Open your website and look at it the way Google does. Google cannot see a photo. It reads words: the page title, the headings, the paragraphs, the captions, the links. If your site is a slideshow, a grid of thumbnails and a contact form, Google sees almost nothing. That is why a site that looks worse than yours can outrank you.
You do not have to make your site ugly. You have to give it words and structure. Here are the pages that do that.
1. Homepage: who, where, what you shoot
Your name, your city, one sentence on what you shoot and your style, a few of your best photos. Then buttons to the genre pages below. A couple of reviews. The one thing it must have is a real heading right under the first photo: “[City] Family and Newborn Photographer.” Google reads that. It does not read the photo.
2. One page per genre
Family, newborn, maternity, seniors, headshots, events. Each one gets its own page with the genre and your city in the title, real photos, what the session is like, a price, and reviews. This is the heart of a photography site, and the genre pages guide covers it in full.
3. Pricing
People search “family photographer cost” and “how much are newborn photos” before they search for you. A page with a starting price for each kind of session, what is included, and what adds cost. You do not have to post every number. You have to post enough that a client can tell if you are in their range.
4. Gallery pages, not a gallery
Here is the portfolio trap. One “Portfolio” page with two hundred thumbnails ranks for nothing. The same photos split into gallery pages, each one a single real session with a title that says what and where, can rank for dozens of searches. Fall Family Session at [Park Name] in [City]. Newborn Session at Home in [Town]. A few sentences on each page about the place, the light and the session. Thirty photos, not two hundred. Build one for every session you are proud of.
5. One page per area you serve
If you shoot across several towns, each one needs a real page with sessions you shot there. Not a list of towns in the footer. See the service-area pages guide.
6. About, with a face
Clients are hiring a person who will be in their home or with their kids. A photo of you, where you live, how long you have been shooting, and why. Short and human. Mention your city.
7. A short FAQ
How long until we get our photos? What should we wear? What if it rains? Do you travel? Put the ten questions you answer every week on one page, in plain words. Google shows pages that answer questions, and ChatGPT pulls from them when someone asks it who to book.
How the pages link together
The homepage links to every genre page and the areas page. Each genre page links to the gallery pages of that type and to pricing. Each gallery page links back to its genre page and its town page. Google learns what your site is about by following those links, and a client who lands on one gallery page can get to a booking form in two taps. A page nobody links to is a page nobody finds.
What to leave off
- A slideshow with no text under it. Add a heading and a paragraph, even small ones.
- Photos with file names like DSC_0412 and no captions. Name the genre and the place in both.
- Music that plays on its own.
- A “Services” page that lists every genre in one paragraph. That is the page you are replacing with genre pages.
- A blog you post to twice a year. One gallery page beats ten thin posts.
The one rule for every page
It loads fast on a phone. Big photos are the main reason photographer sites are slow, and slow sites rank lower and lose impatient clients. Resize images for the web before you upload. A photo on a screen does not need to be print size. It will still look great.
Want this done for you?
These pages are the skeleton of my own photography site in Tampa Bay and of every photographer I work with. If you want to know which ones you are missing, the audit is free.