Has anyone been able to get a good rating in the search engines?

[Malaxos1]

I have spent almos a year trying to get my site recognized by the search engines. I am have a lot of trouble. If you do a search for Dean malaxos you will find me. However, if you do a search for Lakeland Florida wedding Photographer, you will never find me in a million years. What am I doing wrong, what did you do...Dean

[devbobo]

I have spent almos a year trying to get my site recognized by the search engines. I am have a lot of trouble. If you do a search for Dean malaxos you will find me. However, if you do a search for Lakeland Florida wedding Photographer, you will never find me in a million years. What am I doing wrong, what did you do...Dean

Dean,

you might want to have a look at gus's posting history, he had a few posts about 2-4 weeks ago about this subject. He had one gallery ranking really well and another one not so good, but the not so good one ended up ranking highly on google.

Hope this helps,

David

[Andy]

Keywording, keywording, keywording.

Try "hudson river photographer" in google.

I'm also doing an experiment, just added some new keywords, we'll see what happens in a couple weeks, maybe a month - give me a shout..

[gus]

I get excellent results...i could not ask for better :thumb

I was a washed up wedding photographer with a torn coat.. bad breath & holes in my shoes until andy introduced me to networking with keywords. Now i drive a 7 series & own several department stores.

Keywords in your album titles particularly & also your photos is where its at Malaxos1

:thumb

[Awais Yaqub]

:huh Wow google know me :huh

[Malaxos1]

Keywording, keywording, keywording.

Try "hudson river photographer" in google.

I'm also doing an experiment, just added some new keywords, we'll see what happens in a couple weeks, maybe a month - give me a shout..

Very good andy. I saw you were #2. I did a search for Hudson Ny photographer and didn't find your site though. I need to work this out...Dean

[Andy]

Very good andy. I saw you were #2. I did a search for Hudson Ny photographer and didn't find your site though. I need to work this out...Dean

Hudson, NY is a town about 120 miles up the river from me :D

[Andy]

I can't do questions by private message. Everything in the forum please, so that an answer from one can benefit many....


I need a little help with keywords. I was told me that I should not repeat words, he said that they will get flagged by the search engines.

I put these keywords into my albums description "florida, central, lakeland, orlando, brandon, tampa, st petersberg, hillsboro florida, wedding, polk, photographer, hillsboro, senior, portrait, landscapes, bradenton, ybor, mulberry, City, plant, winter,heaven"

Is it OK to cut and paste this into the keywords area for each photo? Will I be over doing it? I need to understand this a little better. Thanks...Dean

I keyword the heck out of all my photos that I want searchable. So my answer, is yeah, put those words in your photos.

[Malaxos1]

I can't do questions by private message. Everything in the forum please, so that an answer from one can benefit many....



I keyword the heck out of all my photos that I want searchable. So my answer, is yeah, put those words in your photos.


That's fine, I just want to make sure that you saw it. Too often I will post an update or new question in the same thread and it goes un noticed. So when in NY are you from? I moved to Portland from NY almost five years ago. I was born in Brooklyn and moved to the Catskills in 1987...Dean

[Malaxos1]

When I do a search for lakeland florida wedding photographer one of my threads that I started (serious problem with my website) makes it onto the 1st or second page in the search engine, but not dean malaxos photography. It is still nowhere to be found. My smugmug membership will expire in May, I have been trying for almost a year to get recognized by the search engines. I would love for it to happen at least once :(:

Please remember I not talking about doing a search for dean malaxos photography or dean malaxos, you will get a page or two in every search engine. I am talking about doing a search for Lakeland Florida (or Brandon, Tampa, orland, etc...) and finding dean malaxos photography.

[Andy]

When I do a search for lakeland florida wedding photographer one of my threads that I started (serious problem with my website) makes it onto the 1st or second page in the search engine, but not dean malaxos photography. It is still nowhere to be found. My smugmug membership will expire in May, I have been trying for almost a year to get recognized by the search engines. I would love for it to happen at least once :(:

Please remember I not talking about doing a search for dean malaxos photography or dean malaxos, you will get a page or two in every search engine. I am talking about doing a search for Lakeland Florida (or Brandon, Tampa, orland, etc...) and finding dean malaxos photography.

Dean - too many threads, and they are related - so I'm keeping your discussion organized by merging this latest post

[Andy]

Google search is not easy. There's some really good advice given in my pro tips thread (sticky thread in this forum)...

[Andy]

When I do a search for lakeland florida wedding photographer one of my threads that I started (serious problem with my website) makes it onto the 1st or second page in the search engine

This is due to the high ranking that dgrin gets - lots of cross-links from other sites, etc.

[Andy]

I would love for it to happen at least once :(:


Have you keyworded your public portfolio galleries? If so, how? Have you started a blog? Are you working on getting listed and linked by other websites?

[Andy]

I would love for it to happen at least once :(:


I feel like you're not listening to the really good advice we've been giving you, Dean:

This gallery has NO keywords, you main pricing gallery.
http://malaxos1.smugmug.com/gallery/1218504/1/57018627/Large

Then, this gallery, whoa - look at the keyword you entered:

"florida, central, lakeland, orlando, brandon, tampa, st petersberg, hillsboro florida, wedding, polk, photographer, hillsboro, senior, portrait, landscapes, bradenton, ybor, mulberry, city, plant, winter,heaven"

you can see your keywords here:
http://malaxos1.smugmug.com/keyword/

It looks like this attachment. That's ONE KEYWORD that Nobody will ever enter.. and Google probably ignores it or something.

[Andy]

Here's our help page on how to enter keywords:

http://www.smugmug.com/help/keywords-tags

I suggest re-doing your keywords. Something like this:

wedding photography photographer lakeland florida "lakeland florida" "lakeland photographer" "lakeland wedding" polk hillsboro "lakeland senior portrait" etc etc

[Malaxos1]

I'll already took a look at the help link and did what it said. As far as I can tell I have done everything that was suggested by members here as well. I have done the bulk keywords thing in all of my galleries and photos. I even put the keywords on my main page (looks tereble though). I have and continue to submit my listing to every engine I can find. I have not done a blog, I did creat a generic photography one and no one has added to it, so it is dead...Dean


Here's our help page on how to enter keywords:

http://www.smugmug.com/help/keywords-tags

I suggest re-doing your keywords. Something like this:

wedding photography photographer lakeland florida "lakeland florida" "lakeland photographer" "lakeland wedding" polk hillsboro "lakeland senior portrait" etc etc

[Andy]

I'll already took a look at the help link and did what it said. As far as I can tell I have done everything that was suggested by members here as well. I have done the bulk keywords thing in all of my galleries and photos. I even put the keywords on my main page (looks tereble though). I have and continue to submit my listing to every engine I can find. I have not done a blog, I did creat a generic photography one and no one has added to it, so it is dead...Dean

:wave Hi Dean, please read my posts very carefully above. Re-read the help link VERY carefully. You've entered your keywords incorrectly in the one gallery I linked, and there are NO keywords in your pricing gallery.

BTW you do NOT need to have keywords showing on your homepage to have them work. You can also have keywords display hidden with CSS. They MUST be in public galleries, though.

They do work, I promise! We want you to succeed, Dean.
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=29390

[Malaxos1]

I asked Mike Lane if this is how you post them, I posted them right into our IM conversation and he said yes. So, I pasted them right into the key words section of the galleries. Oh, I just went back and re read the keywords help and I don't see anything wrong...Dean

:wave Hi Dean, please read my posts very carefully above. Re-read the help link VERY carefully. You've entered your keywords incorrectly in the one gallery I linked, and there are NO keywords in your pricing gallery.

BTW you do NOT need to have keywords showing on your homepage to have them work. You can also have keywords display hidden with CSS. They MUST be in public galleries, though.

They do work, I promise! We want you to succeed, Dean.
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=29390

[Andy]

I asked Mike Lane if this is how you post them, I posted them right into our IM conversation and he said yes. So, I pasted them right into the key words section of the galleries. Oh, I just went back and re read the keywords help and I don't see anything wrong...Dean

Dean: post #16, of mine, to you, just above...


I suggest re-doing your keywords. Something like this:

wedding photography photographer lakeland florida "lakeland florida" "lakeland photographer" "lakeland wedding" polk hillsboro "lakeland senior portrait" etc etc

you have ALL of your keywords inside one set of quotes. Nowhere in our help section does it say that :D

Trust me on this, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE re-read what I posted. And Dean: you have to put keywords in ALL your public galleries - why not make the best chance possible to be seen?

Nobody ever promised this was easy, it's hard work what we do as pros - but you do have to be thorough, and diligent. And avail yourself of all the great resources and help that's given. :D

I hope this helps. Please post more here if you need further help!

All the best,

[Malaxos1]

Dean: post #16, of mine, to you, just above...



you have ALL of your keywords inside one set of quotes. Nowhere in our help section does it say that :D

Trust me on this, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE re-read what I posted. And Dean: you have to put keywords in ALL your public galleries - why not make the best chance possible to be seen?

Nobody ever promised this was easy, it's hard work what we do as pros - but you do have to be thorough, and diligent. And avail yourself of all the great resources and help that's given. :D

I hope this helps. Please post more here if you need further help!

All the best,


I know, I didn't put them in quotes and went back last night an expiremented. I cut what I had and put it back into the replace with box, without the quotes it aitomatically puts the quotes in there. I did it a few times to make sure it wasn'e, and sure enough the quotes go there without my doing it...Dean

[Andy]

I know, I didn't put them in quotes and went back last night an expiremented. I cut what I had and put it back into the replace with box, without the quotes it aitomatically puts the quotes in there. I did it a few times to make sure it wasn'e, and sure enough the quotes go there without my doing it...Dean

I'm working now with my 6yr old on homework - but I'll get to your site in a little while and show you, exactly ...

[Malaxos1]

I'm working now with my 6yr old on homework - but I'll get to your site in a little while and show you, exactly ...


Cool, can we di am IM thing or something? I am checking and I cannot make the quotes go away unless I do each box seperately instead of the bulk keyword way...Dean

[Andy]

I know, I didn't put them in quotes and went back last night an expiremented. I cut what I had and put it back into the replace with box, without the quotes it aitomatically puts the quotes in there. I did it a few times to make sure it wasn'e, and sure enough the quotes go there without my doing it...Dean


Dean here are your keywords in this gallery:
http://malaxos1.smugmug.com/gallery/1167492




"florida, central, lakeland, orlando, brandon, tampa, st petersberg, hillsboro florida, wedding, polk, photographer, hillsboro, senior, portrait, landscapes, bradenton, ybor, mulberry, city, plant, winter,heaven"


make them like this:


florida, central, lakeland, orlando, brandon, tampa, "st petersberg", "hillsboro florida", wedding, polk, photographer, hillsboro, senior, portrait, landscapes, bradenton, ybor, mulberry, city, plant, winter,heaven

[Andy]

Cool, can we di am IM thing or something? I am checking and I cannot make the quotes go away unless I do each box seperately instead of the bulk keyword way...Dean

I'm sorry Dean - it's here on Dgrin is how we'll do this. Here are the steps:

1. go to this gallery http://malaxos1.smugmug.com/gallery/1167492
2. go to photo tools>edit keywords bulk
3. ADD EMPTY to all KEYWORDS, preview and SAVE
4. go to photo tools>edit keywords bulk
5. copy and paste my list above into the box, each word, then preview it
6. click Preview
7. click Save
8. post here and I'll check how you did.

Can you see the difference between your keyword list and mine? ONLY multi-word keywords belong inside quotes. Like "bbq ribs" but not chateaubriand

OK?

[bkiter]

Try overture.com
or
google ad words

and if you register thru yahoo.com , fill out the form for "local search"

[Andy]

I'm sorry Dean - it's here on Dgrin is how we'll do this. Here are the steps:

1. go to this gallery http://malaxos1.smugmug.com/gallery/1167492
2. go to photo tools>edit keywords bulk
3. ADD EMPTY to all KEYWORDS, preview and SAVE
4. go to photo tools>edit keywords bulk
5. copy and paste my list above into the box, each word, then preview it
6. click Preview
7. click Save
8. post here and I'll check how you did.

Can you see the difference between your keyword list and mine? ONLY multi-word keywords belong inside quotes. Like "bbq ribs" but not chateaubriand

OK?

Dean - how are you making out with the changes? :ear

[Malaxos1]

The changes are going well, but ver time consuming. Like I mentioned earlier, if I put the keywords in the box for thw add keywords to all it puts the quotations in. What I found was that it workd if I remove the key words and then past the keywords (in the bulk area) in the box next to each photo individually.

Is there anything I should know about the photo captions? I don't have anything in most of them, will that matter?...Dean

[Andy]

The changes are going well, but ver time consuming. Like I mentioned earlier, if I put the keywords in the box for thw add keywords to all it puts the quotations in. What I found was that it workd if I remove the key words and then past the keywords (in the bulk area) in the box next to each photo individually.

Is there anything I should know about the photo captions? I don't have anything in most of them, will that matter?...Dean

Captions are good, Dean.. why do anything half-way, right?

[Malaxos1]

Captions are good, Dean.. why do anything half-way, right?


OK, I did all of the keywords. It took six full hours to complete as I needed to copy and past the keywords into each box as not to get the quotation marks. Anyway, what did you have in mind for key words. I am thinking of making the unisversal. Any suggestions? Also, what else do I need to do?...Dean

[Andy]

It took six full hours to complete


Dean, did you follow the step-by-step I gave you above,
http://www.dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=263660&postcount=25


and the suggested keywords, from here:
http://www.dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=263396&postcount=16

This should not take six hours :D I just did a gallery on my test site in about 2 mins.

How did you go about doing this? :ear I really want to help you, please re-read the step-by-step instructions that I've given...

[Malaxos1]

Dean, did you follow the step-by-step I gave you above,
http://www.dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=263660&postcount=25


and the suggested keywords, from here:
http://www.dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=263396&postcount=16

This should not take six hours :D I just did a gallery on my test site in about 2 mins.

How did you go about doing this? :ear I really want to help you, please re-read the step-by-step instructions that I've given...


I am on my way out to dinner and will look at the step by step later. The problem is that no matter how hard I tried, putting the keywords in the box and applying it to all the photos gave the keywords in quotations. I had no choice but to do it one photo at a time. I still did it in the caption/keywords bulk option. I just didn't type, or past anything into the box that would apply it to all. I pasted the keywords into each box one after the other. I have 3500+ photos on my site. The quotaion thing was killing me.

[Malaxos1]

I am on my way out to dinner and will look at the step by step later. The problem is that no matter how hard I tried, putting the keywords in the box and applying it to all the photos gave the keywords in quotations. I had no choice but to do it one photo at a time. I still did it in the caption/keywords bulk option. I just didn't type, or past anything into the box that would apply it to all. I pasted the keywords into each box one after the other. I have 3500+ photos on my site. The quotaion thing was killing me.


This is exactly what I did but got the quotations automatically, I never added them my self. Here's what I did to GET the qoutes:

1. go to this gallery http://malaxos1.smugmug.com/gallery/1167492
2. go to photo tools>edit keywords bulk
3. ADD EMPTY to all KEYWORDS, preview and SAVE
4. go to photo tools>edit keywords bulk
5. copy and paste my list above into the box
6. click Preview
7. click Save
8. post here and I'll check how you did.


Andy, I do appreciate all of your help. I do think we are getting somewhere. I did a search for "brandon florida wedding photographer" and found "dean malaxos photography powered by smugmug". I was very excited, however, when I clicked on it I came to a page that had my header and oly my keywords. What else to do?...Dean

[richtersl]

I went and entered album keywords for 4 of my albums and clicked the Update button each time with I was done with them. Went back to check how I was doing and found....

NO ALBUM KEYWORDS! :scratch

I didn't have any problems like this when entering keywords for my photos.

What am I doing wrong? Here's one album that's supposed to have them (at the album level): http://lrichters.smugmug.com/gallery/759055

Here's what I entered as keywords for that album. I used to Customize Gallery form to enter them:

"bucks county" "bucks county pa" carversville "carversville pa" filmless photography "filmless photography" "filmless photography by linda" linda richters "linda richters" pennsylvania

Where did they go? Or where am I screwing up? :uhoh

[Andy]

I went and entered album keywords for 4 of my albums and clicked the Update button each time with I was done with them. Went back to check how I was doing and found....

NO ALBUM KEYWORDS! :scratch

I didn't have any problems like this when entering keywords for my photos.

What am I doing wrong? Here's one album that's supposed to have them (at the album level): http://lrichters.smugmug.com/gallery/759055

Here's what I entered as keywords for that album. I used to Customize Gallery form to enter them:

"bucks county" "bucks county pa" carversville "carversville pa" filmless photography "filmless photography" "filmless photography by linda" linda richters "linda richters" pennsylvania

Where did they go? Or where am I screwing up? :uhoh

Checking, standby...

[Andy]

Where did they go? Or where am I screwing up? :uhoh

You aren't messing up :D
Give it one more try? Thanks. :ear

[richtersl]

I go to the form and complete the Keywords field:
http://lrichters.smugmug.com/photos/59125517-M.jpg

I click the Update button and:

http://lrichters.smugmug.com/photos/59125513-M.jpg

VOILA! The field is blank.

Is this an IE 6 issuue?

[Andy]

I go to the form and complete the Keywords field:
http://lrichters.smugmug.com/photos/59125517-M.jpg

I click the Update button and:

http://lrichters.smugmug.com/photos/59125513-M.jpg

VOILA! The field is blank.

Is this an IE 6 issuue?

Ahah - the " mess up the gallery keywords. I was able to enter the following:

bucks county pa carversville filmless photography linda richters pennsylvania

BTW, the Gallery keywords are primarily for assisting in searching from SmugMug - not sure of any Google value. You can read the helpie {?} by floating your mouse over it in the customize gallery screen.

I hope this helps!

[Malaxos1]

Thanks Linda, I did that as well, but was told that it is better to add the keywords to each photo also.

Andy, if I wasn't messing up then how did the keywords get the quotations? I never added them myself. A few times I put just the keywords in there and added them to all photos, everytime I got the quotations. Well, the good news is that all of the photos have them anyway.

Now what do I do about captions? None of the weddings I have in my galleries were taken in Florida. They were taken everywhere else but. I do have a few coming up though. What can I put in there that will get me traffic and can I hide the captions so that if I put Florida in the fields they won't be seen by anyone?. thanks...Dean



I go to the form and complete the Keywords field:
http://lrichters.smugmug.com/photos/59125517-M.jpg

I click the Update button and:

http://lrichters.smugmug.com/photos/59125513-M.jpg

VOILA! The field is blank.

Is this an IE 6 issuue?

[Andy]

Thanks Linda, I did that as well, but was told that it is better to add the keywords to each photo also.

Andy, if I wasn't messing up then how did the keywords get the quotations? I never added them myself. A few times I put just the keywords in there and added them to all photos, everytime I got the quotations. Well, the good news is that all of the photos have them anyway.

Now what do I do about captions? None of the weddings I have in my galleries were taken in Florida. They were taken everywhere else but. I do have a few coming up though. What can I put in there that will get me traffic and can I hide the captions so that if I put Florida in the fields they won't be seen by anyone?. thanks...Dean


Oh Dear. Dean - you're not confusing GALLERY Keywords with PHOTO keywords, are you? All of my step-by-step examples say "edit keywords bulk" under PHOTO TOOLS menu. I was helping Linda there with her GALLERY keywords. They are different, and as I specifically said above, they are NOT google related, but rather they assist in SmugMug searching.

Dean - who cares where the weddings were taken? You want to drive traffic to your FLORIDA business. Put florida in the photo keywords.

[richtersl]

That at least tells me why my keywords were not taking. And I know I'm not crazy. :crazy Now there's a comforting with which to go to bed. :rofl

But I am a bit confused on how to best get a search engine to find things on my site. If I understand you correctly: album keywords assist with searching within smugmug. So, do photo keywords assist with Google, Yahoo, et al, searching?

It would be nice to direct someone to a specific gallery via a search engine, if possible. I know this has been discussed here often. I did spot a thread here where this was discussed. One of the posters suggested enclosing the gallery name in H1 tags in the gallery description and then rendering it invisible in the CSS. I don't have a problem doing that (except I had some minor formatting issues :rolleyes ). But before I go through that bother, I need to better understand how these keywords work external to smugmug. Is there a link that you can direct me to?

[Andy]

That at least tells me why my keywords were not taking. And I know I'm not crazy. :crazy Now there's a comforting with which to go to bed. :rofl

But I am a bit confused on how to best get a search engine to find things on my site. If I understand you correctly: album keywords assist with searching within smugmug. So, do photo keywords assist with Google, Yahoo, et al, searching?

It would be nice to direct someone to a specific gallery via a search engine, if possible. I know this has been discussed here often. I did spot a thread here where this was discussed. One of the posters suggested enclosing the gallery name in H1 tags in the gallery description and then rendering it invisible in the CSS. I don't have a problem doing that (except I had some minor formatting issues :rolleyes ). But before I go through that bother, I need to better understand how these keywords work external to smugmug. Is there a link that you can direct me to?

Hi Linda,

Google and other search engines will find your photo keywords in public galleries. Also captions, titles, and descriptions are searchable and crawlable by them.

DO NOT play tricks on Google :nono they do not like that. Hard work, following the good tips in this forum MYOB, and the pro tips sticky thread, and you should get results. BUT there is no guarantee - you have to put in the effort :D

[Malaxos1]

Andy I did the bulk keywords, it just giving me the quotations. So, while still in bulk I manually put the keywords in every photo in every gallery. I also did gallery keywords as well. It's the captions that I wan't to add something to that will get my traffic and not keywords. As far as I can tell I am done with the keywords. Will it help putting something in my captions box? I want to be able to copy and past something identical into all of them, but don't want visitors to be able to see it. However if it doesn't help I don't want to spend the hours adding them...Dean

Hi Linda,

Google and other search engines will find your photo keywords in public galleries. Also captions, titles, and descriptions are searchable and crawlable by them.

DO NOT play tricks on Google :nono they do not like that. Hard work, following the good tips in this forum MYOB, and the pro tips sticky thread, and you should get results. BUT there is no guarantee - you have to put in the effort :D

[Andy]

Andy I did the bulk keywords, it just giving me the quotations. So, while still in bulk I manually put the keywords in every photo in every gallery. I also did gallery keywords as well. It's the captions that I wan't to add something to that will get my traffic and not keywords. As far as I can tell I am done with the keywords. Will it help putting something in my captions box? I want to be able to copy and past something identical into all of them, but don't want visitors to be able to see it. However if it doesn't help I don't want to spend the hours adding them...Dean

I've answered this question like sixty times in this thread :lol3
Yep, captions help. But it sounds like you want to trick Google, and we've also said that numerous times, that's BAD. Dean, I've given you a bunch of examples on my site, and google searches - I've only used keywords. Now that you've got the kwyds fixed, go get some cross-links, a blog (there's a blog alliance on smugmug, you can search dgrin for it!)... and so on...

[Malaxos1]

I will look at the blogs. I am not purposely trying to trick google, I don't know anything about this stuff. Now i do have a certification for computer repair, but that's hardware not software. So explain cross links, my links page isn't that?...Dean


I've answered this question like sixty times in this thread :lol3
Yep, captions help. But it sounds like you want to trick Google, and we've also said that numerous times, that's BAD. Dean, I've given you a bunch of examples on my site, and google searches - I've only used keywords. Now that you've got the kwyds fixed, go get some cross-links, a blog (there's a blog alliance on smugmug, you can search dgrin for it!)... and so on...

[Mike Lane]

I will look at the blogs. I am not purposely trying to trick google, I don't know anything about this stuff. Now i do have a certification for computer repair, but that's hardware not software. So explain cross links, my links page isn't that?...Dean

Remember Dean, Google is looking for links on other pages that go to your site. That's what Andy means by cross link. Also remember what I said, don't repeat keywords. If google sees florida as a keyword 500 times it will think that you're trying to trick it.

Feed google but not too much or it'll barf on you.

Here are some simple ways of getting inbound links. Your signature on Dgrin. Make it like this:

Dean Malaxos
View my Wedding Photography (http://www.deanmalaxos.com/Wedding%20Samples)
See more at http://www.deanmalaxos.com/

See how the words "Wedding Photography" link to your site? That's a good thing. You want more of that. Find ways to get links to your site that are like that and soon your name will pop up when someone types in wedding photography into google.

Also consider entering photo contests. Do it more for the inbound links than the contests themselves (although they can generate good publicity of course). You should be entering every single photo friday (http://www.photofriday.com/) competition. Get in good with your local photography club and get your site listed on their site.

Be creative, inbound links mean more to google than keywords do. But keywords mean a lot don't forget those! Do them intelligently and purposefully and you'll start seeing good hits.

[richtersl]

Dean,

When you enter your keywords on the bulk keyword entry form, start the group of key words off with a phrase enclosed in quotes and see if that solves your problem.

For example, instead of

house "bucks county" fireman

enter

"bucks county" house fireman

Sometimes the craziest things wind up helping. :):

[richtersl]

Acutally, I have keywords set up for all my photos. The bulk entry is a great tool! :thumb :thumb :thumb

I just wasn't sure what the difference between those keywords and the ones tied to albums was.

[Malaxos1]

I spent a ton of time using bulk tool for all my galleries. I am not dure how many I have but probably arround 50. Anyway, I was told not to put quotations in the box. I didn't and yet they showed up in all my photos. It made all of my key words run together, making it look like it was one word (there were spaces though. I ahve been working on this for months straight and almost a year overall and I have gotten nowhere, it does look like things may finally be taking a turn for the better though. Now that I have my keywords straightened out. Time will tell :):

Nice website BTW...Dean

Acutally, I have keywords set up for all my photos. The bulk entry is a great tool! :thumb :thumb :thumb

I just wasn't sure what the difference between those keywords and the ones tied to albums was.

[gus]

Guys i cant bare to watch this any longer. For the record i'm as thick as two short planks (andy will vouch for that) with customising my smugmug account.

So i named an album & searched those very words that i think may draw my target & google gets me front row seats (http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&q=photos+of+brisbane+for+sale&btnG=Search&meta=).

If you are doing this i cant see why it isnt working.

[Malaxos1]

OK, getting better, I looked today and was able to find my business by searching for "lakeland wedding photographer". I was on page 14 or Altavista, page 15 in Yahoo and page 35 in alltheweb. I wasn't able to be found before so I guess we are moving along.

Can someone take a look at this site http://www.submitexpress.com/ and go to free tools and put www.deanmalaxos.com (http://www.deanmalaxos.com) in there and see what's going on. It does tell me things that are wrong, like meta tags (I don't have any?) and too many keywords (most of which are smugmug's not mine). I am hoping you give me tips on how to increase traffic by what they say is wrong.

Who knows maybe you will find something about your own site there. Thanks...Dean



I've answered this question like sixty times in this thread :lol3
Yep, captions help. But it sounds like you want to trick Google, and we've also said that numerous times, that's BAD. Dean, I've given you a bunch of examples on my site, and google searches - I've only used keywords. Now that you've got the kwyds fixed, go get some cross-links, a blog (there's a blog alliance on smugmug, you can search dgrin for it!)... and so on...

[Andy]

I spent a ton of time using bulk tool for all my galleries. I am not sure how many I have but probably arround 50.

Oh Dear.

Dean, you have about 15 or so public galleries that I can count. And a whole bunch of galleries with locks and privacy.

Dean According to the help pages that I've linked to you numerous times,

http://www.smugmug.com/help/keywords-tags

Gotcha: Keywords have no effect on private or password-protected albums, even if you enter them.

[Malaxos1]

LOL, I read that but the wrong way. I asked Mike and he said that I can put them there as well. I thought that it would have no effect meant that it won't do anything to my protected galleries (in my favor, keywords work but galleries remain protected).

Also, last night I couldn't sleep and was playing arround for hours. I unprotected a gallery to see what would happen. Will the keyword count go up being that the photos were protected and now aren't. Here is something very strange that I found. You are going to think I am crazy, the count acctually went down, not up. I then password protected the gallery again and the keyword count went higher than it was befor the experiment. Go figure. It dosn't matter to me as long as I get my business up and running.

The reason I am being such a pain in the but is that I was shooting weddings like crazy back in Portland (washington state and California as well), all by word of mouth. I had a friend with a studio who wanted me to work for him but instead moved to Florida to get my wife closer to her mother. I have not been working since I got here as I am trying to do photography and not a menial task job. well now almost three months later the bills are catching which means that I am about to work for someone else (I landed a high paying sales job) starting next week. The truth is I don't want to do it. My plan for Florida was to get out of debt while continuing to grow as a photographer and then move back to the Catskills ASAP...Dean


Oh Dear.

Dean, you have about 15 or so public galleries that I can count. And a whole bunch of galleries with locks and privacy.

Dean According to the help pages that I've linked to you numerous times,

http://www.smugmug.com/help/keywords-tags

[Malaxos1]

OK Andy, here is a new one for you. My rating is slowly going up, but I cannot find myself on google at all. The funny thing is that there are people on the first few pages, other than the advertizing comapanies (partypop, wedj, onwed etc...) that are rated lower than I am. If I am rated higher than they are why don't the

Also, I just found my site on page 14 on altavista, while searching for brandon florida wedding photographer, but it brought me to my protected galleries and not my home page. find me?

Can my problem be that I don't have texts for my website's description? Should there be something other than just a plain header like I have?

Anyway, here is a link to the rating.

http://www.submitexpress.com (http://www.submitexpress.com/)

[Malaxos1]

I changed my mind about posting it. In a nutshell what most people say is that they cannot see my key words when they look in the optimization programs, and they also say that the powered by smugmug is the problem. I would like that to go away, how can I make that happen? I have been getting help from other smugmug users that don't have either of those problems.

Thanks again...Dean

[Andy]

I changed my mind about posting it. In a nutshell what most people say is that they cannot see my key words when they look in the optimization programs, and they also say that the powered by smugmug is the problem. I would like that to go away, how can I make that happen? I have been getting help from other smugmug users that don't have either of those problems.

Thanks again...Dean

Hi Dean - I don't really know what to say to that I have said a number of times already. There are many threads on this subject, and a bunch by you on the subject. Many folks, including me, have given you really, really good advice. But you seem, to want it to happen overnight.

Moving to MYOB - this is not a SmugMug Support issue. If you'd like to add your voice to the other threads concering "powered by SmugMug" you can do that...

[Malaxos1]

What didn't I do that was suggested? I followed all advise given. It has been almost a year, how long does it take?

I had a smugmug user today call my house and tell me that I need to get rid of smugmug's keywords and to make sure that mine is what is seen. He also showed me that when I type in his site it doesn't come up powered by smugmug in the search engine (he does however have it on his page in the footer). He looked at my cusomization page with me line by line and said that I needed to talk to someone at smugmug because it all looks right and yet my page is different than his. The only thing that we can think of is that he has been using smugmug for 2 years and I have only been using it for 1. Maybe something has changed he said to me. So, I don't know what to say. I have also met other ex smugmug people on another photo group that I belong to that have said that smugmug doesn't give you full control over the areas mentioned and that I should build my own site.

The thing is that I do believe in smugmug and believe that somewhere, somehow there is a mistake. I don't plan on going anywhere..Dean



Hi Dean - I don't really know what to say to that I have said a number of times already. There are many threads on this subject, and a bunch by you on the subject. Many folks, including me, have given you really, really good advice. But you seem, to want it to happen overnight.

Moving to MYOB - this is not a SmugMug Support issue. If you'd like to add your voice to the other threads concering "powered by SmugMug" you can do that...

[Shay Stephens]

I merged the two threads so we don't get too much urban sprawl.

[Andy]

What didn't I do that was suggested? I followed all advise given. It has been almost a year, how long does it take?
It can take YEARS and that's if you do EVERYTHING that's been suggested here to you. Where's your blog? In another of your threads, you say you gave up on that. You've got to MAXIMIZE your chances! Get other sites to link you - what sites cross-link you?

I had a smugmug user today call my house and tell me that I need to get rid of smugmug's keywords
:rolleyes Dean, the keywords on your site are your keywords, not ours.

and to make sure that mine is what is seen. He also showed me that when I type in his site it doesn't come up powered by smugmug in the search engine (he does however have it on his page in the footer). He looked at my cusomization page with me line by line and said that I needed to talk to someone at smugmug because it all looks right and yet my page is different than his.
Are you not talking to SmugMug right now?

The only thing that we can think of is that he has been using smugmug for 2 years and I have only been using it for 1. Maybe something has changed he said to me. So, I don't know what to say. I have also met other ex smugmug people on another photo group that I belong to that have said that smugmug doesn't give you full control over the areas mentioned and that I should build my own site.
The thing is that I do believe in smugmug and believe that somewhere, somehow there is a mistake. I don't plan on going anywhere..Dean


Dean, you've had your keywords properly entered for about 3 days. I don't know what else to tell you - I can see you are disappointed. I'm not sure what else I can tell you that hasn't already been offered up by me, Shay, Mike, and a bunch of other well-meaning folks.

[gus]

and said that I needed to talk to someone at smugmug
Dean......andy IS smugmug (along with a lot of other great people that post on this site). :1drink

This is their forum.

[Malaxos1]

I understand that.

I have a guy who works as a search engine optimizer looking at my site tonight at 12:00 AM. He has compared one of the smugmug sites that I was talking about that doesn't have "the smugmug keywords or the powered by smugmug. He was able to find and compare the HTML sheets and he can clearly see the difference. I emailed my a few screen shots and I can see a huge difference. Funny but do a search for his area and he pops up on top and his ranking in alexa is at the bottom of the list. I will keep trying...Dean


Dean......andy IS smugmug (along with a lot of other great people that post on this site). :1drink

This is their forum.

[devbobo]

Dean,

Perhaps you could share the url of this other smugmug site, so we can all get up to speed.

Also, I found a typo on your page...

<script language="javascript">document.title="Dean Malaxos Photography - serving central florida and Tampa Bay>/script>

should be...
<script language="javascript">document.title="Dean Malaxos Photography - serving central florida and Tampa Bay</script>

Additionally, you might want to lose that second meta-tags definition for a period as that might be adversely affecting your ranking.

Cheers,

David

[Malaxos1]

Thanks David, Mike Lane set the meta tags up for me. I will fix the typo. I would love to share the other sites but I am worried that they may change them because they are supposed to say "powered by smugmug". I would hate for them to be mad at me...Dean


Dean,

Perhaps you could share the url of this other smugmug site, so we can all get up to speed.

Also, I found a typo on your page...

<script language="javascript">document.title="Dean Malaxos Photography - serving central florida and Tampa Bay>/script>

should be...
<script language="javascript">document.title="Dean Malaxos Photography - serving central florida and Tampa Bay</script>

Additionally, you might want to lose that second meta-tags definition for a period as that might be adversely affecting your ranking.

Cheers,

David

[Mike Lane]

Thanks David, Mike Lane set the meta tags up for me.

Dude, seriously. You've got to stop blaming everything on me or I'm going to quit helping you out.

[rich56k]

Dean,
i just googled you and got 439 results(!!??!!)
rich


(add photography and its still 122!)

[gus]

Dean,
i just googled you and got 439 results(!!??!!)
rich

Yep....its all here (http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&q=Dean+Malaxos+Photography&btnG=Google+Search&meta=)

[Andy]

Thanks David, Mike Lane set the meta tags up for me. I will fix the typo. I would love to share the other sites but I am worried that they may change them because they are supposed to say "powered by smugmug". I would hate for them to be mad at me...Dean

Do you mean, like My Site?? (http://www.moonriverphotography.com)

Notice the difference at the VERY top of the page of my site and yours. This has been discussed at great length here on the forum, we even publicize the way to do this, via a small bit of code that's freely available in my FAQ
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=26043
and, here's the thread:
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=25861&highlight=document.title

[Andy]

Yep....its all here (http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&q=Dean+Malaxos+Photography&btnG=Google+Search&meta=)

In fairness, Dean wants to be found when you type in

"lakeland florida wedding photographer" (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial_s&q=lakeland+florida+wedding+photographer&as_q=malaxos&btnG=Search%C2%A0within%C2%A0results
) as your search terms. And whaddya know, look at the results?

Dean, it's getting so that every time you post now, I get a pit in my stomach because I feel like you just aren't listening to the great (and free) advice you are getting here. You are listening to mysterious "search consultants" and "other SmugMug" sites that you don't name. I feel like a broken record:

* Keywords
* Cross-links
* Blog
* Persistence
* Patience

This doesn't happen overnight, and we've told you that, too. Yet every time you post, it's a downer.

Instead of blaming Mike Lane (!!), use that energy to re-read every post you've made here, and look at all the great advice given to you, and follow it.

Finally (and I do mean, finally): Maybe, SmugMug isn't right for you after all. If you wish, you can email me this week at help@smugmug.com and I can close your account and issue you a full and complete refund of the subscription fee you paid. Please let me know - this is NOT something we normally do, but, in your case, we (all) seem to be unable to make you happy, so I'm willing to refund you your first year's fee in full so that you could be free to seek another alternative.

[caseserve]

Dean,
When you use the bulk picture keywording tool, you need to enter keywords in a certain order. I had the same problem and I figured it out.

If you enter this all at once:
New Jersey Wedding Photographer

You will get this:
"New Jersey Wedding Photographer"

which is entered as 1 keyword

If you enter:
New Jersey

Hit preview

Enter:
Wedding Photographer

Hit preveiw

You'll end up with this as your keywords (2 keywords entered)

"new jersey" " wedding photographer"



Continue entering the keyword or keyword(s) that will be grouped together and hit preview. When you are finished click on save.

If you try to enter all keywords at once and hit preview and save you'll end up with your entire list of keywords entered as one keyword. You need to pay attention to the quotes (")

Therefore if I entered the following and click preview and save

This old man he played one he played nick nack on his drum

It would look like this:
"This old man he played one he played nick nack on his drum"

Notice the quotes, it is one keyword.

I hope you get it, if not post back and I'll try to explain further.

[Malaxos1]

Thanks John, that looks like the keyword problem I was having. Good thing that I have the keywords done already. When I shoot my next wedding in April I will make sure to do it like you suggested...Dean


Dean,
When you use the bulk picture keywording tool, you need to enter keywords in a certain order. I had the same problem and I figured it out.

If you enter this all at once:
New Jersey Wedding Photographer

You will get this:
"New Jersey Wedding Photographer"

which is entered as 1 keyword

If you enter:
New Jersey

Hit preview

Enter:
Wedding Photographer

Hit preveiw

You'll end up with this as your keywords (2 keywords entered)

"new jersey" " wedding photographer"



Continue entering the keyword or keyword(s) that will be grouped together and hit preview. When you are finished click on save.

If you try to enter all keywords at once and hit preview and save you'll end up with your entire list of keywords entered as one keyword. You need to pay attention to the quotes (")

Therefore if I entered the following and click preview and save

This old man he played one he played nick nack on his drum

It would look like this:
"This old man he played one he played nick nack on his drum"

Notice the quotes, it is one keyword.

I hope you get it, if not post back and I'll try to explain further.

[Andy]

Thanks John, that looks like the keyword problem I was having. Good thing that I have the keywords done already. When I shoot my next wedding in April I will make sure to do it like you suggested...Dean

:dunno http://www.dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=263660&postcount=25 :dunno

[Malaxos1]

Hi Andy,
I just wanted to appologize if I am coming off like I don't appreciate the help you have been giving. I am just very illiterate when it comes to this stuff.

I did have a pro SEO guy look at the site and he did say that he cannot see what I have not done based on the suggestions. His oppinion is that I cannot accomplish what I want with Sm's keywords being a pririty and the powered by smugmug thing.

However he suggested that I host witha nother company. I told him that SM gives me unlimited storage, 16GB bandwidth, has a lab and shopping cart. I told him I am not doing it because some others have been able to get good ranking. Also, like I said in another post, I believe in SM.

He did compare my site with another SM user who beat all of this and showed my in a few screenshots that his HTML is different, however it is outside of the control of the user.

Anyway he emailed me back saying that he was not suggesting that I leave SM, he said that I setup another homepage and link it to my smugmug site. What do think about this?...Dean


:dunno http://www.dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=263660&postcount=25 :dunno

[Malaxos1]

The guy just emailed me back here is what he is saying about the home page idea. Also he asked for a font After ereading it I think he may be asking for the one Mike Lane used to make my header. I'll have to ask him...Dean

"I should have been a bit more clear about the hosting idea...
I'm thinking you would use Siteflip to just host your home page and not any of
the photos or galleries that you already have set up on Smugmug. Why recreate
the wheel when Smugmug already has it and for a decent price? Only thing I'm
not sure of is what font they use, but I'll see what I can do. Hey, maybe you
could ask Smugmug what font they use since you have an account with them.
Chances are that I probably have it.

Okay, got the photo. I'll try to work on home page for you later tonight, but
since I never now what's going to come up at home, it could end up being later
this week. I'll keep you posted."

[Mike Lane]

Only thing I'm not sure of is what font they use, but I'll see what I can do. Hey, maybe you could ask Smugmug what font they use since you have an account with them.

Chances are that I probably have it.

That guy doesn't know much about webdesign. Tell him that all the fonts are declared in the various CSS files.

I am just very illiterate when it comes to this stuff.

Okay Dean, trust me on this one. You absolutely do not want to build your own homepage. You have a difficult enough time with creating hyperlinks so building your own page or having someone build it for you and then trying to maintain that page on your own would be a lesson in frustration for you. My suggestion is two-fold.

1) Forget about Google rankings. Let that drop off your radar scope. Just keyword your pages smartly and let Smugmug's great google integration work its magic for you. I'm telling you to ignore it. That's what I do and I've got great rankings that have resulted in sales.

2) Concentrate on shooting weddings. Get a few advertisements out there. Put an add in the local paper, get on craig's list, and if you can afford it pay for a google ad and maybe an ad in your local yellow pages. Get to be the best wedding photographer out there and don't drive yourself bananas trying to get to #1 on google. Word of mouth will beat out google any day of the week.

[Andy]

Hi Andy,
.
.
.
What do think about this?...Dean


I think, that you've got to SLOW down - in everything. Even your posts are somewhat indicative of not reading thoroughly and carefully what others are saying.

I fixed your TITLE on your page, just now for you. This was suggested numerous times -- yet you didn't do it.

I think you've STILL not captioned all your shots - why do 1/2 the job? For example, here:
http://malaxos1.smugmug.com/gallery/569388

I think that you've not entered ANYTHING in the descriptions for some of your galleries, and I wonder why? http://malaxos1.smugmug.com/gallery/1218288

Google will crawl, and find, captions, descriptions, keywords. I've been saying this over and over and over, Dean.

I think you've got work to do.

[Malaxos1]

Thanks Mike, He works as a Pro SEO.

Anyway I agree about word of mouth, back in Portland it was all I had and it worked great. I also did do ads on craigslist while out there. It isn't big here in Florida. For example, when I was in Portland I would go to craigslist and look for Mustang parts. I would find five or more listings daily. In Tampa, all of the Mustang parts ever posted fit on half a page. So that is out (I still have done it, but don't see it helping out a lot).

My problem is that I have tapped out on all my rescourses and now will do something I have not done in five years; work for someone else. I tell you, I thought I was going to be doing great out here. I booked four weddings and a Bat Mizva in a week. I also got booked for four JR high school basketball teams. But nothing since then and that was over a month ago, that is why the frustration.

My problem is more than smugmug (I don't blame them). One guy with a smugmug site showed me that he was on top of the rankings in MSN, but I found he actually had a 0 rating on Alexa. I have a 232 rating. (still very low) So, how did it happen for him and not me :dunno

I have finally slepth last night after being up for four days straight trying to do this. So my frustration level should be less evident on the board :):



That guy doesn't know much about webdesign. Tell him that all the fonts are declared in the various CSS files.



Okay Dean, trust me on this one. You absolutely do not want to build your own homepage. You have a difficult enough time with creating hyperlinks so building your own page or having someone build it for you and then trying to maintain that page on your own would be a lesson in frustration for you. My suggestion is two-fold.

1) Forget about Google rankings. Let that drop off your radar scope. Just keyword your pages smartly and let Smugmug's great google integration work its magic for you. I'm telling you to ignore it. That's what I do and I've got great rankings that have resulted in sales.

2) Concentrate on shooting weddings. Get a few advertisements out there. Put an add in the local paper, get on craig's list, and if you can afford it pay for a google ad and maybe an ad in your local yellow pages. Get to be the best wedding photographer out there and don't drive yourself bananas trying to get to #1 on google. Word of mouth will beat out google any day of the week.

[Malaxos1]

Andy the first gallery is my prices gallery. There were packages listed there. I removed the recently and plan on revamping and putting them back. Also, I asked what should I do about the captions as the wedding were not taken in Florida (I do remember you answering that), I also wanted to know about multiple desriptions as I don't want to type something different for 3500 photos. Also, any idea on what to write? Mike will tell you from his time helping me with my site, I can look at the HTML stuff and not ever see the problem. Oh, I fixed a typo that was in my title, it said Dean Malaxos Photograhy. Thanks again...Dean

I think, that you've got to SLOW down - in everything. Even your posts are somewhat indicative of not reading thoroughly and carefully what others are saying.

I fixed your TITLE on your page, just now for you. This was suggested numerous times -- yet you didn't do it.

I think you've STILL not captioned all your shots - why do 1/2 the job? For example, here:
http://malaxos1.smugmug.com/gallery/569388

I think that you've not entered ANYTHING in the descriptions for some of your galleries, and I wonder why? http://malaxos1.smugmug.com/gallery/1218288

Google will crawl, and find, captions, descriptions, keywords. I've been saying this over and over and over, Dean.

I think you've got work to do.

[Mike Lane]

Thanks Mike, He works as a Pro SEO.

If he doesn't know where to find the fonts used in a web page he needs to make sure he stays out of the webdesign business. And I would personally question his SEO capabilities since so much rides on the source of the page.

[Andy]

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?p=275493#post275493

[Lyle C]

I know its here somewhere, but if someone could point me in the right direction, it would be appreciated. When I view my source code on my website, I notice that under my Title, there is no meta tags showing my keywords the owner etc. When I look at other pages source, they all seem to have that info. I know this is key to having search engines find you.

Any help will be appreciated.

Lyle
www.countryroadsphoto.com

[Andy]

I know its here somewhere, but if someone could point me in the right direction, it would be appreciated. When I view my source code on my website, I notice that under my Title, there is no meta tags showing my keywords the owner etc. When I look at other pages source, they all seem to have that info. I know this is key to having search engines find you.

Any help will be appreciated.

Lyle
www.countryroadsphoto.com

The SmugMug meta tags will overpower any tags put in by you. But, you can change your title, and the "powered by smugmug" part and your name can be anything you like:

put this in your HEAD TAG box: (change as appropriate)

<script language="javascript">document.title="Moon River Photography - Andy Williams"</script>

You can even go crazy (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=25861&highlight=document.title) if you like :D

[Lyle C]

Thanks Andy, I ahve added that to my customization. One more question regarding this. I did a search on Google for "country Roads photo by Lyle Canterbury". It did show up on Google, up at the top. I noticed when i clicked on the link that it took me to www.lylec.smugmug.com (http://www.lylec.smugmug.com). Is there something I can add so it shows my website name?

Lyle
www.countryroadsphoto.com (http://www.countryroadsphoto.com)

[Andy]

Thanks Andy, I ahve added that to my customization. One more question regarding this. I did a search on Google for "country Roads photo by Lyle Canterbury". It did show up on Google, up at the top. I noticed when i clicked on the link that it took me to www.lylec.smugmug.com (http://www.lylec.smugmug.com). Is there something I can add so it shows my website name?

Lyle
www.countryroadsphoto.com (http://www.countryroadsphoto.com)

Honestly, the things I know of are what I've linked above. I've done them, and I get linked mostly as www.moonriverphotography.com -- I think it just takes time, and consistency.

[Lyle C]

Ok, thanks Andy. I just thought there may have been something else missing. Thanks for all your help. Let the traffic start moving in!

Lyle
www.countryroadsphoto.com

:1drink

[vlherring]

I am looking at my site [http://victoriajz.smugmug.com] and how to improve it, traffic, etc. I went into the customization area and there are no Head Tags but then I went into Themes area and the CSS style sheet is all set out nicely. I had that done by a web designing friend so that is fine. But if I go in and mess with Head Tags in Customization do I risk messing up her Theme? I want the Theme to control and think it's set for all my galleries, but also wanted to maximize searching and finding....I am adding keywords etc. as I find time...

thanks much for the usual good work here and elsewhere.

[Andy]

I am looking at my site [http://victoriajz.smugmug.com] and how to improve it, traffic, etc. I went into the customization area and there are no Head Tags but then I went into Themes area and the CSS style sheet is all set out nicely. I had that done by a web designing friend so that is fine. But if I go in and mess with Head Tags in Customization do I risk messing up her Theme? I want the Theme to control and think it's set for all my galleries, but also wanted to maximize searching and finding....I am adding keywords etc. as I find time...

thanks much for the usual good work here and elsewhere.
Hi, meta info in the head tag area will have no effect on your searchablility. What does help, is adding a custom page title, as I have on my site www.moonriverphotography.com

My FAQ: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=26043
#66

:wave

[vlherring]

[QUOTE=Andy]Hi, meta info in the head tag area will have no effect on your searchablility. What does help, is adding a custom page title, as I have on my site www.moonriverphotography.com


I'll plow my way thru that FAQ list - :rofl = but I already have a custom page title [JourneyZing] but apparently what I might need to do is have it say Photography or something else that is searchable??? Is that what you are saying??? Thanks much

[Andy]

I'll plow my way thru that FAQ list - :rofl
You don't need to plow, it's #66 and I gave it to you directly :D

[vlherring]

You don't need to plow, it's #66 and I gave it to you directly :D


Yes, I know...so I hit it and got the discussion of expose the moment - I had stopped on the messages on the top because they made no sense...then I went to the 'last' and voila...thanks...I'll check into it and see if I can figure it out.

[vlherring]

Okay, I went thru the 7 pages of posts and my eyes glazed over with all the code talk...I'm not a comptuer guru, I take photos. I had a friend create a Theme for my site and that works just fine other than I would like to perhaps change or add wording that says JourneyZing! Photography or some such...In her 'code' for the css style sheet I didn't find anything like a var or whatever...there are 'breadcrumbs' but that's just one of many oddities...she isn't around to continue to fix it ....I don't mind trying to learn but her Theme stylesheet is nothing close to the various codes in the 64 entries in this FAQ and i'm afraid of breaking JZ....not sure what to do, It's not a major issue I just thought it might be good to have the word Photography in the title.

Thanks much.

[primedigital]

Hi, meta info in the head tag area will have no effect on your searchablility. What does help, is adding a custom page title, as I have on my site www.moonriverphotography.com (http://www.moonriverphotography.com)

My FAQ: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=26043
#66

:waveWhat is a custom page title and (how and where) do I add it in the control panel? I followed the link to faq #66 and it has to do with removing mouse-over text. What am I missing? Any help is greatly appreciated.

[Andy]

What is a custom page title and (how and where) do I add it in the control panel? I followed the link to faq #66 and it has to do with removing mouse-over text. What am I missing? Any help is greatly appreciated.
:wave

FAQ,
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=26043

#42: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=25861&highlight=document.title
use the bits at the VERY TOP of the first post.

[Michael Ray]

Hi everyone. I'm new here and I thought that I would chime in. One of my few talents is SEO. Even though I didn't read all of the posts in this thread, I did take the time to read the source at Dean's web page.

Dean Malaxos Photography

I see two major flaws in his strategy:

#1 - His title tag contains NO keywords. Big mistake.
#2 - On his index page, There are none of his key words (wedding, portrait, photography) in the first couple of paragraphs. Big no-no.

These two areas are the key first steps.to listing high on Google. Plain and simple.

MR

[GeorgeT]

Another new poster here. I have been following this thread too. My recent foray into the web has me wondering about search engines among other questions. I just put up a caned site and found this helpful page on Web Template Optimizing.
http://www.allwebco-templates.com/support/S_optimizing.htm

Thank you for all your support on Smugmug.
GeorgeT

[Andy]

Another new poster here. I have been following this thread too. My recent foray into the web has me wondering about search engines among other questions. I just put up a caned site and found this helpful page on Web Template Optimizing.
http://www.allwebco-templates.com/support/S_optimizing.htm

Thank you for all your support on Smugmug.
GeorgeT


:wave Neighbor

[Lyle C]

Thought I would add my 2 cents to this discussion. If you Google "Weathered Barns", you should see my site come up right around 2nd on the list. It's taken some time to get to this point, but consisitant keywording has finally paid off, as well as some other work.

:ivar:ivar

[Michael Ray]

Lyle

That's a pretty common response. But really, how much competition is there for your name?

You want to compete for "what you do" and "where you do it". That's where the new business will come from. If someone already knows you name, chances are that they will be able to find your web site. Right?

MR

[JimM]

In Lyle's case, he shoots barns, of the weathered variety. So if someone were looking for images of barns his keywords would do him well.

[Michael Ray]

I don't know a whole lot about how smugmug works, but you guys keep mentioning "keywords". I don't know for sure what you're talking about. In the language of HTML, there is a Metatag called "keywords", which used to be important to alot of search engines. Not so any more.

[ivar]

I don't know a whole lot about how smugmug works, but you guys keep mentioning "keywords". I don't know for sure what you're talking about. In the language of HTML, there is a Metatag called "keywords", which used to be important to alot of search engines. Not so any more.keywords (http://www.smugmug.com/help/keywords-tags)

spiders like them the way we have them on the pages. It's got nothing to do with meta tags.

[Michael Ray]

give me an example...

[primedigital]

Does any one know how to change the way search results appear on google. I have been keywording the heck out of my photos lately, set up a blog (http://www.primedigitalphotography.blogspot.com/) and getting links to my site on other people's blogs and web pages and I think it is starting to work. I did a Google search for kc wedding photographer and a smugmug link came up on page 13 of the results that linked directly to a gallery on my site. Also did a search for kc children's photography and again a smugmug link came up on page 1 that linked directly to one of my galleries.

I'm thinking I need keywords on my homepage as that is where I want people to land when they click on a link to me in the results, but I don't have any galleries on my homepage to put them in. Is there a way to enter them on homepage without going into a gallery?

Here's the rub. Niether of the search results that led to my weblite had any mention of my url or site name. The same applies to searching directly for my site (http://www.primedigitalphotography.com/). The link and description that appears in the search results is sugmug's and at the bottom in green you can see my url. The url did not appear for either of the more generic searches.

Is there any way to affect the way results appear when either searching directly for my site or searching via keywords? I noticed that most of the other results that came up when doing a keyword search have a link that is the name of the photographer/studio and the description is relavent to thier specialty. Also the url that appears at the bottom in green is thier company name.

Andy and the rest of you guys have been super helpful to me in the past and for that I am forever in your debt. :bow Andy, you are the man! If anyone has any info. that could help please post and I'll be your buddy for life. :feelgood

[devbobo]

Tracy,

I checked out a few of your galleries, one thing to note..you don't appear to be using the gallery keywords much...as bear minimum, i would be entering something like...

kc photographer, kanas city photographer, kc wedding photographer, kanas city wedding photographer, wedding photographer, kc childrens photography, kanas city childrens photography, kc kids photography, kanas city kids photography, kids photography, childrens photography, prime digital photography, prime digital, tracy mewmaw

as a bear minimum in ALL of your galleries.

I just found some keywording on your bio page...



<*meta NAME ="keywords"CONTENT="Prime Digital Photography", primedigital, primedigitalphotography.com, photography, wedding, sports, portrait, portraits, "portrait photography", weddings, "wedding photography", "sports photography", event, events, "event photography", photo, photos, "Kansas City", "KC",
photograph, photographs, pet, pets, "pet portraits", "pet photography", children, "maternity portraits", maternity, "maternity portrait","child portraits", kids, "kid portraits", "bmx photography", baseball, "baseball photography", bmx, skateboard, skateboarding, "skateboard photography", "skateboarding photography"*>


The format of this is incorrect. You should not use quotes around keywords in the gallery level keywords. Enter the string all i suggest above...each search term should be seperated by a comma.

Cheers,

David

[devbobo]

Also, put a gallery description in even if you hide it, since it gets entered in the meta description of the page.

Also, make sure you images are keyworded accordingly...if i search using smugmug for 'nc wedding photographer' I don't see any results for your photos in the first few pages.

[Andy]

give me an example...
Of what, please?

[gus]

I see two major flaws in his strategy:

#1 - His title tag contains NO keywords. Big mistake.
#2 - On his index page, There are none of his key words

you guys keep mentioning "keywords". I don't know for sure what you're talking about.



:scratch You are giving advice on key words then in your next post ...asking what they are.

[primedigital]

Tracy,

I checked out a few of your galleries, one thing to note..you don't appear to be using the gallery keywords much...as bear minimum, i would be entering something like...

kc photographer, kanas city photographer, kc wedding photographer, kanas city wedding photographer, wedding photographer, kc childrens photography, kanas city childrens photography, kc kids photography, kanas city kids photography, kids photography, childrens photography, prime digital photography, prime digital, tracy mewmaw

as a bear minimum in ALL of your galleries.

I just found some keywording on your bio page...



<*meta NAME ="keywords"CONTENT="Prime Digital Photography", primedigital, primedigitalphotography.com, photography, wedding, sports, portrait, portraits, "portrait photography", weddings, "wedding photography", "sports photography", event, events, "event photography", photo, photos, "Kansas City", "KC",
photograph, photographs, pet, pets, "pet portraits", "pet photography", children, "maternity portraits", maternity, "maternity portrait","child portraits", kids, "kid portraits", "bmx photography", baseball, "baseball photography", bmx, skateboard, skateboarding, "skateboard photography", "skateboarding photography"*>


The format of this is incorrect. You should not use quotes around keywords in the gallery level keywords. Enter the string all i suggest above...each search term should be seperated by a comma.

Cheers,

David

David , Thanks for taking the time to look at my site. I entered those keywords before I knew what I was doing. I have removed the internal quote marks. Is this section what you are referring to as my bio keywords? In my controll panel these keywords are in my header section.

How do you keyword galleries? I know how to enter keywords at the image level (bulk). Is this what you are referring to? How can I keyword my bio? Also Can you tell me how to get keywords on my homepage? I was thinking of keywording the images in my slide show on the homepage but those are in a private gallery. Do I need to make it public for those keywords to show up on the homepage?

[primedigital]

#1 - His title tag contains NO keywords. Big mistake.
#2 - On his index page, There are none of his key words


Can I copy and paste all of my keywords from my header to my title box or will the crawlers consider this repetition and over look my site? And what is my index page? Also how can I hide gallery descriptions and/or captions?

[devbobo]

David , Thanks for taking the time to look at my site. I entered those keywords before I knew what I was doing. I have removed the internal quote marks. Is this section what you are referring to as my bio keywords? In my controll panel these keywords are in my header section.

How do you keyword galleries? I know how to enter keywords at the image level (bulk). Is this what you are referring to? How can I keyword my bio? Also Can you tell me how to get keywords on my homepage? I was thinking of keywording the images in my slide show on the homepage but those are in a private gallery. Do I need to make it public for those keywords to show up on the homepage?

in both cases I meant 'keywords' in gallery customisation

http://smugmug.com/img/help/store-photos-online-3.gif

[Michael Ray]

Sorry for the confusion related the term "keywords" in a couple of my posts...

I am caught between two worlds here and sometimes I confuse myself. (not hard to do)

Originally Posted by Micheal Ray
I see two major flaws in his strategy:

#1 - His title tag contains NO keywords. Big mistake.
#2 - On his index page, There are none of his key words

Here I meant the "phrases" that you want to be found by, when someone does a google search fro you. For example, I want to dominate the Search Phreses "food photographer" and "food photography". Yes, I have these same phrases in my "keyword" metatag, but most search engines, including google, do not place much weight on the "keyword" metatag. I sometimes refer to these target search phrases as keywords. Sorry.

That's what I refer to as kewords. I'm not really sure what you guys call keywords.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Ray
you guys keep mentioning "keywords". I don't know for sure what you're talking about.

[primedigital]

in both cases I meant 'keywords' in gallery customisation

http://smugmug.com/img/help/store-photos-online-3.gif

David, I get the gallery keywording thing, but as always I have a few more questions. All of my galleries are only visible on my homepage when I am logged in. Does this mean that all of those keywords when searched will bring people to my homepage?

Will keywording password protected galleries help?

Can I copy and paste all of my keywords from my header to my title box or will the crawlers consider this repetition and over look my site?

How can I hide gallery descriptions and/or captions?

Sorry for all of the questions but you seem to really know your stuff.Any help is greatly appreciated.

[BeachBill]

Here's the rub. Niether of the search results that led to my weblite had any mention of my url or site name. The same applies to searching directly for my site (http://www.primedigitalphotography.com/). The link and description that appears in the search results is sugmug's and at the bottom in green you can see my url.
This is probably the biggest search engine related fault that Smugmug has.

I have included an attached image showing the issue you are referring to. The text included in the Google results comes from the meta description and meta keywords that are embedded by Smugmug on your homepage. Smugmug does not allow you to change them, therefore your site gets branded as a Smugmug site. I really hope in the near future that Smugmug corrects this major fault by allowing the photographer to brand the home page and category pages. Note that they do currently allow you to brand the gallery pages with your own meta description and keywords. They just need to allow it on all pages.

[Andy]

This is probably the biggest search engine related fault that Smugmug has.

I have included an attached image showing the issue you are referring to. The text included in the Google results comes from the meta description and meta keywords that are embedded by Smugmug on your homepage. Smugmug does not allow you to change them, therefore your site gets branded as a Smugmug site. I really hope in the near future that Smugmug corrects this major fault by allowing the photographer to brand the home page and category pages. Note that they do currently allow you to brand the gallery pages with your own meta description and keywords. They just need to allow it on all pages.
I'm pretty sure this would crater most folks' search results.

[Michael Ray]

I'm pretty sure this would crater most folks' search results.


Crater?

[gus]

Crater?
Yep ..crater (http://dommy.com/alan/pix/meteor-crater.jpg)

[imageinc]

Well, for what it's worth, my site isn't even out of the free trial yet, and I'm getting google hits on "hair 2007", which is the name of one of my galleries.

I don't know what they're *actually* looking for, since they don't mostly look at the pictures, but...

[BeachBill]

I'm pretty sure this would crater most folks' search results.

Andy, I can't figure out what you mean by this statement? :scratch

[Michael Ray]

Andy, I can't figure out what you mean by this statement? :scratch

I thought that it wasjust me...

:D

[Andy]

Andy, I can't figure out what you mean by this statement? :scratch
I think that folks underestimate the value of SmugMug and giving high search results, and that if you had your own META (not that I'm saying it's even possible), you'd have lower rankings

[Michael Ray]

I think that folks underestimate the value of SmugMug and giving high search results, and that if you had your own META (not that I'm saying it's even possible), you'd have lower rankings

so... Can people replace the meta tags that show up by default, including the "title" tag?

MR

[Andy]

so... Can people replace the meta tags that show up by default, including the "title" tag?

MR
:nod it's in the FAQ in the customization forum.

[BeachBill]

I think that folks underestimate the value of SmugMug and giving high search results, and that if you had your own META (not that I'm saying it's even possible), you'd have lower rankings

Andy,

Depends on what you are searching for, but that's not what I'm referring to here.

I'm referring to the actual results shown by Google. If you look at the screenshot I posted from Google, you will see that Google has listed www.primedigitalphotography.com as "SmugMug - The ultimate in photo sharing..." and then lists the description of SmugMug, not the description of Prime Digital Photography.

The problem is that www.primedigitalphotography.com is not SmugMug, it's Prime Digital Photography.

[Dutch]

Andy,

Depends on what you are searching for, but that's not what I'm referring to here.

I'm referring to the actual results shown by Google. If you look at the screenshot I posted from Google, you will see that Google has listed www.primedigitalphotography.com (http://www.primedigitalphotography.com) as "SmugMug - The ultimate in photo sharing..." and then lists the description of SmugMug, not the description of Prime Digital Photography.

The problem is that www.primedigitalphotography.com (http://www.primedigitalphotography.com) is not SmugMug, it's Prime Digital Photography.

I am also interested in knowing how to have my website name appear in the title line of the search engine results listing. As BeachBill notes, the results listings shows, "SmugMug - The ultimate in photo sharing...." As a pro level subscriber I should be able to market my website name...not SmugMug's.

Andy - I see that you are able to include your website name in google results.

Moon River Photography -- Andy Williams - powered by smugmug (http://williams.smugmug.com/)The ultimate in photo sharing. Easily create online photo albums. Share, store, organize and print.
williams.smugmug.com/ - 28k - Cached (http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:oi4wpUNxBVUJ:williams.smugmug.com/+moon+river+photography&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1) - Similar pages (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&pwst=1&q=related:williams.smugmug.com/)

Perhaps you could share with us how you were able to accomplish this. Also, how can I include a description of my website in the search results list rather than promoting SmugMug?

Thanks for the help.

[Michael Ray]

I am also interested in knowing how to have my website name appear in the title line of the search engine results listing. As BeachBill notes, the results listings shows, "SmugMug - The ultimate in photo sharing...." As a pro level subscriber I should be able to market my website name...not SmugMug's.

Andy - I see that you are able to include your website name in google results.

Moon River Photography -- Andy Williams - powered by smugmug (http://williams.smugmug.com/)The ultimate in photo sharing. Easily create online photo albums. Share, store, organize and print.
williams.smugmug.com/ - 28k - Cached (http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:oi4wpUNxBVUJ:williams.smugmug.com/+moon+river+photography&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1) - Similar pages (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&pwst=1&q=related:williams.smugmug.com/)

Perhaps you could share with us how you were able to accomplish this. Also, how can I include a description of my website in the search results list rather than promoting SmugMug?

Thanks for the help.



The title is in the "title tag" and the description is in the "description tag"

go figure...

Those are the ones you need to change

[BeachBill]

The title is in the "title tag" and the description is in the "description tag"

go figure...

Those are the ones you need to change
The title/description you are referring to are for individual galleries.

For the home page, you can set the title that Google displays in search results via the Control Panel / Customization Settings / Page Title but you cannot change the description. The description is hardcoded to:

"The ultimate in photo sharing. Easily create online photo albums. Share, store, organize and print."

[Michael Ray]

I'm not sure how smug mug works. I'm talking about html.

[karie]

two days ago i was #5 in google. today i don't appear at all. why? www.kariemitchell.com

[JDub]

Google is great, but also try yahoo.com, msn.com, aol.com, ask.com, earthlink.net, search.com, etc

[gus]

An experiment i just tried a moment ago. I googled 'comet mcnaught photo brisbane' as i had put those key words in against one photo last night. Up it came on google instantly here. (http://wadjelaphotography.smugmug.com/photos/124932798-L.jpg)

So i had another photo of the comet thus i went back & copied those key words from the first to the second photo i had & hit refresh on google & 'wham' my second shot was there instantly. (http://wadjelaphotography.smugmug.com/photos/124932836-L.jpg)

Pretty cool SmugMug ..thanks :thumb

[Michael Ray]

Gus

I have a very herd time believing what you just said. It goes against everything I know about Google. I don't know you at all, so I'm assuming that you are telling the truth.

Even though it is a rather obscure search, I have NEVER seen Google pick up a listing that fast. Usually it takes days or weeks or even months, never seconds. You either got REALLY lucky, or there is some other bizarre explanation. I’d be curious to learn more.

Having said all that… There is a big difference between having a relatively non-competitive phrase like “comet mcnaught photo Brisbane” and rate well and having a more competitive phrase like “(your city)(what you do)”. Unless your page has a good “title tag”, you will never rank very highly. You guys need to work on getting that to happen.

[gus]

Gus

I have a very herd time believing what you just said. It goes against everything I know about Google. I don't know you at all, so I'm assuming that you are telling the truth.


I have a lot better things to do than to bullshit. That photo appeared withing ..a guess ...5 seconds. take it or leave it, i saw it happen.

I know this will come as a surprise to you ..but my day wont change a whole lot if you think im making it up or not. You appear to want to say im lying yet then hedging your bets that i may not be.

Anyone can try this exercise...it isnt rocket science as some talk on & on & on about whining like a jet engine.

[Michael Ray]

I'd be curious...

Do it again (when you get a chance) and see if it works like last time. Use some really weird keywords to see if that matters...

Thanks

MR

[r9jackson]

I have spent almos a year trying to get my site recognized by the search engines. I am have a lot of trouble. If you do a search for Dean malaxos you will find me. However, if you do a search for Lakeland Florida wedding Photographer, you will never find me in a million years. What am I doing wrong, what did you do...Dean
I've spent the day after Christmas reading everything I could on dgrin about Search Engine Optimization (SEO). I also have started doing many of the fixes that have been suggested.

I think the most important thing I did was revive my photography blog and cross link it back here to SmugMug. I'm not looking for more techniques, although I will certainly listen to them and try most of them. I am going to sit back, look at Google Analytics for the next month and see if things get better. I'm betting they do.

My blog is at: http://randyonphotography.blogspot.com

and my SmugMug site is www.randyjacksonimages.com (http://www.randyjacksonimages.com)

Yes, I know the URL's are too long, but now I've got everything attached to them.

[denisegoldberg]

I think the most important thing I did was revive my photography blog and cross link it back here to SmugMug. I'm not looking for more techniques, although I will certainly listen to them and try most of them.
The few photos that you currently have in your blog are linked to bloggers photo store, not to your smugmug account. I'd recommend using your own <a href= and <img src= statements when you embed photos in your blog; don't use blogger's image button.

The html you need for these can be seen in the post Adding photos to your blog (http://www.dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=886014&postcount=2).

If you'd like to match the look of your blog to your smugmug site, see HOW TO match your blog to your smug site (blogger-specific) (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=101262).

The sidebar image titled IMAGES ON SMUGMUG - clicking on the photo opens the smugmug gallery in Firefox, but it doesn't work in IE8. Also - I recommend not opening a separate browser window for that click. Since you have an entry in your smug navbar to jump to your blog there is no reason to open a separate window/browser tab. Once sites start doing that I generally close them and don't go back - the control over the number of windows opened should be up to the viewer.

--- Denise

[r9jackson]

The few photos that you currently have in your blog are linked to bloggers photo store, not to your smugmug account. I'd recommend using your own <a href= and <img src= statements when you embed photos in your blog; don't use blogger's image button.

--- Denise
Thanks Denise. I saw some of those threads earlier, but didn't quite understand them. I will now go back and use your suggestions. Let's see if I can get it right.

[r9jackson]

The few photos that you currently have in your blog are linked to bloggers photo store, not to your smugmug account. I'd recommend using your own <a href= and <img src= statements when you embed photos in your blog; don't use blogger's image button.

The html you need for these can be seen in the post Adding photos to your blog (http://www.dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=886014&postcount=2).

If you'd like to match the look of your blog to your smugmug site, see HOW TO match your blog to your smug site (blogger-specific) (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=101262).

The sidebar image titled IMAGES ON SMUGMUG - clicking on the photo opens the smugmug gallery in Firefox, but it doesn't work in IE8. Also - I recommend not opening a separate browser window for that click. Since you have an entry in your smug navbar to jump to your blog there is no reason to open a separate window/browser tab. Once sites start doing that I generally close them and don't go back - the control over the number of windows opened should be up to the viewer.

--- Denise
Thanks again Denise. I changed the two pictures to your suggestion. I didn't use the custom sizes, but it seems to work out OK. I placed a disclaimer on the SmugMug badge (right corner). Not exactly what you suggested, but I really want the rotating badge in that position. Maybe the readers won't click on it.

The other pictures on the page are special clips used for illustrating my subject.

On the suggestion to match the two, I'm not that comfortable with HTML to take that on just yet.

Overall, what did you think about the blog? Is it something that you would look at for some tips? I have some mini-tutorials and product reviews scheduled to post over the next two weeks.

[Hikin' Mike]

I've spent the day after Christmas reading everything I could on dgrin about Search Engine Optimization (SEO). I also have started doing many of the fixes that have been suggested.

I think the most important thing I did was revive my photography blog and cross link it back here to SmugMug. I'm not looking for more techniques, although I will certainly listen to them and try most of them. I am going to sit back, look at Google Analytics for the next month and see if things get better. I'm betting they do.

My blog is at: http://randyonphotography.blogspot.com

and my SmugMug site is www.randyjacksonimages.com (http://www.randyjacksonimages.com)

Yes, I know the URL's are too long, but now I've got everything attached to them.

If you want to be found in search engines, the title tag 'Randy Jackson Images' needs improvement. When was the last time somebody searched for your name to find one of your nature photos?

[Andy]

I've spent the day after Christmas reading everything I could on dgrin about Search Engine Optimization (SEO). I also have started doing many of the fixes that have been suggested.
Don't forget everything that we lay out here:
http://www.smugmug.com/help/search-engines

:thumb