Most photographers pick SEO keywords for photographers the way they pick a caption. Something that sounds nice, with the city added at the end.
The best SEO keywords for photographers are the ones that show what the person searching wants to do next: learn something, find someone, compare photographers or book one. That want is called search intent, and it’s the part almost nobody talks about.
I’ve been a working photographer for almost ten years. For most of them, I wrote blog posts that answered questions beautifully and booked nobody. This guide is what I’d tell myself back then.
What search intent means for a photographer
Search intent is the reason behind a search. The same city and the same session type can come from someone who wants free tips or from someone ready to pay a deposit today.
Think about two searches:
- “what to wear for family photos on the beach”
- “family photographer Kailua prices”
Both are about family photos. Both could bring someone to your website. Only one of them is a person holding a credit card.
The first person wants help. They might book a photographer one day, or they might hand their phone to a stranger at sunset. The second person has already decided to hire someone. They’re choosing who.
If your website only answers the first kind of search, you can get a lot of visits and very few inquiries. That gap is where many photographers get stuck.
The four kinds of search intent, with photography examples
SEO tools like Semrush, Ahrefs and Ubersuggest sort keywords into four kinds of intent: informational, navigational, commercial and transactional. The tool decides by looking at what Google shows for that search. So the label is Google’s own guess about what people want.
To keep this real, I checked a few photography searches in Ubersuggest on 12 November 2026. The labels below are what it showed.
Informational: they want to learn
Informational means the person wants an answer, and nothing more yet.
“What to wear for family photos” came back informational. That person is planning an outfit. They might already have a photographer, or they might not be looking for one at all.
A blog post is the right page for this search. It won’t usually bring a booking that week, and that’s fine. Its job is to help, then point people to the page that books.
Navigational: they’re looking for a name
Navigational means the person is trying to reach a business they already know.
When a client types the name of a photography business, the tools label it navigational. In my checks, a photography company’s name also carried informational and transactional labels. People type the name because they already know it. Some want to learn more, and some are ready to book.
In your world, it’s a past client’s friend typing your business name, or your name plus “photography” or “Instagram”.
You usually win these searches without trying, as long as your website and Google Business Profile are set up. The page they land on should make booking easy.
Commercial: they’re comparing
Commercial means the person wants to hire someone and is deciding who.
“Best wedding photographer maui” came back commercial and navigational. That’s a couple with a real plan, looking for a short list of names. They want to see your work and your reviews, and what makes you different.
Here’s the surprise. “Family photographer honolulu” came back with the same two labels, even without the word “best”. Someone who types a service and a city is already shopping. That’s why your service and location pages matter more than any blog post.
Transactional: they’re ready to book
Transactional means the person wants to take action now: book, buy or check a price.
“Book family photo session” came back transactional. “Wedding photography packages prices” came back commercial and transactional. These people have their card out.
The page that answers them needs your prices or a starting point, proof from real clients and one clear button.
One search can carry two labels. That’s normal. The closer a search sits to commercial and transactional, the closer that person is to paying you.
How to check the intent of any keyword
Semrush, Ahrefs and Ubersuggest all show a keyword’s intent for you, using the same four names.
In Semrush, the label shows in Keyword Overview, and the Keyword Magic Tool has an Intent filter. In Ahrefs, Keywords Explorer has an Intents filter. Ubersuggest shows Search Intent in its Keyword Ideas report. A keyword can carry more than one label, and that’s normal.
No tool at all? Use Google itself. Search the phrase and look at what comes up:
- Mostly articles and how-to guides: informational.
- Mostly photographers’ service pages and directories: commercial or transactional.
- Mostly one business: navigational.
Google has already worked out what people want from that search. The first page is its answer, so build the kind of page it’s showing.
Why the bottom of the funnel matters most
The bottom of the funnel is where people are warm and ready to book. Keywords with commercial and transactional intent live there, and they deserve your best pages first.
Picture a funnel. At the top, lots of people are learning about photos in general. Further down, fewer people are comparing photographers. At the bottom are the few who are ready to choose and pay.
Most photography SEO advice starts at the top. Blog more, answer every question, become helpful. Helpful is good. The trouble is that many photographers stop there. They give away free answers all year to people who are years away from booking, and the people ready to book this month land on a gallery with no prices and a contact form that says “Say hi!”
Here’s the order I’d follow:
- Build a page for each bottom-of-the-funnel keyword first. Give each service and place its own page, made to book: your prices or a starting point, real client words, and one clear next step.
- Then write blog posts for the questions people ask on the way there. “What to wear for family photos” is a lovely post.
- Make every blog post point to the page that books. End the what-to-wear post with a link to your family photography page. The post earns their trust. The service page gets the booking.
That third step is the one most photographers skip. A blog post with no path to a booking page is free advice that ends there.
How to do keyword research for photographers in 5 steps
Keyword research for photographers is five steps: list your services and places, collect real searches, check how many people search them, check the intent, and give each phrase one page.
- List what you sell and where. Write every service you want booked and every town or area you work in.
- Collect the phrases clients really type. Start typing your service and area into Google and note what it suggests. Scroll to “People also ask”. Clients rarely type “lifestyle documentary family session”. They type “family photographer near me”.
- Check the numbers. Put your list into Ubersuggest, Semrush, Ahrefs or Google Keyword Planner. Treat the monthly searches as rough sizes to compare phrases, not as promised visits.
- Check the intent. Read the tool’s label, or search the phrase and look at what Google shows. Sort your list into two piles: booking phrases and question phrases.
- Give each phrase one page. Booking phrases go to service pages. Question phrases go to blog posts that link to those service pages.
If a phrase is full of big directories and wedding magazines on page one, pick a smaller, more specific one. “Sunrise elopement photographer Haleakala” can be easier to win than “Maui photographer”.
Write it down: one phrase, one page
A keyword map is a simple list that pairs each phrase with the one page meant to rank for it. It stops your own pages from competing with each other.
I learned this the hard way. When I built my own agency’s website, I kept adding pages. A strategist I hired found 62 of them quietly competing for the same searches. Google couldn’t tell which page was the real answer.
After I fixed it, I kept a list of which page is for which search. Otherwise you might forget, and AI will forget too.
It’s early, but on my own agency’s site, Google showed our pages about 19 times more often in October than in March. That’s Google’s own number from Search Console, and the climb started once every page had one clear job.
Your map can live in a notes app. Three columns are enough. Write the phrase and its intent, then the page it belongs to.
Keywords for wedding photographers
Keywords for wedding photographers follow the same rule: wedding and place phrases with buying intent get the service pages, and planning questions get the blog posts.
Wedding searches skew commercial. Couples compare for months, so phrases like “wedding photographer [your area]” and “[your area] wedding photography packages” deserve your strongest page. Couples also ask a lot of planning questions, like timelines, golden hour or how many hours of coverage they need. Those make good posts, each linking back to your wedding page.
I’ll go deeper in my guide to wedding photographer SEO.
Questions photographers ask about SEO keywords
How many keywords should one page target?
One main phrase per page, plus a few close variations of it. A family photography page can use “family photographer Kailua” and “Kailua family photos” together. It shouldn’t also chase newborn or wedding phrases. Those get their own pages.
Should I use “near me” in my keywords?
Usually no. People type “near me”, but Google uses their location to answer it. Say your service and your town clearly on the page, and keep your Google Business Profile complete. That’s what puts you in front of “near me” searches.
Are informational keywords a waste of time?
No, as long as each post links to a page that books. Informational posts build trust and bring in people who haven’t found you yet. They become a waste only when they end with nowhere to go.
Do keywords still matter with AI search?
Yes. AI tools read your pages to understand what you offer and where, so clear phrases on clear pages help there too. Nobody can promise you a mention in an AI answer. A website where each page plainly says what it’s for is the best way I know to give yourself a fair chance.
Do keywords matter on Instagram too?
Yes, more every year. Since July 2025, public posts and Reels from Instagram business and creator accounts can show up in Google search. Google reads the words in your caption to understand what the post is about.
So write your caption like a search. Put the keywords in the first line, before anything else: “Sunset family photo session in Kailua, Oahu”. Say them out loud early in the Reel as well, and put them in the text on screen. Then add the story and the feeling.
The first line is what people see before they tap “more”. It also tells Google and AI tools what your post is about, in the words your clients type. Hashtags still help people find posts inside Instagram. Google reads your words.
Point the caption to the right page on your website. The Reel gets attention, and the service page gets the booking.
Where to go from here
Start at the bottom of the funnel. Find the phrases people type when they’re ready to book, give each one a page that books, and let your blog posts lead people there.
If you’re new to all of this, start with my complete guide to SEO for photographers.
Mapping every phrase to its intent and its page is exactly what my SEO Blueprint does for you. If you’re not sure your website is the problem at all, take the free quiz to see which step of your booking path is leaking. And if you’d like a second pair of eyes, book a free Website Strategy Call. I look at your site before we talk.