Local SEO Tips for Photographers in Houston

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As a photography service provider, you are probably looking for clients in your area/city. And they will probably reach you by conducting a local search on Google.
So, you need to invest your efforts towards enhancing your local SEO performance. And this is how your brand appears in the local search queries from your ideal clients.
So, as you recalibrate your gears, here are some SEO tips to rely upon:

15 Local SEO Tips for Your Houston Photography Website

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1. Create and Verify Google My Business Listing in Houston

Google My Business Page earns you a significant local presence for your photography studio. It reflects your site as a mini-website for your studio and shows it in the “Map” section.
Google also considers your GMB information and reviews to determine local search rankings.
The key factors to consider while you update your photography studio GMB page:

• Verify your GMB account as per Google’s verification process.
• Update your Name, Address, and Phone Number on the GMB page; And keep it consistent along with several listings and your site.
• Add the type of photography services you offer.
  
• Specify your services and brand in detail in the description.
• Mention your Business Hours for each day of the week. Moreover, as a Photographer, you might need to list your working hours along with your office hours. Ensure you update this information regularly.
• Utilize the images section to highlight your work portfolio. Display some of your best pictures here and post your team-in-action images. You must use high-quality images and also place your watermark on these images.
  

2. Optimize the Categories and Description for your GMB Page

Make sure you have optimized the categories and the description for your GMB page.

• Specify the services you offer as a photographer along with your category.
  For instance, you mention your category as a “Photographer.” Then it is not enough to mention “photography” services. And you must mention other categories like Portrait Photographer, Wedding Photographer, etc.
• Add a customized 100-200 word description for your photography business. And don’t forget to add your service focussed keywords to the description.

Here is an example of an ideal description format:
“StudioOne is a recognized photography studio in Houston. It offers professional wedding, portrait, real estate, and corporate photography services. We have 5+ years of experience in the field and have served for 400+ weddings and professional models like ….” “Give us a call at (Phone no.), and get a 12% first session discount!”
Here is a real-time example from a GMB profile of a Houston photo studio.
Read: Benefits of a Google My Business Listing

3. Add Intent Specific & Local Keywords on Your Site

If you wish to rank for local search queries in Houston, you must target the local search terms. Start with sorting the most valuable intent-specific keywords for your business.
For instance, your photography studio offers portrait photography services. Then some of the relevant keywords can be:

• Portrait photography services in Houston;
• Best portrait photography studio;
• Hire professional portrait photographer;

Now you can find such keyword sets for your various types of services. And you can further combine them with specific location-based keywords. This makes them highly relevant for location-specific search queries.
Google’s Keyword Planner and KWFinder are two popular tools for reliable keyword research.
Step 1: Log in to Google keyword planner & select a location. In this case, we have selected Houston.
Step 2: Add appropriate keywords to get the list of local keywords suggestions, along with the Avg. Monthly searches and competition level.
And you can use SEMRush and Ahrefs for finding keywords through competitor research.

4. Encourage User Reviews for Your Photography Services

User reviews have a long way to go in your photography business. It doesn’t just bring you prominent social proof but adds to your SEO value.
That said, you must attract plentiful user reviews for your photography business. Moreover, you must highlight these on your site, GMB page, and business listings.
For example, Take a look at this review section from the GMB profile of a Houston Photo studio.
A good way is to keep a feedback generation strategy in place for all your clients.
For instance, you did an awesome wedding photography project for a client in Houston. Now, you can send your wishes to the client and ask him for his feedback.
An online reputation management company can also help you attract and manage reviews.
You can use feedback generation tools like ,SurveyMonkey, CustomerSure, etc.
For example, Take a look at this screenshot that shows how you can create a feedback section for your site using simple drag and drop features.
Source: GetFeedback

5. Optimize for the Local 3-Pack Results

The Local 3-Pack results on the SERPs earn a significant part of the overall user traffic.
The Local 3-Pack results top the search rankings and act as major click buckets. So, you must optimize your local SEO presence to rank among the Local 3-Pack results.
Google draws some data from your GMB page for the Local 3-Pack, and it appreciates consistent information.
For example, look at this screenshot that displays the local 3-pack first ahead of the remaining search results.
Here is how the search results for “Houston photo studio” look like:
Also, encourage surplus positive reviews from your previous customers and users.
Google will appreciate this feedback on your site and GMB page. And it will consider the positive user sentiment as a factor to organize the local search rankings.

6. Attract Links from Partnership Sites

Another crucial way to grow your online popularity is linking to partnership sites. These sites also attract qualified referral traffic for your photography business.
In Houston, you can collaborate with wedding planners, event planners, etc. And you can ask them to link to your site.
Moreover, you must list several other popular business directories for Photographers.
These directories include CityOf.com, and The Photographer Directory in Houston.
These directory listings will source you relevant leads and online popularity in Houston.

7. Find Backlink Opportunities using Competitor Analysis Tools

A good way to establish a prominent presence is by learning from competitors themselves as a photography business.
Sort the top-performing professional photographers in Houston. Now, you can analyze their SEO strategy and backlinks using competitor analysis tools.
Some popular and insightful tools include:–

• SEMRush
• UberSuggest
• Ahrefs
• MozBar

Here is a screenshot is taken from Ubersuggest, which shows the backlinks, Anchor text, and referring domains of a wedding photographer site.
Some of the most useful insights from these tools include:

• local sites that are linking back to your competitors. These sites might also be interested in linking back to your photography business site.
• Any lost link opportunities by your competitors; You can use these opportunities to pitch your relevant resources.
• The top-performing keywords for your photography business competitors;
• The top-performing pages and the most shared content;

This data can optimize your SEO strategy and even attract relevant backlinks.

8. Manage Consistent Business Information across the Internet

Another crucial factor that impacts your SEO is the consistency of your business information.
You might be aware of the NAP consistency practice. This means that your studio’s Name, Address, and Phone No. (NAP) must be consistent across the web.
So, ensure that you add the same information on your site, GMB page, directories, and other listings. Also, update your social profiles with the same business information.
For example, check the NAP profile of this photographer across platforms like GMB and Facebook. It remains consistent.
This information consistency reflects the authenticity of your information and business.

9. List Your Photography Portfolio on Popular Sites

While you list your services and portfolio on your site, it is good to enhance your business exposure. You can do this by listing your photography portfolio on other reputed listing sites.
These sites will help you earn new business inquiries. And backlinks from these sites have a positive impact on your SEO performance.
Some of these sites that allow you to list your services and showcase your portfolio include: The Hub, Upwork, Fiverr, The Bash.
For Example, See how a Houston-based Photographer has updated her portfolio in a wedding photography listing website - The Hub.
Create your detailed profile here and link back to your site from some of these sites.

10. Optimize the Photography Portfolio on Your Site

As a Photographer, your site gives you a prominent exposure to showcase your portfolio. So, you can showcase plentiful high-quality pictures on your site.
This helps you offer an impressive user experience and earn more leads from your site.
But, you also need to make sure that these images do not make your site slower than ever.
That said, it is crucial to optimize the images and other media on your site. If it is a WordPress site, you can use the WP Smush plugin to compress all the images.
Some other image optimization tools are:

• Optimizilla,
• Kraken.io, and
• Optimal

Proper image optimization positively impacts your site’s performance in the SERPs.
For example, Have a look at this image before and after optimization. The Size dropped from 1.2MB to 480Kb - which is a 62% reduction in size.
Read: Local SEO Tips for Photographers

11. Enhance the Loading Speed of Your Site

Google has been vocal about its emphasis on website speed. And it has even urged businesses to minimize the site’s loading time up to 1 second.
Google employs website speed as one of the crucial ranking factors. And with the latest Google Page Experience update conveys the same.
For example, look at this wedding photographer website, passing all core web vitals assessments.
Therefore, your photography site must load as fast as possible. One important measure is image optimization.
Next, use Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool to examine the current speed parameter of your site. This tool will also analyze and list some of the optimization errors on your site. You can ask your developer to check these errors and resolve them.
Other crucial ways to speed up your site are:

• Enabling asynchronous loading of JS
• Allowing Gzip compression
• Minifying and combining HTML, CSS, and JS

Read: Importance of Page Loading Speed

12. Plan Your Photography Site’s On-page SEO

As a professional photographer, you might regularly fine-tune your gears for better results.
Well, the same is the case with your website. You must optimize the on-page parameters of your site to enhance its SEO performance.
You can use tools like a site checker to check your website’s on-page score.
For example, Take a look at the on-page score of a wedding photography site.
Some On-page SEO best practices include:

• Use your focus keywords on the Title Tag, the introduction, and the body content.
• Create intriguing Meta Title and Meta Description to grow the CTR
• Produce an XML Sitemap for your site and submit it to Google and Bing webmasters
• Use secondary keywords in the subheadings and the body content
• Also, use some relevant long-tail and LSI keywords in your page content.

Some tools to shortlist relevant LSI keywords include LSIGraph, LongTailPro, and KeywordTool.io.

13. Optimize Your Site for the Mobile Audience

So, if a user wishes to hire a photographer in Houston, he will probably use his smartphone to start with his search.
And if you haven’t optimized your website for mobile platforms, you wouldn’t rank for the search.
Moreover, today mobile devices account for over 52% of the total web traffic.
For example, look at this mobile responsive website from a leading wedding photographer in Houston.
That said, it is better to optimize your site for mobile users. You can switch to Google’s Mobile-friendly Test Tool to check your site’s mobile performance.
The tool will also hint at all the shortcomings. And you can fix the errors with the help of a web developer.

14. Boost Your Social Media Engagement

While your social media presence doesn’t directly affect your SEO, it has an indirect influence.
And, social media acts as a powerful business development platform for photography businesses.
A good social media presence caters to perks like:

• Amazing content reach and engagement. This increases the referral traffic on your site, and more people can link to your site. And these backlinks have a positive impact on your site’s SEO power.
• Higher reach helps you earn direct inquiries from social media.

For example, look at this Twitter profile of a leading wedding expert in Houston.
Photography and video content already have huge engagement on social media platforms.
So, use Instagram Stories, Reels, Facebook, Pinterest, Snapchat, and even Twitter. Utilize photography-related hashtags and tag local locations and brands like Canon, Sony, etc.

15. Summon PR and Influencer Marketing into the Picture

You can collaborate with local PR agencies to cover your brand story.
Some popular media sites: HoustonPress, Houston Chronicle, Chron.com
And you must connect with fashion influencers, models, bloggers, etc. Choose influencers who have a good following among your target audience. And you can produce collaborative content together.
For example, Take a look at this content produced by a Houston photographer with the help of local influencers and models.
Some of them might love to promote your business and even link back to your site. So, along with increasing local awareness, you gain good SEO value from the collaboration.

16. Invest Efforts in Content Marketing and Video-Generated Content

Your visual content can help you earn great recognition online for most shutterbugs.
You might be already aware of the huge engagement rate of video content. And you might be more comfortable using it for content marketing.
Add videos to your blogs and even produce the VLOG series. There can be innumerable content topics like:

• You can create tutorial videos to teach ‘Photography’ skills
• A blog on “How to find the best photographer in Houston.”
• Video on “How to scrutinize a photographer’s skills?”
• A blog on “Best pre-wedding shoot destinations in Houston.”

Example 1: Take a look at this video posted by a Houston wedding photographer.

Example 2: Look at this blog content posted on a Houston wedding photography website.
Use the right set of long-tail keywords in your content. Add suitable CTAs and link them to your inquiry or service pages. Moreover, don’t forget to add transcripts to your videos.
You must also collaborate for guest blogging on popular blog sites in Houston. Below is a relevant tip.

Two Bonus Tips

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17. Get Citation Links for Photography Websites

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Here Is a List of Authoritative Sites Where You Can Get Citation Links

1. Yelp

Yelp site or mobile app is a popular business directory and review platform. It also allows users to reserve tables through Yelp Reservation.

2. Thumbtack

This American online directly allows you to list your local photography services. And users can connect and hire you through the platform.

3. Snappr

This San Francisco-based platform allows users to hire professional photographers on demand. You must list your services here for quick inquiries.

4. Expertise

It is a reputed business listing and review platform in the US. And it caters to 60,000 hiring-related searches per month.

5. Upwork

It is a readily-used American platform for hiring freelancers from across the globe. You can list your photography services and bid on projects here.

6. The Knot

The Knot is a global marketplace that lists event planners, wedding planners, and photographers from 16 countries.

7. The Brides of Houston

It is a sought-out marketplace for wedding planners and photographers in Houston. You must list here to attract qualified inquiries in Houston.

18. Post Quality Content on Your Blog

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Here are Some Blogs from Popular Photography Websites

1. Mom Collective

City Mom Collective is a popular network of hyperlocal mom influencers. The community has an active blog for photographers in Houston.

2. Natural Expressions Photography

It is yet another dedicated photography blog platform in Houston. You can collaborate with them for profitable guest blogging opportunities.

3. Agave Bloom Photography

Agave Bloom Photography also houses an active blog to post blogs and attract valuable links.

4. All Heart Photography

Alice & Eric, owners of All Heart Photography in Houston, manage this blogsite for wedding photographers.

5. The Ramseys Photography

It is an aesthetically designed site with an active blog to read great wedding photography articles in Houston.

6. Emily Michelle

Emily Michelle launched this creative site to showcase her photography services in Houston. You can also post your blogs to promote your wedding and portrait shoot portfolio here.

Key Takeaways

In a nutshell, some important Local SEO tips that you must start implementing include:

• Update your GMB photography page
• List on the local directories and service listings
• Attract reviews from your clients
• Optimize the site with location-specific keywords
• Try to rank for the Local 3-pack results
• Promote your media content on social media
• Guest post on active photography blogs in Houston