Photography » Philadelphia Wedding Photographers, we specialize in wedding photography and portrait photography · Based in West Chester, Pennsylvania, we serve the greater Philadelphia area including New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. We are also Destination Wedding Photographers, and we're available for world wide travel). I would shorten it up to around 70 characters.

Hikin Mike wrote in post #16627317
Looks good, SEO-wise. I even ran the vSlow plugin from Chrome, and you got an 'A'. Even my site gave me a 'B'.

Good job! Did you do anything special to get the page-load down?

I see a B grade (score of 83) using YSlow V2.

amirg wrote in post #16628488
I see a B grade (score of 83) using YSlow V2.

I used 'Small Site/Blog".

Hikin Mike wrote in post #16628576
I used 'Small Site/Blog".

I see that seems to be a more forgiving ruleset.

Good thing I am an SEO going into Photography and not the other way around LOL.
I will blast away the competition in my area SEO isnt what it used to be PS. its not that easy anymore.

shashank09 wrote in post #16659960
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Really? You registered just to post your spam link? Mods should remove.

With the new domain names available, do you all see SEO benefit to getting a .photography domain name? Maybe google will preference .photography over .com names?

At first I remembered how everyone with search terms in their URL was always listed first, but it looks like Google doesn't like that anymore. Try it: google "_your area_ wedding photography".

I used to see wichitaweddingphotogra​phy.com always come up first, now it is nowhere to be found. It sounds like using something like wichitawedding.photogr​aphy would also be penalized for being too close to search terms. Do you see any merit to my thoughts?

second thought, instead of keyword filling our url's I could change my current URL from Marshallphotographyks.​com to Marshall.photography (which is already registered to someone else of course).

Would that give an advantage because of the .photography?

Hi.. thanks for the information. Really a great help.

Nobody has updated this post since 2006 so I will add my modern insight. This is how to rank high:

• Google likes great original content that people like to share. Write a great article, post it once, make sure a back link is on the article leading to your web site. Repeat. Think of each backlink to your web site as a vote for the popularity of your web site. This is a back link.

• Post great content on good relevant sites (like this one). I am a photographer, back linking my article to my web site. By doing this, Google can ascertain that this site is relevant to the topic of the search.

• It is a good idea to put key words into your Backlinks like this: Toronto Food Photographer

• Be careful to not post junky Backlinks on cruddy site or Google will penalize you. For example postings on a link farm is a bad idea

• Google Loves photos. Make sure your articles contain photos. Be sure to fill relevant ALT meta data so Google can figure out what that photo is about

3000 x 1790

EMBED PREVENTED, IMAGE TOO LARGE: http://www.product-photography-toronto.com …Photography%20T​oronto.jpg Click here to see our image rules.

Hikin Mike wrote in post #16627317
Looks good, SEO-wise. I even ran the vSlow plugin from Chrome, and you got an 'A'. Even my site gave me a 'B'.

Good job! Did you do anything special to get the page-load down?

Thanks for taking a look!
I didn't do anything specific to lower my load times of the code, but my images are always exported at a JPG quality level of about 70 which I believe loads faster than JPG's exported with a quality level of 100.


ANd- my little bit of advice for those that are trying to out SEO their local competition... Use those image ALT and Title tags for every image that you post to your blog. Most people are lazy and do not take the effort to tag up their imagery. Look at your local competition, check out their blog... if they know what they're doing they are tagging and Alt tagging everything, and if they're being lazy about it you can blaze right past them on the way to page 1.

By the way, have you ever wondered who is THE BEST WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER in PHILADELPHIA?! I've often wondered the same thing, but I think it's like professional football, it's really "any given Saturday"

doubledragon wrote in post #16733473
Thanks for taking a look!
I didn't do anything specific to lower my load times of the code, but my images are always exported at a JPG quality level of about 70 which I believe loads faster than JPG's exported with a quality level of 100.


ANd- my little bit of advice for those that are trying to out SEO their local competition... Use those image ALT and Title tags for every image that you post to your blog. Most people are lazy and do not take the effort to tag up their imagery. Look at your local competition, check out their blog... if they know what they're doing they are tagging and Alt tagging everything, and if they're being lazy about it you can blaze right past them on the way to page 1.

By the way, have you ever wondered who is THE BEST WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER in PHILADELPHIA?! I've often wondered the same thing, but I think it's like professional football, it's really "any given Saturday"

I'm a little embarrased to show my ignorance, but since Google Webmaster Tools says I have no structured data on my site (!), I'm going to start following this thread.

To start, what are ALT tags for images? I can title my images, and put meta tags on the page, but I'm not familiar with ALT tags. Any guidance is appreciated!

kacebelle wrote in post #16736203
I'm a little embarrased to show my ignorance, but since Google Webmaster Tools says I have no structured data on my site (!), I'm going to start following this thread.

To start, what are ALT tags for images? I can title my images, and put meta tags on the page, but I'm not familiar with ALT tags. Any guidance is appreciated!

You do have some Structured Data: http://www.google.com …om%2F%23%2Fpage​%2Fhome%2F

As far as 'alt' tags, you don't have any: <img src="http://memoriesin​aflashtx.com/root1/586​56/iphoto/photos/image​s4/sophie%201.jpg" width="40" height="40" alt="" class="link_img" /> An 'alt' tag is a short description/title of the image. I'm not familiar with what website you used, so I can't say if this is something you can edit/add. I know using Wordpress and Smugmug it's an easy "fix".

I would change your home page's <title> though. Right now you're using "Memories in a Flash Photography - Child and Newborn Photographer - Keller, TX". I would drop your name, nobody is going to search for you. Put the most relevant items first, usually the location..."Keller Texas Newborn, Child, Senior & Family Photography".

Hikin Mike wrote in post #16736635
You do have some Structured Data: http://www.google.com …om%2F%23%2Fpage​%2Fhome%2F

As far as 'alt' tags, you don't have any: <img src="http://memoriesin​aflashtx.com/root1/586​56/iphoto/photos/image​s4/sophie%201.jpg" width="40" height="40" alt="" class="link_img" /> An 'alt' tag is a short description/title of the image. I'm not familiar with what website you used, so I can't say if this is something you can edit/add. I know using Wordpress and Smugmug it's an easy "fix".

I would change your home page's <title> though. Right now you're using "Memories in a Flash Photography - Child and Newborn Photographer - Keller, TX". I would drop your name, nobody is going to search for you. Put the most relevant items first, usually the location..."Keller Texas Newborn, Child, Senior & Family Photography".

Thanks so much for the advice. I used Redframe, which seemed the best fit considering my complete ignorance of web site building. I do know that I can change the description, so I will get on that for my images, and I will update my title.

When I log into my Webmaster Tools, it tells me I have none. I'll have to look at that again. Thanks again, this is very helpful.

Forgive my ignorance but what should I put in the alt tags of images?

Say I have a gallery with 30 portraits of children in, do I just put "child portrait" in all of them? Or number them?

sancho1983 wrote in post #16738090
Forgive my ignorance but what should I put in the alt tags of images?

Say I have a gallery with 30 portraits of children in, do I just put "child portrait" in all of them? Or number them?

Technically you should use describe the photo. So in your 'Portrait Gallery' the third image (girl with the blue hat), you could call it 'Girl with the big blue hat'. That's what Google would prefer. I do this, but I'm selling landscape/nature photos, so I'm hoping that people would search for specific location/landmarks etc. You could go the other way and do something like this: 'Your location, portrait picture #1'.

Hope this helps.