Let’s chat a little bit about how to Optimize SEO on Your Squarespace Site as a photographer. Photographers are often struggling with how to be seen on Google or other search engines. Let’s be honest, it will not happen overnight and it is not without effort. But let’s discuss a few things you can do now to better optimize SEO on Squarespace and increase your rankings.

1.Keywords are Key.

Did you know that Google Adwords offers a Keyword Planner? You can check it out here. Far too often people ASSUME that they know what keywords people are searching for. But, you know what they say about people who ASSUME things! No, but seriously, do your research. Look at the planner and type in the words or phrases you are thinking about writing and check their score. Are they scoring high? Low? Medium? Well guess what? The words that score in the high range are actually being used for paid campaigns and those that scored low are hardly being searched for. So what does all of that even mean? Simply stated, you want to be the middle man. Believe it or not, you don’t always want to use the highest scoring keywords because your measly (and probably awesome!) blog post will never outrank the high scoring keywords that are being used in paid campaigns.

2. Utilize your Blog Post Titles.

One of the first things Google checks when scanning your site is your page titles. This means that your titles should always include a keyword. So, even if you want to title your blog post something a little cutesy, like “At home with the Miller Family,” you need to also then put a keyword like “Massachusetts Family Photographer.” Also, consider keeping your titles as concise as possible and between 40-60 characters in length.

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As a photographer, consider using something like:
At home with the Millers | Massachusetts Family Photographer

Or

Massachusetts Lifestyle Photographer | At Bird Park with the Meader Family

See, you can be cute and useful to your SEO at the same time.

3. Add Keywords (like SEO, see what I did there?) Into Your Headings and Subheadings.

When reading a blog post, I am ALWAYS scanning headings to find things I want to read. I hardly ever read the entire post. Well, like us, Google is has a little bit of ADHD and is just scanning your squarespace site for immediate and necessary info. So, placing your keywords in heading (H1 tag) and subheadings (H2 and H3 tags) is essential.

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4. Add Keywords to your Post URL.

Your keywords need to be present in your post’s URL. Period. Exclamation point. Squarespace automatically takes your post title and adds it to your URL. That means, if you don’t title your post right away and just start typing away, your URL will look something like this, with a bunch of random letters and numbers which is doing absolutely nothing helpful:

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That is NO GOOD. In fact, we recommend making your own URL’s for each. To view/edit your URL go to the Edit > Options and then change the box labeled Post URL to something useful and with keywords present.

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5. Add Keywords into the First Paragraph.

The key to writing a great blog post that will be seen on google is to allow your keywords to POP throughout. With that said, it all starts at the beginning. Be sure that the first paragraph of your blog post is chock full of keywords. This not only helps inform the reader of what the post is about but it also makes it more accessible to search engines.

Check out my sexy key wording:

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6. Add Keywords to Image Alt Tag.

Your Image ALT Tag is another item Google is on the lookout for. To do this, all you have to do is write your keyword in the filename section, as seen below. This is your ALT Tag.

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7. Write Your Little Bum off.

Writing longer posts is better for your SEO. Google (and everyone on the planet) only wants to acknowledge a post or page that you put some effort into. So, make it your goal to write 300 words of more in every post/page on your site. Again, be certain to include concise headings to every section so your readers can scan and learn as quickly as possible, but also make it worth their time.