The Wedding Photographer’s Guide to Venue Keywords

Image Credit: Tayla Jayne Photography

If you’re a wedding photographer, ranking for your main service location is the ultimate dream, but venue keywords are the undiscovered gold mines.

Most of the time, couples find their venue before they book a photographer. If you show up for venue keywords for wedding photography when they’re scouting a location, you’re already one step ahead.

Search Volume is a Vanishing Act

Don’t obsess over a high search volume. A keyword with an estimated 10 monthly searches might seem small, but those people have high intent to become your next wedding client. 

Getting found by couples who have already booked their venue is worth more than a thousand people just ‘browsing’ for inspo.

Keyword Variations

Google doesn’t just look for one exact phrase anymore. It groups words based on their mathematical meaning, known as vectors. The standard ‘[Venue] wedding photography’ will almost always be a good start, but make sure to also write around related keywords such as:

• [Venue Name] reception photos
• wedding photography tips at [Venue Name] 
• best photo spots at [Venue Name]

This builds authority around the venue. It proves to Google you’re not just trying to rank for the sake of it, you’re covering the whole topic.

Use Real Names and Places

Google identifies ‘entities’. People, places, and specific things. This is called Named Entity Recognition (NER).

When writing a blog, like a gallery article, be specific. Mention the exact name of the hotel they got ready at, the chapel, the nearby park you did after the ceremony, the local café where the wedding party got their morning coffee, the venue they boogied down to at the reception. 

These specific nodes help Google’s Knowledge Graph connect your business to that location.

Out with the Old (Generic), In With The New (Information)

Google rewards new information, because it needs this (Information Gain) to keep learning. If your blog post says the same as the other top five ranking results, you might rank but it’ll be a struggle to outrank.

Use your first-hand experience to stand out:

• Describe the light – Tell them how the sun hits the hills at golden hour during an Autumn wedding.
• Be a problem solver – Mention that the grass gets soft after it gets dewy, so the bride and bridesmaids need heel stoppers.
• Share the vibe – Mention the legendary staff who went above and beyond. Is the walk to the ceremony spot a bit of a hike so the coordinator will drive them in a buggy?

If AI couldn’t have written it, you’re already winning. 

Link Those Articles With Your Venue Keywords

Your venue keywords will mostly live in your Gallery or Real Wedding articles. But don’t let those pages be dead ends.

Add a link between your articles using proper ‘link text’ (aka anchor text), that’s descriptive and exact or close to your keywords. For example, instead of ‘click here,’ add the link text to the keyword ‘Check out this Yandina Station Wedding Ceremony’.

Avoid:

<p>I loved shooting this gallery. <a href="https://indiephotoandfilm.com.au/yandina-station-wedding">Click here</a> to see more.</p>

This gives Google zero context. It doesn’t tell the search bot (or your client) where they’re going.

Do this instead: 

<p>I loved shooting this gallery. <a href="https://indiephotoandfilm.com.au/yandina-station-wedding">Check out this Yandina Station Wedding Ceremony</a> to see more.</p>

This is what we call descriptive anchor text. You’re using a venue keyword to bridge the gap between two pages. It tells Google exactly what the destination page is about.

It also helps Google crawl your site and understands the relationship between pages, its intent, and its entities. Entities like your main service location you want to rank for!