![[Live SEO Case Study] Local Photo Services Website](https://andreiturca.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/photography-website-seo-case-study-8-may-gsc-stats.jpg)
Live SEO Stats:
Update 7 SEO Stats – 8th May 2023
Current website articles:
- 5 x long-form blog posts documenting my photography gigs
- 2 x photography services pages
- 1 x prices pages
- 4 x portfolio pages with images only in different photography genres
Current website backlinks:
- Created ~10 backlinks on Romanian web directories
- ~ 10-15 Forum posts on the same Romanian photography forum as the competition has backlinks from.
Local Photo Services SEO Case Study Over time Stats Table
| Weekly Updates | Total Keywords in Top 100 Google Results (SEMRush) | Keywords in top 10 google results (SEMRush) | GSC Impress./Clicks | 1 main KW manual SERps check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 March 2023 | 6 | 0 | 900 / 37 Clicks | N/A |
| 2nd April 2023 | 6 | 0 | 1,31K / 45 Clicks | N/A |
| 16th April 2023 | 11 | 0 | 2k / 50 clicks | Pos. 10 for 1 KW |
| 23rd April 2023 | 13 | 0 | 2,4 k / 55 Clicks | Pos. 13 for 1 KW |
| 30th April 2023 | 13 | 0 | 2,82k/ 50 clicks | Pos. 6 for 1 KW |
| 8th May 2023 | 15 | 0 | 3,28K / 56 Clicks | Pos. 6 for 1 KW |
In this SEO case study, I will be sharing the entire process of building my photography services website. Starting from installing WordPress and using free themes and plugins all the way to the last SEO statistics across time.
Since I am starting from scratch I will be focusing on spending as little money as possible.
Long story short, I did SEO from 2014 to 2018, but after I failed between 2019 and 2022 to make it in the UK as a photographer I returned back to my home country, Romania, and started with zero money practicing SEO again.
As I have done in the other two affiliate website SEO case studies, here as well I will be using the free version of SEMrush and Google Search Console to measure my SEO stats across time.
You can use the Table of Contents below to jump straight to the SEO updates if that’s why you are here for.
I will be sharing my thoughts and what I am doing in terms of On-Page SEO, Off-Page SEO, and Technical SEO.
Since I was kind of low on money I also started to sell my photography services here in Iași to try to make things even until I manage to make money from SEO full-time.
That’s why this website was created in the first place, but then I decided to use it as a means to practice SEO and while at it, share the entire process here as well.
As a side note, this very website you read now (andreiturca.com) was in fact my product photography portfolio back in the UK. I am not planning to go back so I decided to use this as my personal website to share my SEO portfolio, experience, and ideas.
Another side note is this:
As I am writing these case studies I am noticing something kind of important for me. It helps structure my thoughts and ideas.
When I build websites I tend to do things randomly in a rush. Writing down the process helps my poor attention and if you are someone with poor attention, then I recommend you do the same whatever your practice is.
Back to our thing now.
1. Domain and hosting
I was happy to find my name available as a domain name for a ‘.ro’ TLD at andreiturca.ro.
For the domain name, I used the national registrar from rotld.ro whilst for hosting I used the Romanian hosting service clausweb.ro. Based on research they seemed to have a good speed for a photography portfolio website.
The process was simple enough and I have the same control panel in Clausweb as I am used to with all other popular international web hosting providers.
2. Installing WordPress and templates + plugins
Similarly to the other SEO Case Studies for my affiliate websites, I used the Astra theme here as well. However, this was not a blog so I had to do things slightly differently now.
I didn’t want to overthink this. I just wanted to make this fast, cheap, and decent looking. So I went with the fastest and cheapest approach: installing a premade template kit from the Astra Free Template Kits.
Astra Theme + Free Template Kit
After installing the Astra Theme I installed the Astra Importer Plugin under Appearance > Astra Options in WordPress Dashboard.
Now you have free access to a good collection of Free Template Kits for Elementor or any website builder you are familiar with. Installing the importer plugin guides you through the template kit installation process. I chose the Love Nature Free Template kit from Astra for my photography website.
Or you can find the menu under Appearance > Starter Templates in WordPress Dashboard.
WordPress Plugins
The template kit is good enough for a start but for the nitty-gritty of things like site speed, contact forms, and security we need plugins. All in all, here are the plugins I have installed thus far:
- Advanced Database Cleaner
- BEAF – Ultimate Before After Image Slider & Gallery
- Converter for Media
- CookieYes | GDPR Cookie Consent
- Elementor
- EmbedPress
- Essential Addons for Elementor
- Essential Blocks
- Starter Templates
- Hummingbird
- Lightbox for Gallery & Image Block
- Rank Math SEO
- Site Kit by Google
- The Post Grid
- Ultimate Blocks
- Wordfence Security
- WPForms Lite
- WPvivid Backup Plugin
On top of that, I also have a code to hide the reCaptcha v3 badge from the right-down corner of the website.
.grecaptcha-badge {
visibility: hidden;
}Normally it’s prohibited to have it removed but if you added the below reference on any form where reCaptcha is being used then Google says you are safe to remove it:
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.3. Site structure and Main Page
As a service-based website, how the website home page looks carries more value than a blog or a purely informational website. Even more so for a photography website where images can influence if you get the client or not.
Above the Header – Menu and Site Logo
The Navigation Menu was rebuilt using Astra’s own Customizez in Appearance > Customize > and clicking on any area above the header.
This will open the editing section below and you can add and customize as much as you want here.
Also, make sure you add all of the important pages in your navigation menu as part of the SEO Site Structure. I have 2 individual Services Pages, 4 individual Portfolio pages, one prices page as well as About, Blog, and Contact Pages.
I didn’t add a Home link as I think is more redundant these days as people intuitively know that clicking on the logo will bring them to the homepage.
Above the Fold
First and foremost, what is being shown above the fold is the most important. Not just in terms of users visiting the website, but also for SEO purposes as well.
As stated here on the Search Engine Journal Blog keywords placed above the fold carry more SEO value than keywords placed at the end of the page.
As you can see below I tried to use the main keyword or a variation of it in any place where is possible to add text: h1 title tag, button text, image filename, image alt tag, and image title.
And obviously, I added some of my own images as a fade-in type of slideshow in the header image of the website on the homepage and throughout.
Also, contact methods are important for every service-based website. I tried to add as many as possible as obviously and easily accessible as possible.
Upfront Prices
As a photo service website, I wanted to be as upfront as possible regarding the prices for my photography services.
Therefore, the very next thing after above the fold section is the prices section.
Again, I tried to implement the main keywords or any variations anywhere possible as part of On-Page SEO best practices.
Linking to Services Pages from Homepage
Although I already have the services in the main menu of the homepage, you need to tell Google these are my most important pages.
That’s why the next thing after prices I added 3 sections with 3 different photography services, each linking to the individual service page related to that service.
In my case, I have Christensen photography, all-around event photography, and family/portrait photography.
Each section has a keyword-optimized button linking to the individual page of that service.
Also, I tried to use the name of the town wherein I offer my photo services as many times as possible. The name of the town is Iasi.
These are the most important sections in my opinion. Below are the following sections I have on the homepage.
Portfolio Section
After that, I have a portfolio section with an Interactive Filterable Gallery from the Essential Addons for Elementor Plugin.
At the end of it, I have another button linking to the main portfolio page where I have a lot more images from my photography sessions.
More Contact Sections
Next, I have a section with a contact button over an image of my town’s main landmark, The Palace of Culture followed by a full contact section with all contact option links and a contact form with Google Maps widget included.
BTW, you can check this photography website I am bragging about here at andreiturca.ro.
Footer
As for the footer, I have added the same links I have in the main navigation menu as well, the legal pages, and all of my social media profile links.
I also sneaked in at the very bottom a link to the future web design agency that will be my next project.
I am slowly working on this project and it’s a digital agency website where I will promote WordPress website creation along with local SEO services. The website domain name is startone.ro.
Back to our stuff now, that’s for a different time but I will soon start a case study for that project as well.
4. Creating the images portfolio
Whilst there is a lot to do here and it’s a very time-consuming process there is not much to be said about it.
Using the preinstalled filtered gallery from the template kit I create my portfolio on the home page as well as on a separate portfolio page.
In plain steps this is the process of optimizing images for the search engines:
- Pick best of images from any of my previous photo sessions and separate them into categories (Christensen Photography, Event Photography, etc.)
- Rename all images with relevant keywords to the photography services I am planning to offer on the website.
e.g. – christensen-photography-town-name-person-name-(or-location-name).jpg - Resize all images (below 2000 px) in bulk using Photoshop’s built-in Image Processor to decrease file size and help site speed.
- Use tinypng to further optimize images and reduce the file size.
- Upload images to the website.
- Rename the default image titles and include relevant keywords when possible.
e.g. Christiansen photography Iasi – Alma’s Christensen at Saint Joseph Cathedral - Add image alt tags including keywords and any short image description.
e.g. Christiansen photography Iasi – the Godfather holding the baby
Note that Iasi above is the town I am living and offering my photography services. In reality, I used Romanian language words, not English as in the examples.
After I had a good bunch of images used in the portfolio gallery I then populated all the sections and places where an image was needed.
At this stage, the other pages were still not created so I am only dealing with the homepage at this moment.
5. Writing SEO-optimized Service Pages
Now we are pretty much done with the homepage. It is time to build the next most important pages of any service-based business and website: Service Pages.
To be continued…
6. All Other Main Pages
Contact Page
About Page
Prices Page
Separate Portfolio Page
7. Creating the Blog Section
8. Editing the Buttons + Header and Footer Navigation
10. Installing Analytics, GSC and GTM
11. Creating and optimizing Social Media Accounts
12. Creating Legal Pages
13. Keyword and Competition Research
Keyword research is normally done in the very beginning. But in my case I just wanted to see the website finished first using the most common targeting keywords that include my service and location: e.g. event photography + town name.
14. Creating an overall backlinks plan
15. Create a small content plan
Update 2 – 17th March 2023
Semrush Stats 17th March 2023
Google Search Console Stats 17 March 2023
Update 3 – 02 April 2023
Current website posts & pages: 2 x services pages along with 4 x good-quality blog posts documenting the entire process of some of my photo sessions.
Site updates since last week:
- 1 x 2000 words blog post.
- portfolio and service pages updated with new images from the last photo session.
- changed the URL of one of the service pages to a more exact match keyword that was beginning to rank for.
- adding more pages with travel photos and product photography images (but no content).
- created a few backlinks on local/national Web Directories.
Semrush Stats 2nd April 2023
Google Search Console Stats 2nd April 2023
| Weekly Updates | Total Keywords in top 100 Google results | Keywords in top 10 google results | Google Search Console Avg. KW’s Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17 March 2023 | 6 | 0 | 33.9 |
| 2nd April 2023 | 6 | 0 | 39.7 |
Update 3 Final Thoughts:
There is clearly a dip in stats. I am thinking this is due to more updates being done at once. Changing the URL of one page, posting a new blog post, as well as updating the website with new pictures from the latest photo sessions.
I am confident that this is just a temporary dip in overall rankings. The competition really don’t have much going on their websites except pictures and old blog posts from years ago with thin content.
I am posting educational content as well inside my blog posts documenting the photo sessions. Time will tell. Until next time…
Update 4 – 16th April 2023
Site updates since last week:
- 1 x 2000+ words blog post.
- portfolio and service pages updated with new images from the last photo session.
- adding more pages with travel photos and product photography images (but no content).
Current website posts & pages: 2 x services pages along with 5 x good-quality blog posts documenting the entire process of some of my photo sessions along with photography tips inside each post.
Semrush Stats 16th April 2023
Semrush Stats show an increase in the total number of ranked keywords. It is good to see an almost doubling of that from 6 to 11 since the previous update.
Google Search Console Stats 16h April 2023
Although things seem worse in terms of keyword position, it’s actually better as we shall see in the next screencap.
The Impressions though I think are more probable to be close to reality since the website is for the first time on the first page of Google for one of my main target keywords.
Live SERPs Stats
For the first time, I am seeing some more attractive results for this SEO case study. With just 2 service pages and 5 blog posts, and maybe 20 low to medium-quality backlinks I managed to get on the first page of Google.
The website is built in January and that’s when I build the first services page. It’s been around 4 months and I like what I see so far. Google search console is behind with its updates as I still have a position of 33 based on the search console. But that’s irrelevant now.
| Weekly Updates | Total Keywords in Top 100 Google Results (semrush) | Keywords in top 10 google results (semrush) | Google Search Console Avg. KW’s Position | GSC Impress./Clicks | Main Kws SERps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 March 2023 | 6 | 0 | 33.9 | 900 / 37 Clicks | N/A |
| 2nd April 2023 | 6 | 0 | 39.7 | 1,31K / 45 Clicks | N/A |
| 16th April 2023 | 11 | 0 | 45 | 2k / 50 clicks | Pos. 10 for 1 KW |
Update 4 Final Thoughts
Overall it’s nice to see some positive uptrend in terms of keywords and even being on the first Google page is exciting.
I am confident it will still grow. Although I have put a halt on creating backlinks in the past couple of weeks as I was busy working on my Affiliate Website SEO in the spiritual niche, I still have a new blog post and the website updated with new images.
Compared to the competition I think I have a small advantage. They either have spammy backlinks created on irrelevant English websites or almost no blog content on their websites. I have almost no backlinks but at least I am taking care of the website by updating it with new content and images and I am sure Google takes notice of that.
I have a plan for creating some evergreen content related to types of photography and other similar content. But as of now, I have too many projects I am working on in parallel and I just have to slowly work my way through each of them.
Until the next update see you on the first page of Google!
Update 5 – 23rd April 2023 – Local Photo Services Website Stats
Current website articles:
- 5 x long-form blog posts documenting my photography gigs
- 2 x photography services pages
- 1 x prices pages
- 4 x portfolio pages with images only
Current website backlinks:
- Created ~10 backlinks on Romanian web directories
- ~ 10-15 Forum posts on the same Romanian photography forum as the competition has backlinks from
Site updates since last week:
- no updates were done on the website and no new backlinks were created.
Local Photo Services SEO Case Study SemRush Stats 23rd April 2023:
Compared to last week I now have two more keywords in the top 100 Google positions based on SEMrush and I also have 2 more keywords ranking in the top 20.
There is some improvement but overall nothing extraordinary since I still don’t have a definite spot on the first page of Google.
Local Photo Services SEO Case Study GSC Stats 23rd April 2023:
Compared to the last Google Search Console update I now have 450 more impressions and 5 more clicks in the last 3 month period.
Some small improvements here as well. But still, it is an improvement. For a new website that’s exactly what you want to see.
Live SERPs Stats
I was happy to see my site in position 10 in SERPs in the previous update. However, one week later it has dropped down 3 positions to page two on Google.
I am a bit disappointed but this Google dance is to be expected, especially on a new website.
Local Photo Services SEO Case Study Over time Stats Table
| Weekly Updates | Total Keywords in Top 100 Google Results (semrush) | Keywords in top 10 google results (semrush) | Google Search Console Avg. KW’s Position | GSC Impress./Clicks | Main Kws SERps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 March 2023 | 6 | 0 | 33.9 | 900 / 37 Clicks | N/A |
| 2nd April 2023 | 6 | 0 | 39.7 | 1,31K / 45 Clicks | N/A |
| 16th April 2023 | 11 | 0 | 45 | 2k / 50 clicks | Pos. 10 for 1 KW |
| 23rd April 2023 | 13 | 0 | 46.7 | 2,4 k / 55 Clicks | Pos. 13 for 1 KW |
Update 5 Final Thoughts
Nothing extraordinary here. Maybe next week will see some more interesting changes.
As I read somewhere, Google has also introduced the GoogleOther which is a new Crawler to help support the GoogleBot by replacing some crawl jobs for the Googlebot.
Not sure but I guess in theory this should help websites get crawled and indexed faster. But maybe not.
That’s all for this week. Until the next update, see you on the first page of Google!
Update 6 – 30th April 2023 – Local Photo Services Website Stats
Current website articles:
- 5 x long-form blog posts documenting my photography gigs
- 2 x photography services pages
- 1 x prices pages
- 4 x portfolio pages with images only in different photography genres
Current website backlinks:
- Created ~10 backlinks on Romanian web directories
- ~ 10-15 Forum posts on the same Romanian photography forum as the competition has backlinks from
Site updates since last week:
- no updates were done on the website and no new backlinks were created.
Local Photo Services SEO SemRush Stats 30th April 2023:
Based on SEMrush there is a drop in keywords ranking organically as I now have 2 fewer keywords ranking in the top 20 with the same number of 13 keywords ranking in the top 100.
That’s disappointing as I have been working on this website in creating some quality articles documenting my photo journeys which are original content that also contains some tutorials based on my photo challenges.
But that’s just Google doing its thing. Sometimes a website grows, and sometimes it drops. Especially in the first months when Google is still deciding about what the website is about anyway.
Local Photo Services SEO Case Study GSC Stats 30th April 2023:
Although I have a total of 370 more impressions, I have 5 fewer clicks in the last 3 months period average. That’s also disappointing as the only way to be contacted by someone who needs pictures is to click on my website.
We’ll see how that goes. What’s interesting though is when searching one of my targeting keywords in Google in Incognito I have a first page position, more precisely in position 6 in Google.
Maybe this is going to result in some leads for me but we’ll find out soon if that’s the case. It is not a keyword with many searches per month but is still one I want to rank for as I am comfortable offering Christensen photography services in my town.
Live SERPs Stats
Local Photo Services SEO Case Study Over time Stats Table
| Weekly Updates | Total Keywords in Top 100 Google Results (semrush) | Keywords in top 10 google results (semrush) | Google Search Console Avg. KW’s Position | GSC Impress./Clicks | 1 main KW manual SERps check |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 March 2023 | 6 | 0 | 33.9 | 900 / 37 Clicks | N/A |
| 2nd April 2023 | 6 | 0 | 39.7 | 1,31K / 45 Clicks | N/A |
| 16th April 2023 | 11 | 0 | 45 | 2k / 50 clicks | Pos. 10 for 1 KW |
| 23rd April 2023 | 13 | 0 | 46.7 | 2,4 k / 55 Clicks | Pos. 13 for 1 KW |
| 30th April 2023 | 13 | 0 | 47.7 | 2,82k/50 clicks | Pos. 6 for 1 KW |
Update 6 Final Thoughts
Overall, am a bit disappointed seeing a small drop in stats overall. But I didn’t have any leads-earning stats anyway, so this is not a drop to be taken seriously.
I’m sure the website will grow. I will improve it at some point with more service pages and adding more content on the already ranking pages.
I will also update it with new images and in the long run I am planning to post some standalone photography tutorials on the blog section together with the blog posts documenting my photo gigs.
As always, time will tell where this small website will be heading. The competition is not fierce at all but there are websites created 5+ years ago that although don’t have proper SEO, they have authority and Google My Business reviews which I currently don’t have but two reviews.
Anyway, until next week, see you on the first page of Google!
Update 7 SEO Stats – 8th May 2023
Current website articles:
- 5 x long-form blog posts documenting my photography gigs
- 2 x photography services pages
- 1 x prices pages
- 4 x portfolio pages with images only in different photography genres
Current website backlinks:
- Created ~10 backlinks on Romanian web directories
- ~ 10-15 Forum posts on the same Romanian photography forum as the competition has backlinks from.
Site updates since last week:
- no updates were done on the website and no new backlinks were created.
Local Photo Services SEO SemRush Stats 8th May 2023:
Based on SEMrush I have 2 more keywords ranking overall in the top 100 SERPs and no other changes in the top 20 positions.
However, it is clear that these tools are not accurate.
Maybe it’s because the website and stats are from a non-English speaking country such as Romania but I still have one keyword in the top 10 positions when I manually check one of my ranking keywords.
I was expecting to be a delay but it’s been 2 weeks since I first noticed that keyword ranking which is still not showing in SEMRush.
Local Photo Services SEO Case Study GSC Stats 8th May 2023:
Based on GSC I have around 460 more impressions and 6 more clicks based on the last 3 months period stats.
It’s nice to see growth but I need to be patient to be able to go against the top photographers that have websites from ages ago.
Live SERPs Stats
Local Photo Services SEO Case Study Over time Stats Table
| Weekly Updates | Total Keywords in Top 100 Google Results (semrush) | Keywords in top 10 google results (semrush) | GSC Impress./Clicks | 1 main KW manual SERps check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 March 2023 | 6 | 0 | 900 / 37 Clicks | N/A |
| 2nd April 2023 | 6 | 0 | 1,31K / 45 Clicks | N/A |
| 16th April 2023 | 11 | 0 | 2k / 50 clicks | Pos. 10 for 1 KW |
| 23rd April 2023 | 13 | 0 | 2,4 k / 55 Clicks | Pos. 13 for 1 KW |
| 30th April 2023 | 13 | 0 | 2,82k/ 50 clicks | Pos. 6 for 1 KW |
| 8th May 2023 | 15 | 0 | 3,28K / 56 Clicks | Pos. 6 for 1 KW |
Update 7 Final Thoughts
Overall it’s nice to see the website is at least not dropping in SEO stats. For a local website, I am waiting to see more overall improvements in stats.
I am only relying on the competition not having a strong on-page SEO, but maybe I should consider focusing more on what I can improve.
I am planning to create more service pages targeting similar keywords related to local photography services and maybe that’ll help in the long run.
I have been busy with another website which I will be creating another case study for. If you are interested the website is called startone.ro and it will be a national/local digital agency focused on SEO and Web Design.
That’s it for now. See you in the next update.