SEO Testing

[PubUltraStar]

Like many of you, I am trying to get my images posted on SmugMug (http://www.smugmug.com) to appear appropriately within the Google search results. I have read, re-read, and researched everything I can about Search Engine Optimization, including the threads on this forum (http://dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=45537), and I have a very hard time getting my web images from SmugMug (http://photography.m2creativedesign.com) to appear anywhere on Google. However, if I post the same images to flickr, or my blog, or external forums, they tend to show up, sometimes on the front page. I realize that SEO is a moving target, and that there is no exact science to it besides persistence and a little SEO know-how.

I was excited when SmugMug introduced things like Nicenames to help with SEO. However, with no sitemap and ability to customize the title for each gallery, I believe that SmugMug will always fail at showing up, and force me to rely on trying to get traffic from other sites like facebook, flickr, and my blog. Why is it that I can post the same picture on flickr (http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4001/4527883107_e1e962aa38.jpg) with a descriptive title, some keywords, a good description, and add it to a few groups, and google picks it up with no problems. However, if I do similar tasks for SmugMug (http://photography.m2creativedesign.com/Aerial/Kite-Aerial-Photography/Bristol-Renaissance-Faire/Bristol-Renaissance-Faire-17/839307182_9jKAX-M.jpg), it never appears in the search results?

I decided last night to do a test and try and optimize my image posting workflow. Basically, I posted the same random image to both Flickr and SmugMug, gave them the same names, and used the tools provided by each to see how the SEO shakes out.

Here is the image from flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/m2creativedesign/4527883107/sizes/m/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/m2creativedesign/4527883107/sizes/m/)
This is an aerial shot of the Bristol Renaissance Fair, in Wisconsin (http://www.renfair.com/) captured with a GoPro HD Hero (http://www.goprocamera.com) Camera.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4001/4527883107_e1e962aa38.jpg

Here is the image on SmugMug: http://photography.m2creativedesign.com/Aerial/Kite-Aerial-Photography/Bristol-Renaissance-Faire/Bristol-Renaissance-Faire-17/839307182_9jKAX-M.jpg (http://photography.m2creativedesign.com/Aerial/Kite-Aerial-Photography/Bristol-Renaissance-Faire/Bristol-Renaissance-Faire-17/839307182_9jKAX-M.jpg)
This is an aerial shot of the Bristol Renaissance Fair, in Wisconsin (http://www.renfair.com/) captured with a GoPro HD Hero (http://www.goprocamera.com) Camera.
http://photography.m2creativedesign.com/Aerial/Kite-Aerial-Photography/Bristol-Renaissance-Faire/Bristol-Renaissance-Faire-17/839307182_9jKAX-M.jpg

Here is a link to my blog, also discussing this topic: http://blog.m2creativedesign.com/2010/04/seo-testing-bristol-renaissance-faire.html (http://blog.m2creativedesign.com/2010/04/seo-testing-bristol-renaissance-faire.html)

I am posting this to multiple forums, as part of this test, and you've been duped into participating. By adding this to this forum (http://dgrin.com/showthread.php?p=1371345#post1371345), facebook fan page (http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Paddock-Lake-WI/m2-Photography/245362771529), my blog (http://blog.m2creativedesign.com/2010/04/seo-testing-bristol-renaissance-faire.html), and other forums (http://ostro.ced.berkeley.edu/~crisr/discuss/comments.php?DiscussionID=2661&page=1#Item_1), I hope to analyze the effects of having inbound links to the image. I have suspicioins on what the results will be, but will wait for the SEO gods to work this out before making any predictions.

[PubUltraStar]

I thought I would give an update to my simple SEO Testing. After 5 days, there are absolutely no smugmug results from the google search taylored to this test. However, the same image that I uploaded to flickr consistently appears in the top 5 results, either as flickr or flickriver sites. I also got results from facebook, my blog, and even this dgrin post in the top 25.

Obviously, there is something that SmugMug needs to change. Simply responding to a forum link for tips on SEO is not enough, as there is definitely something lacking. Why do my images show up almost instantly on these other sites with minimal maintenance, while I putting a ton of effort into getting SmugMug images to appear returns zero results? I will keep testing to see if they eventually show up in Google, but there is obviously something that these other sites do that SmugMug hasn't figured out yet. I would think that it would be in the best interest of SmugMug to put some effort into SEO, as it would increase sales.

I realize that there is a thread already dedicated to complaining about the lack of optimized SEO on smugmug, but it's very disheartening when they give you all these tips that basically don't do anything. Sorry, but it's really frustrating and disappointing.

[Andy]

I realize that there is a thread already dedicated to complaining about the lack of optimized SEO on smugmug, but it's very disheartening when they give you all these tips that basically don't do anything. Sorry, but it's really frustrating and disappointing.

Our SEO is through the roof over the past year- we've added numerous SEO features (nicenames, page titles, site meta, and more). Customers write us every day about massive improvements in their SEO results.

We continue to look at GIS and getting images found there.

[Andy]

Hi, unfortunately, you have expressly told us to not allow google to find this gallery:

http://img.skitch.com/20100423-ncwtqmt8id26me7mnh3p61qbm1.jpg

Set that to "Yes" so google can crawl the page.

Now, some more about Google Image search - it's set to find images that are linked places. Good ways to get this done on SmugMug are via /popular and /keyword.

[PubUltraStar]

Andy:

Thank you for the reply. I think everyone who is a SmugMug customer feels positive about the changes that you have been making. While getting a response on these forums is nice, what I would suggest is taking a step back and asking yourself if the changes you've been making are enough? Yeh! for you for trying, but it's still a failure compared to other options out there. Now I've said before that I'm probably too lazy to leave, as I just renewed for another year, but it would be nice to actually see some of my images show up anywhere in the results on Google.

I'd also like to know what your plans for improvement going forward. Knowing the features you've enabled thus far does me no good if they fail to produce results. Too bad you couldn't just call flickr and ask them how they do it, as it works. Maybe you could hire their staff as consultants...

Mike.

[Andy]

Andy:

Did you see my post - you've set your gallery to tell us not to allow google in. And I gave more suggestions as to how google image search works and finds images.

[PubUltraStar]

What is the default for this setting? I did a quick spot check for this in a few of my other galleries, sometimes it's on, sometime's if off? I will go through and ensure that this is enabled for all of my galleries. I did another Google search for a gallery that had this option enabled, and nothing came up except my flickr images.

Thanks, and I'll let you know if this helps.

[Andy]

What is the default for this setting? I did a quick spot check for this in a few of my other galleries, sometimes it's on, sometime's if off? I will go through and ensure that this is enabled for all of my galleries. I did another Google search for a gallery that had this option enabled, and nothing came up except my flickr images.

Thanks, and I'll let you know if this helps.
Default is on - you have to set it to no.

[PubUltraStar]

How long would you say it takes for SmugMug images to show up? My search results still do not appear anywhere on Google, even after modifying the setting that was "mysteriously" off, even though the default was on. Maybe I'm just too overly optimistic because this is appearing in search results from Flickr, Blogger, Facebook, and Dgrin with minimal effort. I'll keep checking, but I'm at a loss for hope at this point...

[Andy]

How long would you say it takes for SmugMug images to show up? My search results still do not appear anywhere on Google, even after modifying the setting that was "mysteriously" off, even though the default was on. Maybe I'm just too overly optimistic because this is appearing in search results from Flickr, Blogger, Facebook, and Dgrin with minimal effort. I'll keep checking, but I'm at a loss for hope at this point...Hi Pub, I have may images in GIS. They are still a bit of a mystery at GIS but we know this: images that are linked elsewhere get found. So if you have images that are in SmugMug Popular, SmugMug global keywords, other websites, etc.

[PubUltraStar]

Well, I guess that was sort of the basis for this test. I created links to the same image from multiple forums, facebook, and blogger. Seems like that method worked just fine for finding the images on flickr.

I'll even post a link here: http://photography.m2creativedesign.com/Aerial/Kite-Aerial-Photography/Bristol-Renaissance-Faire/Bristol-Renaissance-Faire-17/839307182_9jKAX-M.jpg

[pkz]

Perhaps some one can verify that the default is Yes for Google. I just checked 2 recently created galleries and they both were set to No.

Is there a way to get a list of all the URLs for my images so I can link them?

[Andy]

Perhaps some one can verify that the default is Yes for Google. I just checked 2 recently created galleries and they both were set to No.

Is there a way to get a list of all the URLs for my images so I can link them?

The default is yes. Have you got a quicksetting set or something? What is your control panel setting for SmugIslands?

[pkz]

The default is yes. Have you got a quicksetting set or something? What is your control panel setting for SmugIslands?

You're correct...it was in my quicksettings. Thanks for looking.

Is there a way to get a list of all the URLs for my images so I can link them to my blog other than doing it one by one?

[Andy]

You're correct...it was in my quicksettings. Thanks for looking.

Is there a way to get a list of all the URLs for my images so I can link them to my blog other than doing it one by one?
I don't know of a way, I'm sorry.