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    "result": {"data":{"site":{"siteMetadata":{"title":"your friend Joel's digital garden","description":"Articles and notes from a collaborator at egghead.io. Musings on software, business, and life from a skilled virtual assistant.","author":{"name":"Joel Hooks"},"keywords":["Video Blogger"]}},"mdx":{"excerpt":"This is a series of post examining why our  Fort Worth photography\nstudio  website performs poorly in Google search\nresults, and why it fails to convert the visitors it does get into new clients.\nThe first post sought to  analyze Google…","fields":{"github":"https://github.com/joelhooks/joelhooks-com/tree/master/content/legacy_blog/2013-06-25-why-doesnt-my-photography-studio-website-appear-in-search-results.markdown"},"body":"var _excluded = [\"components\"];\n\nfunction _extends() { _extends = Object.assign || function (target) { for (var i = 1; i < arguments.length; i++) { var source = arguments[i]; for (var key in source) { if (Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(source, key)) { target[key] = source[key]; } } } return target; }; return _extends.apply(this, arguments); }\n\nfunction _objectWithoutProperties(source, excluded) { if (source == null) return {}; var target = _objectWithoutPropertiesLoose(source, excluded); var key, i; if (Object.getOwnPropertySymbols) { var sourceSymbolKeys = Object.getOwnPropertySymbols(source); for (i = 0; i < sourceSymbolKeys.length; i++) { key = sourceSymbolKeys[i]; if (excluded.indexOf(key) >= 0) continue; if (!Object.prototype.propertyIsEnumerable.call(source, key)) continue; target[key] = source[key]; } } return target; }\n\nfunction _objectWithoutPropertiesLoose(source, excluded) { if (source == null) return {}; var target = {}; var sourceKeys = Object.keys(source); var key, i; for (i = 0; i < sourceKeys.length; i++) { key = sourceKeys[i]; if (excluded.indexOf(key) >= 0) continue; target[key] = source[key]; } return target; }\n\n/* @jsxRuntime classic */\n\n/* @jsx mdx */\nvar _frontmatter = {\n  \"layout\": \"post\",\n  \"title\": \"Why Doesn't My Photography Studio Website Appear in Search Results?\",\n  \"date\": \"2013-06-25T00:00:00.000Z\"\n};\nvar layoutProps = {\n  _frontmatter: _frontmatter\n};\nvar MDXLayout = \"wrapper\";\nreturn function MDXContent(_ref) {\n  var components = _ref.components,\n      props = _objectWithoutProperties(_ref, _excluded);\n\n  return mdx(MDXLayout, _extends({}, layoutProps, props, {\n    components: components,\n    mdxType: \"MDXLayout\"\n  }), mdx(\"p\", null, \"This is a series of post examining why our \", mdx(\"a\", {\n    parentName: \"p\",\n    \"href\": \"https://www.visualempathy.com\"\n  }, \"Fort Worth photography\\nstudio\"), \" website performs poorly in Google search\\nresults, and why it fails to convert the visitors it does get into new clients.\\nThe first post sought to \", mdx(\"a\", {\n    parentName: \"p\",\n    \"href\": \"https://joelhooks.com/blog/2013/06/22/optimizing-a-photography-studio-website-for-converstion-and-seo-the-analysis/\"\n  }, \"analyze Google Analytics\\ndata\"), \"\\nand get a clue as to how users arrive to the site via search. The short story is\\nthat they typically arrive via image searches for very generic terms such as \\\"4\\nmonth old baby\\\" and other similar searches. Even amongst these searches, actual\\nclicks through to the site are abysmally low. I'm working on a \", mdx(\"a\", {\n    parentName: \"p\",\n    \"href\": \"https://studioigniter.com/\"\n  }, \"book about\\nconversion optimization for photographers\"), \", and our\\nstudio is the first case study in the process.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, mdx(\"span\", {\n    parentName: \"p\",\n    \"className\": \"gatsby-resp-image-wrapper\",\n    \"style\": {\n      \"position\": \"relative\",\n      \"display\": \"block\",\n      \"marginLeft\": \"auto\",\n      \"marginRight\": \"auto\",\n      \"maxWidth\": \"800px\"\n    }\n  }, \"\\n      \", mdx(\"a\", {\n    parentName: \"span\",\n    \"className\": \"gatsby-resp-image-link\",\n    \"href\": \"/static/ac0f0648a44f6ac985789a030fc26a71/4b190/ve-home.jpg\",\n    \"style\": {\n      \"display\": \"block\"\n    },\n    \"target\": \"_blank\",\n    \"rel\": \"noopener\"\n  }, \"\\n    \", mdx(\"span\", {\n    parentName: \"a\",\n    \"className\": \"gatsby-resp-image-background-image\",\n    \"style\": {\n      \"paddingBottom\": \"124.7104247104247%\",\n      \"position\": \"relative\",\n      \"bottom\": \"0\",\n      \"left\": \"0\",\n      \"backgroundImage\": \"url('data:image/jpeg;base64,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')\",\n      \"backgroundSize\": \"cover\",\n      \"display\": \"block\"\n    }\n  }), \"\\n  \", mdx(\"img\", {\n    parentName: \"a\",\n    \"className\": \"gatsby-resp-image-image\",\n    \"alt\": \"VE Home Page\",\n    \"title\": \"VE Home Page\",\n    \"src\": \"/static/ac0f0648a44f6ac985789a030fc26a71/4b190/ve-home.jpg\",\n    \"srcSet\": [\"/static/ac0f0648a44f6ac985789a030fc26a71/8356d/ve-home.jpg 259w\", \"/static/ac0f0648a44f6ac985789a030fc26a71/bc760/ve-home.jpg 518w\", \"/static/ac0f0648a44f6ac985789a030fc26a71/4b190/ve-home.jpg 800w\"],\n    \"sizes\": \"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\",\n    \"style\": {\n      \"width\": \"100%\",\n      \"height\": \"100%\",\n      \"margin\": \"0\",\n      \"verticalAlign\": \"middle\",\n      \"position\": \"absolute\",\n      \"top\": \"0\",\n      \"left\": \"0\"\n    },\n    \"loading\": \"lazy\",\n    \"decoding\": \"async\"\n  }), \"\\n  \"), \"\\n    \")), mdx(\"p\", null, \"Let's start at the top, with the page title:\"), mdx(\"p\", null, mdx(\"em\", {\n    parentName: \"p\"\n  }, \"Visual Empathy Portrait Photography, Dallas Fort Worth | Modern Lifestyle\\nPortraiture | Fine portrait photography | Children's Portraits | Portrait\\nPhotographer\")), mdx(\"p\", null, \"These are some interesting phrases. I can almost remember writing them.\\nFirst, the business name. The site does really\\nwell when searching for \\\"Visual Empathy\\\", which of course nobody does. It has\\n\\\"Dallas Fort Worth\\\" in the title, which is definitely where we are at, but they\\nare in isolation. I thought these two were interesting:\"), mdx(\"ul\", null, mdx(\"li\", {\n    parentName: \"ul\"\n  }, \"Fine portrait photography\"), mdx(\"li\", {\n    parentName: \"ul\"\n  }, \"Modern Lifestyle Portraiture\")), mdx(\"p\", null, \"Why are they interesting? Because they've both been searched for by \", mdx(\"strong\", {\n    parentName: \"p\"\n  }, \"nobody\\never\"), \". \\\"Children's Portraits\\\" and \\\"Portrait Photographer\\\" are ok, but it is a\\nbunch of disjointed keywords that gives Google's robots no specifics to hone in\\non. Robots \", mdx(\"em\", {\n    parentName: \"p\"\n  }, \"really\"), \" like specifics.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"Walking down the page, we get to the header. The logo is actually a background\\nimage, which misses an opportunity to use the alt text to let the robots know\\nwhat the page is about. Image alt text is actually important, and was something\\nthat I never even considered when I put this page together in 2007. Sliding\\nacross the header is the navigation, which isn't egregious, but is also\\nextremely generic and vague, targeting pages that have extremely generic and\\nvague titles. Again, missed opportunity to turn on the bright blinking lights\\nabout what this page is for Google.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"Next down the page is the gallery. My wife takes truly wonderful pictures of\\npeople. The photography is beautiful, but it is\\nalso hidden behind now dated Flash image gallery. While this isn't really\\nhurting us in terms of SEO, it probably isn't helping either. We are\\n\", mdx(\"em\", {\n    parentName: \"p\"\n  }, \"definitely\"), \" missing another opportunity to use the alt tags on the images. The\\nworst part about this presentation is that it totally excludes mobile phones.\\nVisit the page on an iPhone and you get a big white field of \", mdx(\"strong\", {\n    parentName: \"p\"\n  }, \"nothing\"), \". Not\\ncool.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"Down below the fold is a mishmash. To the left is an area that uses a special\\ncatagory of blog post to show a special. It isn't helping with SEO at all. No\\nkeyword phrases, no image alt text. The picture is nice, but otherwise...\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"Now to the right. 6 paragraphs of me being \\\"clever\\\", using flowery phrases and a\\nsmattering of keywords. The last paragraph has the potential to actually harm\\nour SEO. Google robots \", mdx(\"em\", {\n    parentName: \"p\"\n  }, \"hate\"), \" keyword packing. The same word, photographer in\\nthis case, repeated over and over again.\"), mdx(\"h2\", null, \"Digging into the blog...\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"Blogs have a ton of potential for capturing the \", mdx(\"strong\", {\n    parentName: \"p\"\n  }, \"long tail of SEO\"), \". This is\\nwhere we can really produce some content, using keywords that highlight specific\\nterms and phrases that potential customers might search for. For a photographer\\nthe blog can also serve as a gallery that uses posts as a way for clients to\\npin, like, and share their pictures with family and friends.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"I'll use the latest post at the time of this writing that highlights some\\nbeautiful wedding photos. The title is \", mdx(\"em\", {\n    parentName: \"p\"\n  }, \"J&J Wedding- Dallas/ Fort Worth Wedding\\nPhotographer\"), \". Looking down the page, they all follow this pattern. \", mdx(\"em\", {\n    parentName: \"p\"\n  }, \"Client\\nName- Dallas/ Fort Worth \", \"*\", mdx(\"strong\", {\n    parentName: \"em\"\n  }, \"*\", \"_\", \"*\", \"*\"), \" Photographer\"), \". This is where we start to see\\nthe origins of the image search results we talked about above. The post titles\\nare definitely affecting search results, but not a way that is useful for the\\nsite's SEO. I suspect the repeated use of the exact same \", mdx(\"em\", {\n    parentName: \"p\"\n  }, \"Dallas/ Fort Worth\\nPhotographer\"), \" in the titles is adversely affecting search results too. That is\\njust a suspicion, but given the objective results (or lack of results), the post\\ntitles aren't \", mdx(\"em\", {\n    parentName: \"p\"\n  }, \"helping\"), \". The image alt tags are also not contributing here. They\\nare the filenames. Nobody is searching for specific filenames when they search\\nfor a local portrait photographer.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"Kristina also got into a \\\"blog circle\\\" this year. This is a good idea. Their\\nimplementation of the concept could use some work, but it could be a good thing.\\nThe drawback here is that it effectively turned the blog into a personal blog,\\nakin to a Tumblr. I love my children, but rule number one of your photography\\nwebsite has to be \", mdx(\"strong\", {\n    parentName: \"p\"\n  }, \"only post your best\"), \", and these once a week posts border\\non snapshots at times.\"), mdx(\"h2\", null, \"And in conclusion.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"The only redeeming aspect of the website is the photography. Period. Which is\\ngreat news. Given awesome photography, we can build something on top of that.\\nThese first two posts are a little boring, but I wanted to deconstruct the site\\nto understand exactly what was wrong.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"The really interesting bits are in the fixing, and that is what is coming next.\\nI'm terribly excited to start the process. Stay tuned!\"));\n}\n;\nMDXContent.isMDXComponent = true;","frontmatter":{"title":"Why Doesn't My Photography Studio Website Appear in Search Results?","date":"June 25, 2013","banner":null,"slug":null,"keywords":null}}},"pageContext":{"id":"2b603bb2-d27e-57fd-9676-2071070b4fce","prev":{"id":"7e74f129-d4c3-51f2-86f1-8b100280395f","parent":{"name":"2013-07-15-a-look-at-angularjs-internal-directives-that-override-standard-html-tags","sourceInstanceName":"legacy"},"excerpt":"Directives are the heart and soul of AngularJS. They are incredibly powerful.\nAngularJS sets out to extend the grammar of the browser to supply semantics that\nfacilitate the creation of web applications, going beyond the standard\nhyper-linked web…","fields":{"title":"AngularJS Directives That Override Standard HTML Tags","slug":"blog/2013/07/15/a-look-at-angularjs-internal-directives-that-override-standard-html-tags","date":"2013-07-15T00:00:00.000Z"}},"next":{"id":"8351847a-bd87-526c-b088-62cf34470d6b","parent":{"name":"2013-06-22-optimizing-a-photography-studio-website-for-converstion-and-seo-the-analysis","sourceInstanceName":"legacy"},"excerpt":"The internet is a competitive place for small businesses, and this is especially\ntrue when we are talking about portrait photographers. My lovely wife is a\n family photographer in Fort Worth , Texas. She's been\ndoing portrait photography…","fields":{"title":"Optimizing a Photography Studio Website for Converstion and SEO: The Analysis","slug":"blog/2013/06/22/optimizing-a-photography-studio-website-for-converstion-and-seo-the-analysis","date":"2013-06-22T00:00:00.000Z"}}}},
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