Google+ for photographers
-
What do you think is the best approach when it comes to using Google+ as a photographer?
The images have no real SEO benefit, but the ones I post seem to get shared more, +1ed more than posting a link to one of my blog posts with a preview image.
What do you think is the best way to approach this problem?
-
Best thing you can do to get P-interst over there is to join in. Too often we share our stuff, pin our stuff, and run away.
Try this and try it honestly:
Go to Pinterest and search for interesting things. Instead of pinning, leave comments on everything you think is unique, cool, fun, interesting, or beautiful. Leave genuine, 10 word+ comments and do this for about an 30-60 mins a day for two weeks straight. Follow more users and repin some of your favorite stuff onto a board called Inspiration from Others
At the end of two weeks, if your own repins aren't up, try something else. lol But they will be - in which case: lather, rinse & repeat.
-
Oh yeah, it was purely from an SEO standpoint.
Not quite sure how to encourage people to share my stuff from or on Pinterest yet.
-
Source: I was a full time professional photographer making 100% of my living with my camera for almost 10 years until I jumped into SEO.
I would say the best thing to do with G+ for photographers is post your newest blog post link alongside a photo and get off G+ again quickly. You're MUCH better off using sites that benefit photographers directly: weddinggawker.com, Pinterest, Instagram and even Flickr have done more for my career in photo than any amount of G+, Twitter & Facebook. Think about the target audience. How many brides/magazine editors/restaurant chefs are on G+? As was said, it's a great place for photographers and as we know, IT people. Unless you're doing IT photo shoots, it's not a place for the masses. Use the photo-related social media that already exists.
-
If your pictures get shared more than links then it's still worth doing - it could lead to an SEO benefit as it's spreading your name around, and maybe Google will begin to associate you as an authority in the world of photography. Perhaps people will put your name into a search engine after seeing one of your photos, or maybe you'll have a Jeff moment! That would be cool.
I read somewhere that photos get liked and commented more on Facebook than links because with links people are clicking away from Facebook, so when they go back they forget to interact again. I can agree with that - and that people are sometimes unwilling to click away from Facebook. The same probably applies to Google+.
I'm an amateur photographer myself so maybe I should see what's going on with photography on G+...
-
Loan-
I do both. I think that it's important to share your work with others, and join the community.
Also, a quick follow up to my earlier post; although the Moz article claims a high correlation between Google +1 and higher rankings, Matt Cutts tried to set the record straight here:
http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2290337/Matt-Cutts-Google-1s-Dont-Lead-to-Higher-Ranking
Thanks! And let's connect on Google+
-- Jeff -
Ok, so you're into sharing the links rather than posting the pictures then?
-
Loan -
I'm also a professional photographer and when Google+ first launched, I think the biggest community that embraced it was the photographer industry.
I went into a photoshoot about a year and a half ago (I was shooting a very high-end home in Boulder, Colorado for an interior designer), and the first thing the owner of the house said was, "Hey... I follow you on Google+"
Honestly, that's the only time that's ever happened though.
Google+ for me and photography has allowed me to connect with other photographers all around the world. I've seen some amazing work by other photographers, that I wouldn't have seen anywhere else.
That said, I think that the biggest thing that Google+ has done is that if I write an article or content page on my site, a Google+ posting (especially if it gets +1'd by many people) ensure that the post is indexed pretty quickly.
Here's a Moz article about the correlation between Google +1 and search rankings:
http://moz.com/blog/google-plus-correlations
After Page Authority, a URL's number of Google +1s is more highly correlated with search rankings than any other factor. In fact, the correlation of Google +1s beat out other well known metrics including linking root domains, Facebook shares, and even keyword usage.Hope this helps!
-- Jeff
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Google Plus Company Page Verification
Hi How do you test successful G+ company page/publisher integration/verification if using the less technical methods such as linking between the Home page and the G+ company page instead of adding code to the head section? Since i take it the google structured data testing tool cant work in these cases since no code on the head section ! Is it best to add the code anyway ? I note my clients still not achieving a knowledge graph card/section in the search results for a branded search but i have heard that doesnt come until you have at least hundreds of followers and/or G+ interactions. All Best
Social Media | | Dan-Lawrence
Dan0 -
Is it possible to Merge a Google+ Page with Google Places/local Page on G+
I have seem to have a problem (well think its a problem!) We have a google+ page for our website/ brand (which is verified) and also seem to have a separate google places G+ page (the one with just two tabs at the top.. Photos and About). When you google our brand, google has added a google+ page link but this links to the places one and not our social g+ page. Is it possible to merge these two pages into one? ps i have added rel="publisher" directing to the main google+ page (not local) on the home page and the local G+ page is not verified. Ben
Social Media | | QGS770 -
2013 - Google Places/Business to Google Plus Local
Hi, Much of the reading I've done has suggested that existing Google Places/Business Page (with "About" and "Photos" on top) will be automagically "upgraded" to Google Plus Local pages (with "About" and "Photos" and "Reviews" and all the other Google Plus items). However, is there a way to force an upgrade? I have a Google Places/Business Page and when I go to "manage page" it basically wants me to create a separate Google + Page for the Business. Is this the correct thing to do? Do I need to create a Google + Page for the company first, and then try to merge the Places listing with the new Google + Page for the business? Thank your for helping me clear this up!
Social Media | | Titan5520 -
How do i change primary mail in Google?
By a mistake, Google have added on of our employeers gmail as the primary mail, that are attached to our YouTube channel. We want to delete that gmail, but without loosing our data, and all the information we have on our channel. We also want to connect to G+ with a new gmail, but now it seems that Google have created a G+ profile related to the "wrong" gmail. Have anyone got experience with this problem, and have a solution for this?
Social Media | | Petersen110 -
Expand your google plus circle
Since there is no way to promote your posts on google plus it is difficult to target the audience that is in one particular niche. What are good ways to connect to a larger circle if one is in a very small niche with very few professionals?
Social Media | | TVape0 -
Getting Google Plus brand snippet
Hi, Wondering if anyone has a checklist for getting that brand entry on the right of the SERPs? i.e from your experience how many followers you need, plus ones, where to interlink etc Here's my brands G+ if you want to check it out! https://plus.google.com/111833333168778283139/posts Thanks, Asaad
Social Media | | Asaad0 -
Google+ I set up a profile as my business a while back. Should I change to a page NOW?
A while back, can't remember when, I set up a profile page under my business name. It has recently started picking up a bit of momentum but I am concerned it is not in line with Google's policy and will eventually get removed. I don't want to invest any more effort into this profile if this is likely so am looking at moving my efforts to a page. Any ideas / recommendations? Thanks,
Social Media | | Cornwall
Chris0 -
SEO w/o Social Webinair experiment - how can RTs of a URL of a google search possibly affect the position of one of the search results?
I missed the webinair but have just been going through the slides. Looking forward to watching the video when its up. I have a question however regarding the experiment conducted by Rand to find out: Is Social Influencing Primary Algorithms (slides 7 - 20) The suggestion is that an RT of a google search URL affects the ranking of one individual ranking site. The +1 side of the experiment I understand completely - it is clear how Google can see that there is a social preference for the site and reward accordingly. But how would retweeting the search result URL possibly affect its rankings? Is the suggestion that those doing the experiment also clicked on the relevant link? And if so, how is Google discerning that this additional traffic is down to Twitter? I feel I am missing something incredibly obvious. Anyone want to help me out here?... otherwise I'm not going to sleep tonight...
Social Media | | seomasters0