A Photographers Guide to Better SEO Using Header Tags

So you have a blog but it isn't doing much to help your SEO.  You seem to post and nothing positive happens.  Well, let's change that.

First of all, congratulations on your blog.  Committing to posting to a blog is no easy task.  I put it off for the longest time and when I did post it was maybe every 6 months.  I simply couldn't find time in my schedule and more importantly, I just didn't want to do a blog.  I mean, we don't need to ALL the things, do we?

Well, I made the decision to try blogging for my customers after the pandemic.  I needed to start up my business and I was willing to whatever I could to get things started.  The pandemic KILLED my business so after it was over, I felt like I was starting from scratch.  My blog became a key part of the restarting process.

I went so far as to become certified in the area of SEO, Social Media, and Content Creation.  

One of the biggest things I learned about blogging was the importance of using the header tags in my post. I mean, I thought they were just there to give me options when it came to the size of my font but they are there  for so much more.  

So what are header tags?

 Header tags tell your browser and Google how they should be looking at your content.

If you look into the HTML code you will see things like <h1> and </h1>.  For example the above bold text would look like this:

 <h2>So what are header tags?</h2>

Have you ever looked into the HTML code of your site?  Many have not because we are told not to because we might "break" our site.  And that can be true.  With that said, sometimes looking under the hood of your site can be very eye opening.  You will start to see patterns in the code and then you can see what impact it is having on how your site looks.  

I dig into the HTML code on my sites often to change a font, size, or design element.  I learned HTML coding in college and it has served me well.  If this interests you look into coding classes at your local community college or adult education program.  Once you learn the basics it doesn't have to be so scary.

OK, back to header tags.

Formatting your blog using header tags give Google some idea of what is important on your site.  This is in addition to keywords.  Keywords are great but header tags allow one more way for your site to be shown to the people you want to see it.

There are 6 headers tags.

H1 should be used for the title or key point of your blog

H2 and H3 should be used for the supporting points

H3, H4, H5, H6 should be used for other important info within the post.

When you use these header tags you are telling Google what is most important on your page.  The lower the header tag, the higher in importance. (And the larger the font)

How to use header tags on your blog

Think of your header tags as a book. ( I got this concept from Amelia Willson)

The H1 tag is for the main topic.  It tells your reader what this blog post is about.

The H2 tags are more like chapter titles.  They tell the reader what that section is about.

H3 and higher tags are for your subtopics.

Think about the main ideas you want your reader to learn when reading your blog.  Those ideas are great for your header tags.

You can use header tags to break up large blocks of text making your blog easier to read.  Google rewards the readability of your blog and people like blogs they can scan vs. having to pay hard attention to every word.  Header tags can help with that.

Make Sure to Include Keywords in Your Header Tags

 Using your keywords in your header tags is something that Google really likes.  But that doesn't mean you want to stuff keywords in a way that doesn't make sense.

You want to make sure your keywords (or key phrases sound natural)  I'm sure you have all seen posts titled something like: "Charlotte Wedding Photographer a Beautiful Couple".  That is a kind of keyword stuffing that Google doesn't like.  It sound awkward and unnatural.  A more appropriate header might be, "A Beautiful Couple Gets Married in Charlotte."  It says the same thing but just reads in a more natural way.

An SEO Myth for Header Tags

One thing that used to taught is that you should only use one H1 header tag. But that isn't true any longer. With that said, don't fill your blogs will a lot of H1 tags.  You don't want to confuse people as to what your blog post is about.  And if you truly need more than one H1 tag, you might want to consider breaking up your topics into more than one blog post. 

Photographers Should Keep Their Header Tags Interesting

We photograph people and people are interesting.  Our header tags should be interesting as well.  The more interesting you can keep your content, the more likely people will keep reading.  If people keep reading that helps Google to record time on the site.  If people stay longer, Google thinks that there is interesting content and they will show it to more people.

How Using these Header Tag Tips will Help Your Photography Business

This sounds like a lot.  I know it does.  It is a lot for me and trust me, not all my blogs are perfectly SEO optimized. If you made it this far, I am so proud of you.  This is the kind of thing that I simply ignored for years BUT I have found that the more I can use some of these SEO ideas, the better my site performs and the more inquiries I get.  The more inquires I get, the more clients I book.

Wishing you all the luck in your SEO Journey!!