Google+ for photographers

[IoanSaid]

What do you think is the best approach when it comes to using Google+ as a photographer?

The images have no real SEO benefit, but the ones I post seem to get shared more, +1ed more than posting a link to one of my blog posts with a preview image.

What do you think is the best way to approach this problem?

[MattAntonino]

Best thing you can do to get P-interst over there is to join in. Too often we share our stuff, pin our stuff, and run away.

Try this and try it honestly:

Go to Pinterest and search for interesting things. Instead of pinning, leave comments on everything you think is unique, cool, fun, interesting, or beautiful. Leave genuine, 10 word+ comments and do this for about an 30-60 mins a day for two weeks straight.  Follow more users and repin some of your favorite stuff onto a board called Inspiration from Others

At the end of two weeks, if your own repins aren't up, try something else. lol  But they will be - in which case: lather, rinse & repeat.

[IoanSaid]

Oh yeah, it was purely from an SEO standpoint.

Not quite sure how to encourage people to share my stuff from or on Pinterest yet.

[MattAntonino]

Source: I was a full time professional photographer making 100% of my living with my camera for almost 10 years until I jumped into SEO.

I would say the best thing to do with G+ for photographers is post your newest blog post link alongside a photo and get off G+ again quickly.  You're MUCH better off using sites that benefit photographers directly: weddinggawker.com, Pinterest, Instagram and even Flickr have done more for my career in photo than any amount of G+, Twitter & Facebook.  Think about the target audience. How many brides/magazine editors/restaurant chefs are on G+?  As was said, it's a great place for photographers and as we know, IT people. Unless you're doing IT photo shoots, it's not a place for the masses.  Use the photo-related social media that already exists.

[Alex-Harford]

If your pictures get shared more than links then it's still worth doing - it could lead to an SEO benefit as it's spreading your name around, and maybe Google will begin to associate you as an authority in the world of photography. Perhaps people will put your name into a search engine after seeing one of your photos, or maybe you'll have a Jeff moment! That would be cool.

I read somewhere that photos get liked and commented more on Facebook than links because with links people are clicking away from Facebook, so when they go back they forget to interact again. I can agree with that - and that people are sometimes unwilling to click away from Facebook. The same probably applies to Google+.

I'm an amateur photographer myself so maybe I should see what's going on with photography on G+...

[customerparadigm.com]

Loan-

I do both.  I think that it's important to share your work with others, and join the community.

Also, a quick follow up to my earlier post; although the Moz article claims a high correlation between Google +1 and higher rankings, Matt Cutts tried to set the record straight here:

http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2290337/Matt-Cutts-Google-1s-Dont-Lead-to-Higher-Ranking

Thanks!  And let's connect on Google+
-- Jeff

[IoanSaid]

Ok, so you're into sharing the links rather than posting the pictures then?

[customerparadigm.com]

Loan -

I'm also a professional photographer and when Google+ first launched, I think the biggest community that embraced it was the photographer industry.

I went into a photoshoot about a year and a half ago (I was shooting a very high-end home in Boulder, Colorado for an interior designer), and the first thing the owner of the house said was, "Hey... I follow you on Google+"

Honestly, that's the only time that's ever happened though.

Google+ for me and photography has allowed me to connect with other photographers all around the world. I've seen some amazing work by other photographers, that I wouldn't have seen anywhere else.

That said, I think that the biggest thing that Google+ has done is that if I write an article or content page on my site, a Google+ posting (especially if it gets +1'd by many people) ensure that the post is indexed pretty quickly.

Here's a Moz article about the correlation between Google +1 and search rankings:
http://moz.com/blog/google-plus-correlations
After Page Authority, a URL's number of Google +1s is more highly correlated with search rankings than any other factor. In fact, the correlation of Google +1s beat out other well known metrics including linking root domains, Facebook shares, and even keyword usage.

Hope this helps!
-- Jeff