How to Setup Google Search Console for Photographers

If you are new to SEO the first thing I recommend is setting up Google Search Console for your photography website. It can give you sooooo much information about your website and how people are finding you. When you first set it up you won’t see anything but as time goes on you will collect really great data that can help you boost your SEO. Before we dive into setting up Google Search Console for photographers I wanted to go over what it is and some of the reasons you’ll want to use it.

What is Google Search Console

 Google Search Console (formerly Google Webmaster Tools) is a free platform for anyone with a website to monitor how Google views its site and optimize its organic presence. [Source: Google]
If you’re a business owner looking to maximize your SEO and marketing efforts, Google Search Console is the perfect partner for your website. It works in harmony with other Google marketing tools such as Google Analytics, Google Trends, and Google Ads, giving you access to all the data you’ll need to make intelligent technical decisions about your website.

Photographers can benefit from using Google Search Console for several reasons.

Monitor website performance

Google Search Console provides important data about your website’s performance in Google search results. By analyzing this data, photographers can monitor their website’s traffic, see which pages are performing well, and identify areas for improvement. Sometimes it is surprising to see which pages are ranking for keywords you never thought to target.

Identify search queries

Google Search Console shows the search queries that people use to find your website. Photographers can use this information to optimize their content for popular search terms and improve their website’s search visibility. This is my favorite thing to look at in GSC, what keywords are people actually typing into Google that I’m being shown for. You might even find better versions of keywords that you are already targeting!

Monitor website errors

Google Search Console alerts you to any errors or issues on your website that may be affecting your search rankings. By quickly identifying and fixing issues such as broken links or missing pages, photographers can improve their website’s user experience and search performance. Keep in mind that not every error email you receive is a true must fix now emergency. So don’t panic if you get an email of an issue, make sure it’s an actual problem and then follow the steps laid out to fix it.

Tip: A redirect error email about an http page being redirected to an https page is totally normal and not something that needs to be fixed.

Submit sitemaps

Photographers can use Google Search Console to submit their website’s sitemap to Google. This ensures that Google crawls and indexes all of your website’s pages, which can improve your search rankings. SUPER IMPORTANT!!! This of this like a floorplan of your house, a sitemap lays out what pages and posts are on your website just like a floorplan tells you exactly what room is where. (Am I the only one that LOVES it when real estate listings include floorplans?!?) So without that floorplan Google has to rely on links from other pages to tell it about what rooms/pages your house/website has.

Tip: If you have a Showit site you will need to submit 2 sitemaps, one for the Showit pages and one for your WordPress pages and posts.

Track backlinks

Google Search Console allows photographers to see which websites are linking to their website. This information can be used to identify potential partners or influencers to collaborate with, and to monitor and disavow any spammy backlinks that may be harming your search rankings.

4 Steps How to Set Up Google Search Console for Photographers

Overall, using Google Search Console can help photographers improve their website’s search performance and visibility, which can lead to more traffic and potential clients.

Get started:

1. Google Search Console.
2. You’ll then need to login by:

• Using the exact details you use to access your Google Analytics account
• Using your Google account (or creating one if you don’t already have one and clicking “Start Now”)

3. Once you’ve successfully logged in, you will proceed to “Select Property Type” then Enter the URL or domain of your website, then click ‘Continue’.

4. Once you click continue it should pop up with a little green screen it says “Ownership Auto Verified” and then click “Done”.

Notes

• If it pops up and needs additional details you just need to look there and see whether it wants you to put code into your website or contact your service provider.
• If you already got Google Analytics set up it just verifies you do that and if gives you the option just go ahead and check that box.

How to Add a User to Your Google Search Console?

There are quite a few reasons why you might want to add another user to your Google Search Console, including sharing data, and troubleshooting. 

I’ll walk you through how to easily add a new user with the proper access level—all without having to hassle with complicated administrative settings or coding. With just a few clicks of your mouse, you’ll be able to securely involve more team members in monitoring and maintaining optimal performance on your site! Whether it’s sharing resources or expanding insights from search data, adding new users can prove invaluable when managing a website’s health in Google Search Console—so let’s get started!

4 Steps on How to Add a User to Google Search Console

1. Once you get in there and everything is set up select Settings >> Users and permissions

2. In the Users and permissions settings select Add User.

3. Finally, on the Add user screen enter the email address of the person you want to add, and click add.

4. Once you click Add then your website will pop up in the search property of the person you added and they’ll be able to take a look what you’re Google search consult data.

Overall, using Google Search Console can help photographers improve their website’s search performance and visibility, which can lead to more traffic and potential clients.

Launching a photography business can feel like a daunting task, especially when it comes to making sure your talents are seen by the right people. That’s why Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is such an important tool for portrait photographers – helping them reach their target audience and get noticed!

Contact us for help with Google Search Console for photographers

For any portrait photographer looking to get the most out of their online marketing, harnessing Google Search Console could help you soar up those Google rankings. But if you’re struggling with this free tool – don’t worry! I offer SEO services for photographers to help get them ranking on Google! You can learn more about working with me 1 on 1 or just having me do it for you here. Or if you are more of a DIYer you’ll love my SEO Keywords for Photographers mini course!