{"id":68773,"date":"2017-11-06T13:45:09","date_gmt":"2017-11-06T21:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=68773"},"modified":"2017-11-06T13:47:14","modified_gmt":"2017-11-06T21:47:14","slug":"photography-seo-and-blogging-how-to-become-number-one-on-google","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2017\/11\/06\/photography-seo-and-blogging-how-to-become-number-one-on-google\/","title":{"rendered":"Photography SEO and Blogging: How to Become Number One on Google"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Google<\/p>\n

I am currently #1 on Google for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153street photography\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with my \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Ultimate Beginner\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Guide for Street Photography<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and also for my \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Street Photography 101<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d series, and also am #1 for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Eric Kim\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.<\/p>\n

How did I do it? What is my \u00e2\u20ac\u0153secret sauce\u00e2\u20ac\u009d? Did I do it via \u00e2\u20ac\u0153cheating\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00e2\u20ac\u201d or paying a bunch of money?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In this guide, I will share everything I have learned about \u00e2\u20ac\u0153SEO\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (search engine optimization)\u00e2\u20ac\u201d how to get to number one on Google.<\/p>\n

Sign up for ERIC KIM NEWSLETTER for insider tips on photography marketing, branding, and monetization.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Principles<\/h2>\n

\"Google<\/p>\n

To start off, SEO and search engine optimization for Google is a bit like witchcraft\/alchemy. Nobody knows anything.<\/p>\n

Now, there are certain principles that people know which hold true, based on my personal experience and understanding:<\/p>\n

1. Google works like academia<\/h3>\n

\"PHOTOGRAPHY<\/p>\n

Google ranks your site according to how \u00e2\u20ac\u0153legitimate\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153reputable\u00e2\u20ac\u009d it considers you. For example, if a high-ranking website links to your website, your website will be ranked higher.<\/p>\n

Therefore, one of the goals is to have higher ranking websites link to you \u00e2\u20ac\u201d which can be done via guest blog posts (writing an article for a popular website and linking back to your website), by writing a popular blog post or article that gets shared a lot, or having lots of social media traffic on the internet (via Facebook, Twitter, etc) linking to your website, blog, articles, or content.<\/p>\n

2. Freshness counts:<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Google generally ranks fresher content or websites higher. Which means, if you have a new blog post on street photography, it might rank your website higher in terms of your \u00e2\u20ac\u0153pagerank\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (the number Google assigns you, to rate your website on a set of arbitrary rules).<\/p>\n

3. Content is king:<\/h3>\n

\"Bauhaus<\/p>\n

Ultimately based on my experience, your website will only rank highly if you write information and provide content which is empowering, useful, valuable, timely, honest, raw, inspirational, motivational, or educational. Do NOT<\/strong> think you can \u00e2\u20ac\u0153fool\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Google by stuffing tons of random tags, keywords, and try any gimmicky \u00e2\u20ac\u0153tricks\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to rank higher. Google is constantly changing, adjusting, and tweaking their algorithm \u00e2\u20ac\u201d so whatever \u00e2\u20ac\u0153tricks\u00e2\u20ac\u009d people have used in the past will not work anymore.<\/p>\n

3,237 Posts and Counting…<\/h2>\n
\"November
November 6, 2017 screenshot of my posts in WordPress: 3,237 Posts<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since the birth of this blog (around 2011) until now (November 2017), I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve written 3,237 posts.<\/p>\n

Which brings me to another point:<\/p>\n

\n More content is more.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Which means \u00e2\u20ac\u201d at least in the eyes of Google, I think the more you post, the better.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What I personally love about blogging is how liberating and freeing it is. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like writing a paper book, or a boring essay for your teachers.<\/p>\n

My secret sauce<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For me, I only blog or write when I feel like it, only on topics which personally interest me, in my own #nofilter writing style. I think this is the secret I have to bring so prolific and productive with my blogging over the years.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"As
As a figure to ground example, I drew a curved white object against a black background. This has \u00e2\u20ac\u0153strong\u00e2\u20ac\u009d figure-to-ground.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Before you go any further, I want to clarify:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. It is not necessary for you to have a blog, or a photo blog. It helps, but isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t 100% necessary.<\/li>\n
  2. If you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like to blog, or if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not interested in learning about photography blogging, SEO, or Google, stop reading this article. This isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t for you.<\/li>\n
  3. This is all based on my ERIC KIM GOOGLE\/BLOGGING theory\/philosophy and won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t work for you. My \u00e2\u20ac\u0153success\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is a combination of luck, sheer perseverance, timing, and ability to synthesize and product vast waves of information.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Why not social media?<\/h2>\n

    \"Woman<\/p>\n

    I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a bit skeptical of traditional forms of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153social media\u00e2\u20ac\u009d like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. Why? You don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t own the content you post on those sites; they own you.<\/p>\n

    To own your own website, blog, platform, is true freedom. If you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t own your own website, I recommend you to register your own website with 1and1.com or bluehost.com and use the free open source WordPress.org Architecture\/Backend\/Content Management System (CMS). This will allow you to actually be indexed by Google, and have more freedom over your content: your pictures, videos, images, text, and more.<\/p>\n

    \"Eric
    Made with iPad and a Procreate App<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    To read more on this topic, read: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Why I deleted my Instagram<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Why I am anti-Instagram<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.<\/p>\n

    Build your empire, one brick at a time<\/h2>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    Time is the ultimate test<\/em>.<\/p>\n

    To become number one on Google, you need time on your side to build up your own empire.<\/p>\n

    For example, I built my legitimacy and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153expertness\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in the field of street photography by producing epic works, such as:<\/p>\n