Even if you only know a little about SEO, you’ve probably heard about keyword research. It’s an essential part of search engine optimization and can have a huge impact on your ranking.
Simply put, keyword research is the process of identifying the words and phrases you want to target in your SEO strategy. Choosing the right keywords is important because it determines whether your website shows up in front of the right people.
Just like any other research process, keyword research takes time and effort, as well as the right tools to do the job properly.
Fortunately for you, we’ve already done all the work for you.
That’s right, we’ve done the research and put together comprehensive keyword lists for each photography niche, as well as keyword mapping blueprints that can help you determine which keywords to use on your website to increase your visibility.
See our Keyword Research & Mapping Blueprint Library
What is a Keyword Mapping Blueprint?
Each Keyword Research & Mapping Blueprint download includes two Google Sheets. The first is the canonical list of keywords we researched: a complete list of keywords in your niche ranked by average search volume.
The second sheet, the Keyword Mapping Blueprint, is the most important. Each section of this sheet includes the keyword phrase, the search volume, and the keyword difficulty. Keywords are grouped by topic. For example, “newborn photography” includes keywords like “baby photography,” “newborn photoshoot,” and “baby portraits.” The title of each section in the blue highlighted background is the suggested slug to use as your URL for that page or blog post.
The first column lists the keyword or phrase. The second column includes the monthly search volume for each keyword. The search volume is based on an average of 12 months of data nationwide in the U.S. The higher the search volume, the more popular the keyword term is and the more frequently people search for it.
The third column is keyword difficulty. This is a formula that helps determine how hard it would be to rank for that particular keyword. The lower the number, the easier it will be to get on the first page of Google. The higher the number, the more challenging ranking on the first page will be.
How do I use this information?
The Keyword Mapping Blueprint lays out exactly how you should title your page and what keywords you should use on that page. For example, let’s look at the keyword “maternity photoshoot”:
The page title should be “Maternity Photoshoot.” The page slug should be maternity-photoshoot, and the keywords should be the top-performing keywords in the section, so “maternity photoshoot,” “maternity photography,” and “maternity shoot.”
All these keywords have a low difficulty score and a large average search volume, which makes them ideal keywords to use as they will be easier to rank for.
You can also use your top keywords in a variety of content on your website, including header tags, body copy, and even blog posts. However, you want to avoid overusing your keywords as search engines may consider that keyword stuffing, which can negatively affect your ranking.
What’s next?
With all the hard work of keyword research out of the way, you now know not only what keywords to use on your page, but you also know how to title your page and your URL. From here, you can create a page that uses the right keywords and increases your chances of ranking higher in searches. A service page allows you to drive targeted traffic to your site and engage them with additional, related content, like blog posts, as well as special offers and a call-to-action.
If you want help building your page, we’ve designed photography page templates for each niche that make clear what content to include and how to lay out your page to keep users exploring your website.
See our Page Template Library for every Photography Niche
Map out a plan
Searcher intent is the motive or goal a person has when they type out a query in a search engine. Understanding searcher intent is crucial to SEO. There are three types of searcher intent:
Navigational
This is when a user is trying to get to a specific website or brand.
Informational
This type is the most common, and it’s when a user is looking for more information. They may write it in the form of a question, or they may use a series of keywords to get their desired result.
Transactional
This doesn’t necessarily mean a user is making a purchase. “Transaction” just means the action you hope the user takes, such as filling out a form or signing up for your email list.
The goal of searcher intent is to focus on the user and provide the most relevant and highest-quality information. You want users to view you as a resource and an expert in your field.
Provide a CTA to warm up cold prospects
The Call-to-Action (CTA) is one of the most critical aspects of any marketing campaign. A CTA should hook potential clients and direct their attention to what you want them to do next. Even if your visitor is a qualified lead, 50% of qualified leads aren’t immediately ready to make a purchase. That’s why you should direct new visitors to other related piece of content on your website to get them more engaged and help them trust you as an expert and resource.
Your CTA doesn’t have to be a sale, especially if you’re working with cold prospects. Instead, consider offering a free download or a video or some other piece of content that helps visitors to your site get to know you better and trust your expertise. You can then retarget those visitors with ads to draw them back to your site again.
We can walk you through the retargeting ad process with our course on the Retargeting Cash Machine strategy. Learn more here.
Get access to the Retargeting Cash Machine and other courses, as well as tons of blog posts, page templates, and keyword research and more with MRFP Lifetime Access. For a one-time fee of just $497, you can have unlimited access to all the resources and training available on MRFP. Click here to learn more and purchase your MRFP Lifetime Access now!