Practical SEO for Artists
As an artist, one of the great joys about making artwork is getting to show it to other people. Seeing work in person is ideal, but it is often not possible as our artist communities are far reaching and spread all over the country and world.
It is also not always possible to make a living based solely on the ability of your local community to interact with and ultimately buy your artwork. Connecting with real people in your extended not-local community has a lot to do with how robots read your site. In other words, SEO.
What is SEO?
The basic definition of SEO is Search Engine Optimization. The term is really a shorthand that encompasses a wide range of small choices that you make on your website that help its performance in a search engine like Google. Things like image alt text and the accessibility of your fonts and buttons affect your overall site score which in turn affects where in google search results your site falls.
We are in a really interesting time in the history of information tech because what is important for SEO is changing a bit as folks are using chatbots more to find their answers.
So, how can we keep up with the changes in how people are getting information through their technology?
To cover both a traditional search engine robot, and newer AI bots, use keywords within a conversational tone when answering questions. FAQ sections are incredible for SEO and chatbot style optimization because they allow you to write questions and answers in a conversational tone and sprinkle in keywords.
What are some practical things that I can do now to optimize my site as an artist?
As a general rule, the more relevant and clear writing that is on your site, the more likely that your site will rank higher on google. Here’s a couple other things you can do now that will help your overall SEO.
If you don’t have an introduction in the form of a short paragraph on a portfolio page and on your home page, add one - if there isn’t a spec of writing on a page it is much less likely to index on google.
Add alt text to all your images. Alt text is an accessibility tool that you can use to bump up your site's accessibility score, and you can also pepper in keywords to help your images show up more frequently in google image search results. Make sure that you include your name in the sentence somewhere.
Make sure your images are properly sized (1800px on the longest edge is ideal). Huge images slow the loading of your site which in turn hurts your accessibility score and your site loading score.
Check to see what kind of built in SEO settings your website platform already has and utilize them. This includes things like SEO page descriptions and social sharing images.
Add clear product titles and good product descriptions that are at least two sentences.
Want a full checklist that includes pre launch and post launch SEO considerations? Send us an email.
In person learning opportunity: At the end of Februrary, Cami will be leading a session at the Center for Craft about building your website framework and best practices