Before we delve into how long it takes to rank on Google (and I don’t mean on page 100, but what it takes to rank well on page 1 for a selection of wedding photography related keywords), lets take a moment to look at the industry in terms of how competitive it is.
Wedding photography is certainly seen as a pretty competitive business niche within photographers, but how competitive is it really?
In this article, we take a look at available data, and also what it takes to achieve traffic growth to a wedding photography business in 2024.
Table of Contents
U.K. Wedding Industry Data
According to Statistica data on the number of photographers, there were approx 93,100 wedding photographers in the UK in 2023, up from 86,600 in 2021. We can then compare this to the number of marriages, which in England and Wales in 2019 was 219,850 (see this data from the ONS), and in Scotland in 2022 was 30,033, based on National Records of Scotland data in an article about the post-2020 wedding boom. If we access the archives to find data for 2019, so that we can compare this with England, there were 26,007 marriages in Scotland, which was the lowest number ever recorded.
So if we add those together, that gives us 245,857 total weddings in the UK, with around 86,600 photographers to photograph them.
So that’s about 2.83 weddings each. :-/
U.S. Wedding Industry Data
Based on this data from Statistica, there were 1.99 million marriages in the US of A in 2021. SLR Lounge estimated that there are approx 114,000 wedding photographers in the US in their article on wedding photography market size. According to IBIS World data, there are 293,339 people employed in the photography industry (although not all of those will be wedding photographers). The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has this at only 53,630, which is less than in the U.K., a tiny county by comparison. DATA USA has the numbers at 113k in 2021.
If we use the highest figure I’ve found of 114k, and compare that to 1.99 million weddings, that works out at 17.45 weddings per photographer.
Competitiveness: UK and US
Whilst these figures are not perfect and we should not blindly trust them, it’s clear that wedding photography in general is a pretty competitive industry, and whilst things are competitive in the United States, the market in the UK is significantly more competitive.
It is clear then that to make a full time successful business in either country, business marketing needs to be the best it can be to stand out in a highly competitive marketplace.
What it Takes to Rank in 2024
Page 1 of Google only has 10 results (we’re disregarding infinite scroll for a moment as we know being at the top does make a difference to traffic), so to be able to have your website show up there, you need to be able to separate yourself from your competitors with information that proves, beyond any shadow of doubt, your:
- Experience
- Expertise
- Authority
- Trust
It’s important to note that E-E-A-T is not a direct ranking factor in Google’s search algorithm. Instead, it is a guideline used by human quality raters to evaluate the overall quality of search results. However, Google uses the data from these evaluations to improve its algorithms. So, while E-E-A-T is not a direct ranking signal, optimizing for it can indirectly improve a site’s search performance over time.
Search Engine Journal
Whilst you do need a well structured and well optimised website that features great quality, well thought out and useful and interesting content, created with EEAT in mind, it’s simply not enough for your blogs to just exist and not be shared or promoted.
Note: If you’re wondering what Google is looking for with content, check out their guide on creating helpful, reliable, people-first content which is part of their SEO fundamentals guides.
Whilst it is important to be aware of what Google is looking for with content, your website content should always be created for your ideal potential clients and users of your website, not an algorithm. I’m often asked about creating blogs ‘for Google’, but let’s be clear: Google is not gonna be hiring you to photograph a wedding, so it’s important that actual real-life humans will have a great experience on your website.
After Your SEO Project
Once you have a well structured site with enough great quality content to compete on a level playing field with your competitors, you should embark on a content distribution and brand authority marketing project to promote and drive traffic to your newly optimised website.
Before you start though, have you got your SEO foundations in place? Are your filenames optimised, your images geotagged, your website compliant with accessibility guidelines, and so on.
It’s more important than ever to consistently and proactively market the content on your blog, as well as marketing your own personal brand, to proactively drive traffic and attention to both website and brand, and if done well, this can have a really positive impact on your SEO performance.
Too often I see photographers creating minimal content and then it is neglected and not shared. These are the people who will unfortunately be less likely to get results from an SEO project.
Content Distribution
What is content distribution? This refers to the process of promoting and sharing content across websites, social, and third-party platforms. The purpose of this is to raise awareness and authority of your brand, as well as driving traffic to your website.
Content distribution is the process of promoting and sharing content, like blog posts, videos, or social media updates, to reach a wider audience through various channels and platforms.
Hootsuite
When Google sees a site that is popular and being talked about online, it helps with raising Googles perception of your brand.
I’ll have a more detailed guide on content distribution published soon, but here are 3 simple ideas to get you started:
- Create pinterest pins for blogs that cover popular searched-for topics or content from well-known tourist destinations.
- Share ALL of your blog content to social media platforms (Facebook, X, LinkedIn) on a regular schedule to help drive traffic back to your website. This is a great way of consistently looking active on social platforms without doing more work.
- Re-purpose blog content by posting and talking about specific aspects of a post, whilst including a link to a related blog for your followers to read more
Content Distribution Resources
Hubspot: The ultimate guide to content distribution
Semrush: The ultimate guide to content distribution
Hootsuite: Content distribution done right
Brand Authority
So how can you build brand authority? You’ll benefit the most from an authority building excercise when you have a well-optimised website and enough relevant and great quality content to compete with your competitors – got that already? Great.
Here’s a few things you can do to build brand authority:
- Submit work to industry competitions and share positive results with followers
- Contribute to industry press to show you’re an expert in your field. This may be in the form of a guide or tips for other photographers
- Appear on industry podcasts talking about specialist subjects
- Be featured in wedding magazines and/or wedding blogs
- Be a voice in non-industry press to contribute your photography expertise on trending topics
Brand Authority Resources
Indeed: Career guide on brand authority with 8 strategies to build it
Trailblaze Marketing has a good article on what brand authority is and how to get it
So, How Long Does it Take to Rank on Google?
This can vary wildly depending on whether you have a brand new business and therefore also a brand new website, or an established wedding photography business with a hugely messy website, but if you have:
- A well optimised site with solid SEO foundations that is technically good
- Enough content to be on a level playing field with competitors
- Good quality content that is both interesting and relevant
- Consistent content distribution processes
- Be actively working to build brand authority
If you can say yes to all of the above points, a typical timeframe to see traffic growth is 3 to 6 months.
If you don’t see growth in rankings in that timeframe, then you need to take an objective look at each of these areas to figure out where your weak points are and what you can do better.
Take a blog post, and compare it to each page that outranks you.
Is your really better?
What new information are you adding that’s not already out there?
Have you written your content sharing your own first hand experience?
For a new business it can be really difficulty to get blog features and to participate in industry press, so the best plan here is to keep creating, fine tuning and developing your skills so that you can move towards this.
Don’t give yourself a hard time if you can’t achieve everything on this list straight away. It can take years to build a successful wedding photography business, especially in the UK, but hopefully this article give a realistic insight into the competitiveness of the industry and what it takes to succeed in 2024.
Karen Julia and Photo SEO Lab
Hey! I’m Karen! I’m a professional wedding photographer based in the UK with an established wedding photography business in it’s 19th year. I also offer SEO services to wedding photographers, to help photographers create well-optimised and well performing websites with content strategies that have the best chance of success. Interested in chatting about how I can help you? Feel free to get in touch, or book a discovery call.
