SEO for Artists
A strategy few artists are using
SEO helps attract the right people to your site without paying for ads. If your website ranks well, your traffic will be constant. You don’t have to be overly productive like on any social media. With the rise of AI tools, the Internet landscape is evolving rapidly. Increasingly, search results are being generated automatically, yet the value of authoritative human sources is growing. AI systems rely on these sources; without them, they will slowly become stupid if they digest their own content. Artists, as original content creators, play a crucial role in this ecosystem.
SEO can negatively impact your creativity
As for social media, search algorithms are based on previous data. So, if you are too data-driven, it will be at the cost of your creativity. Today, we can access those tools, but it would be a mistake to follow them entirely. You will then start missing out on discovering new ways to reach your audience.
How to get your art on Google Search
Getting the SEO philosophy
Rather than having tips as most vulgarisation articles are written. It would be best to understand the philosophy of Search Engine Optimization: Google and other search engines index content. It isn’t just about the competition but about being relevant and bringing value to the person looking for it.
There are three ways to approach SEO:
1. Technical SEO:
Technical SEO is about programming. Thanks to WordPress or other Content Management Systems (CMS), you only need to know the basics.
2. Content SEO:
That’s where the artists shine if they can write well, too! Images and text (but now also video and sound) are the website’s flesh. We made an article about the type of content an artist’s website requires.
3. Network SEO:
“The Internet is a table for two!”
You will need to be in contact with others. The best way to get a link to your website is to get to know the person behind the other websites.
Is SEO worth it for artists in 2024
Yes, totally, and for three main reasons
The Easiness of Social Media
Social media is seductive in so many ways to all of us, especially to artists. It’s fun, social, and easy to use. It gives instant gratification with a promise to help you grow your business. After spending hundreds of hours working on social media, do you own the content you’ve posted? Technically yes.
But in reality, not really:
When the companies decide what to change their terms and conditions, you can only click ‘accept’ and continue. Your content and influence could also be at risk when a social media company decreases.
Organic (Not paid) search drives 1,000% more traffic than organic social media.
Content Ownership
Social media posts have a low shelf life because they aim for you to post constantly.
That’s why owning your content is vital. Besides social media, you must own your little piece of the Internet with a domain name and a website. It costs you less than a coffee every month to keep it running. It’s a privilege for you to have this option because not every country in the world allows individuals to run their own websites.
Content Quality
But for that content to be seen, it has to reach a certain quality. Of course, you can pay to be seen, but it is like sprinting: it doesn’t last.
That’s when we come to SEO for Search Engine Optimisation. And it suddenly becomes way less seducing than social media…
10 SEO Tips for Artists
1. You need an Artist Website
SEO is initially designed for websites to deliver the right webpage in front of the right people on search engines. You need a website to have a place to apply SEO tools and tactics. It can rank with your social media pages, but only in specific areas. For example, the Alt Text can be added on Instagram and Pinterest. It gives better visibility on Image Search.
Not mobile-friendly
Don’t expect to make any SEO from your mobile. Although some web builders claim to support this feature, their limitations will likely frustrate you.
2. Plan on writing
…or to hire someone to write
Even today, algorithms can recognize images and voice; text is still the primary SEO indicator. Now, the algorithms can recognize your writing style and who the author is. If you are writing, work on improving your writing. If you are looking for a writer, find a good writer and plan on long-term collaborations. If you plan to use an AI writer, use it only as an assistant for brainstorming, correcting, or suggesting problems in your argumentation.
3. Focus on one niche
As a creative person, there is a good chance that you are experimenting with several projects in different directions. To make SEO work for you, you need to prioritize one project. You can expand to other areas once you rank on search engines for one set of keywords. SEO algorithms reward websites that are consistent and long-lasting. Do not change direction whenever an opportunity shows up. Stay on your current main project until you see results.
4. Study the data from SEO tools
In recent years, search engines have made some of their data available. Based on the data, many SEO tools have emerged. Instead of shooting blindly, now you can estimate how your audience will react to your content.
Luckily, some acceptable SEO tools have freemium (Moz, Ubersuggest…) most are paid and expensive. Like any algorithm, this is just a prediction, not a reality. But without them, you are looking for a needle in a haystack.
5. Mention other artists
Since 2010, Search Engines have been indexing content per subject. Let’s say you are an urban artist in Boston. You fall into this category of urban artists in this region. To rank high, you need to have some kind of credibility or expertise in it. How do you gain credibility? You can write about other artists in your region and put yourself among them, or make a collaboration or a community of like-minded artists. It is a bit counter-intuitive for an artist. That’s why top-ranked search results are from platforms, not artists’ websites. Unlike with most social media, SEO is not just about you. (check our article about backlinks)
6. Incompatibility with institutions
Let’s be honest: institutions in the art world don’t care whether you rank top on Google. This is especially true in continental Europe, where branding and marketing in art are seen negatively. As a part of your marketing, SEO does not bring you a headstart in the world of institutional art. Many institutions like museums, art schools, and foundations still follow this moral value:
“Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade”. John 2:13–16
7. Deal with galleries’ websites
Although fewer and fewer art galleries would demand exclusivity nowadays, you may be offered one. Once you sign an exclusive representation contract, you are likely not allowed to run your own artist website. Your growing influence is often considered a potential threat to the partnership. We advise avoiding exclusive contracts if the conditions are unattractive.
8. Be patient
Unlike the likes and shares on social media, you will not receive instant gratification on search engines. After applying SEO strategies to your website for the first time, it takes at least six months to see the results of your hard work. It takes a month to see some major improvements after each upload or update (trafficwise). SEO is a game for patience players.
9. Plan and keep your direction
(hence, years)
As we just mentioned, SEO results won’t happen overnight. You need to be prepared to work even if you don’t see any results, ignore the random tidbits, and resist the urge to run off to some new promising platforms (e.g., a new social media site or a new sell art online site). Instead, you must put one foot before another and stick to your plan.
10. Prefer WordPress or any CMS other Site builders
If you are not tech-savvy, you should opt for a drag-and-drop builder (e.g., Squarespace, Wix) instead of a content management system or CMS (e.g., WordPress, Joomla). However, drag-and-drop builders are not great with SEO due to the limited tools and features. You will likely need help to get results. In this case, they have small ambitions of ranking on top. You can find other strategies that are a better fit for you – for example, starting an art channel on YouTube.
Best SEO keywords for artists
Keywords are one of the main elements of SEO. Your keywords are words or phrases in your web content that make it possible for people to find your site via search engines. An artist’s well-optimized website should contain keywords people search for, especially in the titles.
Of all that search traffic, 91% goes to sites listed on the first page of search results. This is your goal – your pages being at least on the 1st page of Search Engines.
Questions to ask yourself
- What is your art about?
- What makes your art special?
- How would your audience define it?
- What would they write when searching for your art?
- What makes your art stand out?
“If your art would disappear today from the web…
What would your audience miss,
that they wouldn’t find on any other artist websites?
Art keywords list
- Think outside the “art box.” Talking just about art is less and less relevant these days.
- Do some research. See what others on the Web are writing about it.
- Be specific. Avoid very generic keywords such as “contemporary art.”
1. Know your audience
How people use vocabulary depends on their social class – education, workplace, and residence. All these factors influence their opinions, values, and interests.
How you want to sell your art online determines how you speak about it. Getting into the art galleries won’t be the same as selling art prints on Etsy. You need to know the wording your audience uses.
2. Build your semantics
Building semantics is building more meaning into the words you use in your content. It would help if you found the collection of meanings you would want to appear on Search Engines.
For example, I’m an artist, and my paintings are contrasted. I want to describe my art using words similar to “contrasted paintings.” Moz Keyword Explorer is a great tool for this.
Let’s look for the Keyword tools:
My query will be “contrast paintings.” Here, I see a list of suggested words with a decent Monthly volume. I will select the ones that fit my style:
- chiaroscuro (8915 monthly searches)
- opposites attract (949)
- emphasis in art (298)
- rhythm in art (483)
- line in art (207)
- directional force in art (64)
Those are just suggestions. But gives me an area of interest and can suggest words I haven’t thought about. I keep those words as leads for my website, combined with the techniques I use (such as acrylic, oil, watercolor, etc).
From that point, I need to:
- Precisely evaluate the difficulty to rank on the 1st page
- Get more specific keywords
3. Find the title of your post
I register on Ubersuggest to check the keyword ideas (So far, it is the best way to get some data for free).
Ubersuggest keyword suggestion tells you the estimated volume for a specific keyword. Don’t forget, those are only estimations.
So I write “Contrast paintings”:
I can see their 1st result:
- VOL: short for volume. This is the number of queries per month.
- CPC: Cost Per Click. Literally, how much investment is on ads for this keyword? A keyword with a CPC 0 usually means it is searched for information, and people don’t search for it with buying in mind.
- PD and SD: Paid difficulty and SEO Difficulty (from 1 to 100). Those two difficulties are better for you when closer to 0. If your website is new, it is good not to target high-difficulty keywords.
We won’t choose “contrast paintings” to start with because their difficulty is too high.
Instead, among the other choices, this keyword is easier:
Small SEO tip:
14.1% of search queries are question keywords (source: backlinko.com/google-keyword-study), such as ‘what is’, ‘how to’, and ‘why’. A great way to find them is the Answerthepublic website.
4. Use your Keywords in your content
Once you find them, you need to use them on your URLs, your images (Alt text), and Headings (titles). We will develop this step in another chapter later on.
5. Create the content on your artist website
At this step is where the trap lies. You, as artists, will be the targeted audience by website platforms (Wix, Artwork Archive, SquareSpace). It’s not that they are bad, but as for Social Media platforms, you have to follow their rules: the simplicity of use they provide fences for controlling your content.
We really advise content management systems (CMS). The best for most people today is WordPress.
6. Link your content
This is where artists are the best and, possibly, the worst.
The worst: Most artists are just about themselves (me, me, me) and their work. But if you want to exist on the Web, you need to link with others, speak about others and others need to do the same.
Comment *Thanks! Gonna try to get it right.
Great article, super helpful :)