How to Optimise Your Page Titles & Meta Descriptions
Optimising your page titles and meta descriptions are a quick, simple way to enhance your photography website’s SEO performance
In this article, we’ll discuss page titles and meta descriptions and how to optimise and assign them to each page of your photography website.
While optimised page titles and meta descriptions can help your website rank better for specific terms, they are only ONE piece of the puzzle. From on-page SEO to off-page SEO, it’s best to do your due diligence and learn everything you can about basic search engine optimisation best practices.
Image Credit: Moz
Ranking in Google search results can be super competitive, especially for popular service providers like wedding photographers and real estate photographers, so don’t sleep on your SEO game! That said, let’s dive in, shall we?
What is a Page Title?
A page title (aka title tag) is a short descriptive title that helps both users and search engines understand what your page is about.
In this example, you can see I’ve optimised my page title for a mixture of search terms including “Freelance Copywriter”, “Copywriter Melbourne”, “Freelance Copywriter Melbourne”, and “Copywriting” to maximise my chances.
It will (most likely) appear in search results, link previews, and browser tabs.
Best practices for page titles:
Designate an optimised and unique page title for every page on your photography website.
Aim for a page title length between 50 and 60 characters - if it's too long, it might get cut off in the search results.
If relevant, include one target keyword/ phrase in the page title and ensure it matches the content on the page.
If there's enough room, you can add your photography business name to the end of your title tag - but if it doesn't fit, leave it out.
Avoid using all caps and use symbols to save space, e.g. replacing "and" with "&".
Keep the most important words at the start of your page title to help it stand out. You can also add a fun emoji (if it aligns with your brand).
Here’s an example of page titles for wedding planners:
✔️ Fun & Inclusive Wedding Planner in Melbourne 🥂 Elevated Events
❌ Best Wedding Planner in the World | Contact Me to Plan Your Wedding Today
Recommended tool for writing your page titles: https://www.highervisibility.com/seo/tools/serp-snippet-optimizer/
What is a Meta Description?
Appearing in search results, a meta description is an expanded summary of your page and can often influence your click-through rate.
Using my homepage meta description as an example, you can see I’ve optimised it for a mixture of search term variations including “Freelance Copywriting Services”, “Freelance Copywriting Services in Melbourne”, “SEO Copywriting”, and “SEO Copywriting for websites” to expand upon keywords related to my main service.
Best practices for meta descriptions:
While Google may sometimes auto-generate a different snippet extracted from the information on your page, it's best to assign a unique meta description for each page.
Keep your meta description to a rough maximum of 160 characters - if it's too long, it might get cut off in the search results.
If relevant, include a longer-tail SEO target phrase in the meta description and ensure it aligns with your page title and overall page content.
Wherever possible, include an enticing call to action to encourage users to click on your page to learn more.
Here’s an example of meta descriptions for wedding florists:
✔️ Saying 'I do' to your soulmate? Daisy Co. offers gorgeous wedding bouquets & floral decor for weddings in Melbourne & beyond. Get a quick online quote today!
❌ At Daisy Co., we offer textured, native, cascading, single-stem, bold, romantic, cute, gorgeous, fresh, luxury, elegant, hand-tied, small and big bouquets for weddings everywhere in Australia.
Recommended tool for writing your meta descriptions: https://www.highervisibility.com/seo/tools/serp-snippet-optimizer/
Should you use AI to write your page titles and meta descriptions?
Whether you're short on time or lacking confidence, you can use AI tools like Ahrefs's Title Generator and Meta Description Generator as a starting point.
However, I strongly encourage you to review and personalise the generated text to reflect your unique offer and brand voice better.
When in doubt, do a few Google searches to see what page titles and meta descriptions other businesses have used to rank for that target term - and note which ones grab your attention!
How can you check or update your page titles and meta descriptions?
Where to update your page titles and meta descriptions will depend on your website platform.
Popular amongst photographers, here are links to platform-specific help guides for page titles and meta descriptions:
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