Creating a stunning photography portfolio is no longer enough to attract clients to your website. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is essential to help your website rank higher on search engines, and one of the most effective ways to improve your SEO is through link building. Link building involves acquiring links from other websites that point to your website, and it plays a significant role in boosting your website’s authority and visibility. In this article, we will explore the various strategies of link building for photographers to improve your website’s search engine ranking.
Here’s what we’ll be covering in this article:
- Vendor Networking for Links
- Guest Writing for Links
- Features for Links
- Directories for Links
- Commenting for Links
- Clients and Charities for Links
- Reviews for Links
- Bad Practices When Link Building
- Using Backlink Watch
- Other Link Building Tips
For more information on SEO and Web Marketing, we invite you to explore our Complete Business Training System inside of SLR Lounge Premium. We also have a free resourced called the “Essential Photographer’s SEO and Website Checklist” that you can download for free.
SEO Link Building For Photographers With Vendor Networking
A great way to drive links to your site is to simply network. As a photographer, this is actually very easy because, after every shoot we have something valuable to offer – the images from the shoot.
Create an email that outlines your rules for image usage and send it out, along with a few select images, to everyone involved in the shoot. Require that they link back to your site in order to use the images and there you go! You now have targeted, local, related; and most importantly, legitimate links coming into your site.
Advanced Tip – While you’re shooting, snap a couple extra pictures of the vendors involved. Capturing an in-action shot of the makeup artist or DJ can benefit you in many ways. First off, they’ll really appreciate the images and potentially send you referrals. Secondly, they may use your images on their site, which, of course, you would allow ONLY if it came with a link to your site.
Action Steps & Recap
- Create an email template for your vendors with the policies of your image use.
- Add the important step to your workflow of emailing all vendors involved in the shoot with the information and the images.
Guest Writing to Build Links
In 2014, Google cracked down on a few popular guest blogging networks for abusing the practice of guest blogging for links. However, if you guest blog with caution by using the right websites and the right content, this can be one of your best strategies when Link Building For Photographers.
There are a ton of popular photography websites that accept submissions. These are all popular blogs that are directly related to your profession, which means each link is valuable for your website. Additionally, their large reach makes their content commonly referenced and shared. So excerpts from your article may end up in more web pages than just one, with more links pointing to your website.
More than Just Links
Besides gaining a valuable link or two, Guest blogging can boost your standing and reputation in the industry. Photography is a unique industry where the students can quickly become the teachers. Teach others how you got a particular shot. Tell the community how you cut time from your post production workflow. Give 10 tips on your specific type of photography. Review your latest gear purchase. Don’t feel like you must have years and years of experience to start teaching others. Share what you do know and what you are learning.
List of Photography Websites that Accept Guest Submissions
Though many of these sites may not have official guest submission procedures, if you have a good enough article idea, you can likely get accepted onto any of these sites. It doesn’t hurt to get in touch and try!
- https://fstoppers.com/
- https://www.diyphotography.net/
- https://digital-photography-school.com/
- https://inspiremebaby.com/
- https://www.themoderntog.com/
- https://www.lightstalking.com/
- https://www.thephotoargus.com/
- https://petapixel.com/
- https://www.picturecorrect.com/
Think Beyond Photography
Think specifically about your industry and consider guest writing for indirectly related websites. If you’re a real estate photographer, for example, connect with some real estate blogs or real estate agents if they have good web presence. Remember to gauge their web presence based on their Page Rank, Alexa, and other tools we have shown you.
If you’re a fashion photographer, then online fashion magazines might publish your opinions in an editorial piece. Even think locally! Maybe the local paper, university, or charitable organization has opportunities for guest blogging.
Action Steps:
- Contact 3-5 blogs to inquire about submitting a guest post
- Set a Guest Posting Schedule (weekly, monthly, etc.)
- Continue adding to your list of blogs and submitting guest posts.
Get Featured to Build Links
Getting featured is similar to guest blogging except instead of sharing your thoughts and experiences, you share your work. Think about popular online publications in your niche and see if they accept submissions to get featured.
For example, in the wedding industry, websites like Green Wedding Shoes or Ruffled Blog are powerhouses in terms of traffic, popularity, and SEO importance. Links from these websites can help you climb the ladder of rankings for wedding photography.
While the wedding niche has the most websites that accept submissions, continue to search for websites that are most applicable to your photography niche. Start with a Google search for “[INSERT YOUR INDUSTRY] Blog.” The search results should give you a good starting place.
Websites to Submit To:
- https://www.brendasweddingblog.com/
- https://www.rocknrollbride.com/
- https://thecinderellaproject.blogspot.com/
- https://www.inspiredbythis.com/
- https://www.boho-weddings.com/
- https://www.lovemydress.net/blog/
- https://justwenderful.blogspot.com/
- https://www.polkadotbride.com/
- https://ruffledblog.com/
- https://greenweddingshoes.com/
Action Steps:
- Make a list of target sites
- Obtain their submission rules
- Set a schedule to submit
Register for Directories to Build Links
Generally, you want to avoid many web directories. If you’re simply paying for placement on a website that contains thousands of links to other websites in every category on the web, then that link will be of little to no value to your site. On the other hand, if the web directory is actually useful to its users and receives traffic from people (and not just bots), then you may want to consider getting a listing with it. In addition, listing in directories with a consistent name, address and phone number (NAP) can help you improve your local SEO.
Ask yourself these general questions:
- Does this directory relate to photography? If so, consider it.
- Does this directory have recurring fees? If so, then you most likely should NOT list. Reasonable one-time fees are okay but remember, one of the major goals for SEO as a photographer is to invest time and effort so that you do not have to rely on paid services.There are certainly exceptions, but this is a general rule.
- Will this listing be of value beyond SEO? If so, consider listing. Google is always coming up with new ways to cut off benefits from unnatural links. If you see value in the listing, there’s a good chance Google sees value in it as well. If you don’t, then it’s probably not a sustainable source of quality links.
Here are some directories to consider. You might also be interested in the directory created by SLR Lounge called Wedding Maps. This service helps you build up backlinks and features on various websites.
Commenting to Build Links
Commenting is not an effective way to build backlinks. First off, most websites have the “nofollow” attribute for outbound links. And the very few that still don’t are usually flooded with so much spam that it’s only a matter of time before they delete most of their links or get designated by Google as a “spammy website.” If any of these happen, then the time you spent commenting will have been wasted and potentially damaging. For those reasons, we advise against commenting for backlinks.
Ask for Backlinks from Charities and Clients
Link building for photographers often involves actual networking and business building. Everyone needs photography, from charities to local businesses to academic institutions. Consider photographing events for local charities that need your services to spread awareness for their cause. Of course, you should not do this solely for backlinks; but if you’re already helping out, it makes sense to tactfully ask for a favor in return.
The same approach works for local businesses. If you’re already hired by a local restaurant, gym, real estate agency, insurance agency, or any other local business; why not tactfully ask them to give you link credit for your images on their site. For some clients, you may even build in a discount for your services as an incentive. With others, you might have a strong enough relationship to simply ask.
Actions Steps:
- Brainstorm opportunities for Link Building For Photographers among the organizations that you already support.
- Ask your current clients with websites for backlinks.
- Consider building in small discounts as incentives for backlinks.
Reviewing or Featuring Products for Backlinks
There are hundreds of product, service, and software companies in photography. Think about your own gear bag and workflow and you’ll realize how many different companies you have supported over the years by buying their products. These might include:
- Major Camera, Lens, and Lighting Makers
- Tripod Makers
- Radio Trigger Companies
- Camera Bag Companies
- Post Production Software
- Album Design Software
The list can go on and on, but the point is that you’re using these products on a daily basis; and sometimes all it takes is a picture of you using the product or a testimonial for the product or service to get you featured on their website. Here is an example of a feature from the Pocket Wizard Blog:
Action Steps:
- Make a list of all of your gear and software
- Study company blogs to see if they feature user reviews or testimonials.
- Create your content. Take a picture or record a video of the product in use and/or write up your review.
- Find the best contact person. This is usually their marketing manager.
- Email the contact and remember to follow up if you do not receive a response.
- If you are still not receiving a response, reach out via social media with Tags and Mentions (to be covered in the next book).
Bad Practices When Link Building for Photographers
When SEO link building for photographers, do not try to take short cuts. Link building is not easy. It takes time, dedication and a unique strategy. As with anything difficult, there are always those who try to take shortcuts. Here is a list of shortcuts to avoid:
Do Not Buy Links
As tempting as it is to go onto sites like Fiverr.com and buy hundreds of links for the price of lunch, don’t do it! This is one of the quickest ways to hurt your SEO and waste money in the process.
Do Not Participate in Link Exchanges
Also known as reciprocal links, this practice involves placing a link on your site in return for a link on their site, creating reciprocal links. Google is quick to detect unnatural reciprocal links and penalize you for it. You won’t be penalized just because you are linking over to a site that happens to link over to you. However, just make sure it’s natural and in-context.
Do Not Build Links at Unnatural Rates
Google spiders are crawling the web nonstop. If one week you have hundreds of new links pointing to your site and the next week you have no new links, then your Link Building For Photographers strategy might work against you because it seems unnatural. Remember, Google wants everything, including link building, to happen naturally, so your link building strategies should be consistent and sustainable.
Link Building For Photographers Using Backlink Watch
SEO link building for photographers also involves checking out the competition. There are many websites and services that allow you to input any URL; and from that, they generate a list of links to that site. Some charge monthly fees while others are free, like https://www.backlinkwatch.com/. The free services are limited in the number of results they show you, but they give you enough information to help you gain an understanding of any website’s backlinking strategies.
If you think about it, backlinks are like SEO footprints. By analyzing a competing website’s backlinks, you are able to track where they’ve been and what they’re doing to improve their search rankings. Type in a few of the URLs that rank well in your area for your keywords and see what you find.
Below is a sample screenshot of our blog linandjirsablog.com that shows you the following for each link:
- The Backlink URL
- The Anchor Text
- OBL (number of outbound links from that URL
- Flag (indicated nofollow when applicable)
Analyzing these reports will give you new ideas and strategies for building backlinks. Here are some potential ideas that you can get from these reports:
Websites to submit to – Maybe the majority of a website’s backlinks are from industry specific websites like fashion blogs, wedding blogs, or specific religious websites. By checking out the source of these backlinks, you can find websites that accept submissions. Submit your work as well where appropriate.
Directories to Submit to – These backlink watches will help you discover legitimate, valuable, relevant directories that you may consider submitting to.
Site to Guest Write for – The backlink watch process will help you discover popular websites on which you would want to post. We already mentioned submitting to SLR Lounge and other popular photography websites but there are thousands more out there that relate to photography, your related industry (wedding, fashion, etc.), and your specific location.
Partnerships to Make – By studying another website’s links, you’ll gain insight into the partnerships they’ve chosen to make. It might be worth exploring how you can make those same partnerships in your business.
Backlink Watch Limitations
Keep in mind that just because a website is doing well in search rankings, that doesn’t mean that all of their links are great ones. For example, maybe they’re paying for links or submitting to low quality directories or comment spamming. But maybe their positive SEO efforts are simply outweighing some of these negative ones to still rank well. Do not simply dive into each scenario blindly and be sure to use the knowledge you’ve gained in this book to analyze each link.
Tips for Link Building For Photographers
Let’s start with a few tips to get started before diving into each individual strategy.
Avoid Relying Entirely on the “Trickle Down” Approach
What many website owners do is simply focus on driving links to the home page. This is what we call the “trickle down” approach (though this is not an official SEO term). In the “trickle down” approach, you’re simply driving all links to the home page; and the Page Rank trickles down to the rest of the pages on your site.
While it is important to drive the majority of your external links to your main page, this “trickle down” approach will have its limitations. If the “niche” keywords that you are targeting on your individual pages are competitive, this trickle down approach may never drive enough Page Rank for that page to succeed in search results.
Drive Links to Individual Pages
It’s important to drive some external links to some of these individual pages as well. This is known as “deep linking.” Doing so will help those individual pages rank higher quicker than the “trickle down” approach. Page Rank will also flow up to the home page and over to other pages on your site as well (via the links on the page), so you’re not entirely neglecting the home page or other pages.
General Rule of Thumb – Drive the majority of your external links to your home page, but also be sure to drive some links to other important pages as well.
As you review the strategies in this section, you will discover opportunities to get multiple links from a single site. When you find those opportunities, consider linking to your home page first and then find a way to link to other pages as well.
Set a Schedule
Google loves “fresh” links. Having new links point to your site is a sign of continued relevance. So be sure to plan and even schedule your strategy so that your efforts are consistent. Once a week or once a month is recommended in the beginning. And even down the road, engaging in link building practices every few months or so is recommended.
