Photography Keywords: How to Find Them and Use Them

“Keyword research” sounds like something that needs a spreadsheet, a paid tool subscription, and an afternoon you don't have. For a photography website, it doesn't need to be that complicated — because you already know almost everything you need to know. You know your specialty, and you know your city. Keyword research is mostly just turning that knowledge into the specific phrases people actually type.

Start with the formula, not a tool

The overwhelming majority of useful photography keywords follow one shape: [specialty] photographer [location]. “Newborn photographer Charlotte.” “Boudoir photographer Austin.” “Elopement photographer Blue Ridge Mountains.” Before opening any tool, write out every real combination of what you shoot and where you shoot it — including neighborhoods, nearby towns, and regions, not just your main city.

This matters more than it sounds like it should: a couple searching “wedding photographer Asheville” and a couple searching “wedding photographer Blue Ridge Mountains” are often looking for the exact same thing, but they're two different searches with two different sets of competing results. If your site only ever mentions “Asheville,” you're invisible to the second search entirely.

Go one level more specific than “photographer”

“Photographer” alone is a search you will never win — it's dominated by stock photo sites, dictionary definitions, and national directories. The opportunity is in specificity most competitors don't bother with:

• By style or approach: “documentary wedding photographer,” “adventure elopement photographer,” “editorial boudoir photographer.”
• By client type: “LGBTQ-friendly wedding photographer,” “plus-size boudoir photographer,” “multi-generational family photographer.”
• By venue or setting: “[specific venue name] wedding photographer,” “studio newborn photographer” vs. “in-home newborn photographer.”
• By occasion: “proposal photographer,” “first look photographer,” “maternity photographer third trimester.”

You don't need to target all of these. Pick the combinations that actually describe the work you want more of — targeting a style you don't enjoy shooting just because it gets more searches will bring you the wrong clients.

Steal keywords from your own inbox

Some of the best keyword research is just paying attention to how real inquiries are already worded. Look back through your contact form submissions, DMs, and consultation calls — the exact phrases people use to describe what they want (“golden hour session,” “cake smash photos,” “engagement photos at the beach”) are often more useful than anything a keyword tool will suggest, because they came directly from your actual audience.

Check what Google itself is suggesting

You don't need a paid tool to see real search demand. Start typing a phrase into Google (“newborn photographer den...”) and look at the autocomplete suggestions — those are real, common searches. Scroll to the bottom of a results page for “related searches,” and check the “People also ask” box in the middle of the results. All three are free, and all three reflect actual search behavior rather than a guess.

Look at who's already ranking above you

Search your main keyword and look at the studios ranking on page one. What specialties and locations do their titles and page copy mention? If three competitors all specifically call out a neighborhood or venue you also shoot at and you don't mention it anywhere, that's a gap worth closing.

Where to actually put your keywords once you have them

Finding the phrases is half the work — the other half is using them somewhere a search engine will actually read them:

• Your homepage title and first paragraph.
• Page titles and headings for each specialty or gallery page.
• Image filenames and alt text (see our Image SEO guide).
• Your About page — say your specialty and city in plain sentences, not just your bio.
• Blog posts or FAQ pages that answer a specific question tied to that keyword — a post titled “What to Wear to Your Denver Newborn Session” naturally uses your specialty and city while being genuinely useful.

Write for a person first, always. If a sentence reads like it was written for a search engine instead of a human, rewrite it — “keyword stuffing” (repeating a phrase unnaturally often) reads as spam to both visitors and Google, and can actively hurt your ranking rather than help it.

Keywords aren't static — revisit them

As your specialties shift, you add a new service area, or you notice a new phrase showing up in inquiries, update the pages that should reflect it. Keyword research isn't a one-time project you finish — it's closer to a habit of noticing how people describe what they want, and making sure your site says it back to them.