How to become Number 1 Photographer in your City on Google
Have you ever thought why your local photography business page is posted beyond the first few pages of Google? If your business is not placed in the first few pages of SERP or Search Engine Result Pages for keywords which are associated with your business, a customer will not be able to find you either.
If your business cannot be found easily, it will eventually hamper the revenue.
It is high time that you start investing in Social media optimization strategy. Working on SEO will improve the business site, and contents will add value to the clients fulfilling the queries. But you need to understand that aiming for number 1 photography spot in your city will require good search engine work and optimization. Identify the client who is best for your business and create a proper digital marketing strategy to get them on board.
Basics of Local SEO
Basic traditional SEO is known and used by all businesses today. Traditional SEO aims to rank high in SERP for strategic keywords. As Keyword is vital for your business online, when it comes to brick and mortar entity, you need to be concerned about foot traffic. It is an aspect which can be achieved by including Local SEO strategy as a part of a digital marketing plan.
The strategy will look to rank your business with a strategic keyword; the focus will be given more on providing a user with a result which is relevant to the current location. In simple terms, your business will be pushed to local people searching for photography services. Local searching is triggered by Map packs involving a company, address, phone number, business hour and review. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
You might wonder about the difference between local SEO and Traditional SEO when you look for a place to dine at a locality, you Google for an eatery nearby. This search is different if you search for a recipe for dinner. Search engines are smart enough to understand the difference between the two searches. It will generate radically generate results. When you look for places to ‘eat open near me’, Google will detect your location and provide localized result.
The same principle applies to the photography industry. Considering the search engine and its understanding of user intent, various results will be provided. It is same as ‘wedding photography ideas’ and ‘wedding photographer near me’. The queries are different with a different intention.
Purchase funnel will provide a more fundamental approach to understanding the idea of creating a Digital Marketing Strategy for photography.
The Purchas Funnel
As the search engines detect the intent of the user, SERPs are designed to work with the intents at the funnel stage. SERPs are designed according to the intention and various stages of the purchase funnel. When you look for wedding photography ideas, results are heavily image-based with inspiring searches, and SERP introduces are article which compiles different similar ideas.
When user types in ‘Wedding photography service near me’, the search engine is intelligent enough to produce a result based on a user query. If a user decides to add a location like ‘Denver wedding photographers’, a search engine will effectively utilize business location and produce result through Map Pack, which is placed on an organic search result.
Focusing on Local SEO for Business
Traditional SEO strategy works with three critical aspects:
On-page Optimization: It helps the search engine to identify the content of the site.
Content: All blog post, article, video on the site is about content.
Link: both links are pointing towards your business website, and to the website, you need to link.
In addition to the above things, SEO strategy locally should possess these:
On-Page Optimization – methods which help search engines to identify your location, name, address and phone from a website.
Local listing and citation – Start enlisting with Google My Business and associated with the local chamber of commerce. A website like Facebook and provide ample information to search engine about your business.
Online review: The Google Map pack comes with a scope of studies which provides leverage to the business and encourage the consumers providing them direct insights. Improve the higher click-through rate with good reviews from your past clients.
Currently, Google analyses the number of reviews and share information about location and contact information. Result also produces a result which is relevant to a user query. So if you want to get to the top search result in your locality, you need to use an on-page optimization, local citing and review.
On-Page Optimization
On-page optimization is the first place to focus on. You need to make your website relevant to local requirement and relevancy. You have shared your business location on the website. Information of location can be placed on the footer, and use a dedicated contact page. It makes the user contact you quickly and makes the search engine easier to find your location.
Contact page needs to show NAP or Name, Address, Phone Number.
Include email id for more leverage. Try to enable a click option for a phone number when accessing through mobile. Add a map to your website for further convenience.
Researching Keyword for Local SEO
Keywords are needed to be utilized in the SEO strategy. Keywords with the most volume of search are the best ones which will produce the desired result. Try using the keyword with decent search volume but a low keyword. As for your local business, try to find keywords beyond just ‘photographers’.
Google or other search engine have Map packs but are often confused about user intention when they are just searching for a term and generate a mixed result with high competitive nature. In this case, at the bottom of the SERP, Google displays related queries and are a mixed bag.
What is to be learnt from the situation is that, there must be niche keywords included which has to be less relevant as well as less competitive.
Tune in the keywords which clients will look for and try to give a local focus. If you can strategically employ the keywords in the page title, Meta title, and image alt tag, the search will easily identify where your business will be located along with various services provided.
While utilizing high volume, niche keyword phrases, utilize them as URL in the page. Remember, the market, even in your local area, is highly competitive, and it will take one or two years of constant effort when you need to reach the top.
You need to try to focus on the local market where you want to reach the top. Hence your keyword selection needs to focus the local market and the volume which will generate. For example, Denver Wedding Photographer or specify an area of Denver Wedding photographer.
Making List of Keywords
Start by writing down the terms and phrases which are highly associated with the business service. It is not your goal to just get noticed as a photographer; you need to highlight yourself as a wedding photographer in the local region. Here come long-tail keywords. These keywords are three or five words long. Think of yourself as a client and start hunting. Imagine what all the things you would look for if you were looking for wedding photography services.
There might be a difference between your description and clients; someone can demand baby photographer or family photographer. If you can juice up your business description with words related to wedding photography, clients will eventually find you. Think about the product and services which you can offer at your location.
It will help you to find out what your competitors are using on their page in terms of a keyword. You can also find the top businesses with the keywords which are related to your services. Try each keyword in Google and focus on the autocomplete suggestion which Google provides. These search will further give you additional ideas for the keyword which did not come to your mind. If they are associated with your business, go for them.
Google SERP pages offer fresh keyword results found at the bottom of the page. For each search you enter in Google, there are related searches found at the bottom of the SERP. Try using a query and observe the keywords at the bottom. You will find a more extended suggestion of keyword at the bottom of the Google search page. If you find any suggestion related to your page just add them to your list of keywords. Use the keywords in URL, Meta description, image tag and naturally within the page content.
Bonus: If you look for advanced on-page optimization, try Schema mark-up code. It is a code which you need to put in your website to help the search engine get more details about your website. Schema markup can be utilized for local business to let Google identify you as a local business rather than a large brand. It will surely boost your ranking. If you use WordPress or Squarespace as a hosting platform, you can follow the Google Guide or plugin.
Local Listing or Citation
You must try to get a local citation and improve the listing. Claim your profile on Facebook to leverage your searchability. NAP you provide on the website has to be consistent in every profile. Time to learn using Google Business and Bing set up for leveraging the business.
Creating Google Business
Google My Business is a free tool at your disposal. It will help to manage the business to help them appear on the Google search engine.