How to get your art noticed – SEO tips for artists

Are you absolutely done with posting your latest masterpiece online only to be greeted by crickets? It’s so disheartening when you share your art and nobody even looks at it. Well, not anymore. You’re going to learn how to get your art noticed thanks to Search Engine optimization (SEO).

If you’re one of those artists that don’t write a single word when they post their art online, or you write “I don’t know what to say”... It’s time to change 😉

Search Engine Optimization - What is it and why should you do it?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the set of practices that help you get more visitors and increase the visibility of your content through search engine results.

In mortal words that we can understand...

Do you know when you search for something on Google and it almost always gives you the right answer? That’s because the people that wrote the content on those pages applied SEO strategies to make sure their answer to your question would be considered the best answer by Google.

If you optimize your artwork to be shown to the right people when they’re searching for similar content on Google, deviantART, Youtube, Pinterest, etc. You’ll be able to grow your audience faster.

Search engines can't see your art

This may come as a surprise to you but search engines can’t see your art. Not yet anyway. They rely on the text you add along with the image to understand what the image is about.

So if you write “I don’t know what to say”, the search engine won’t know what it’s about either. 

Actual footage of Google's minions trying to understand what your artwork is about

But if you write “Here’s a drawing of a cute puppy getting belly rubs by its owner”, now the search engine knows it’s about dogs and it’s an artwork.

So if someone looks for “puppy drawing” now, your art has a chance to show up in the results page because you categorized it as such.

There’s a match between what the person searched for and what you told the search engine that your artwork was about! Hooray!

★ Related: 5 things I wish someone would have told me when I first became an artist

SEO for artists - How to get your art noticed by optimizing it

You need to make sure you’re being very specific about what your artwork is about. These words that describe the content the best are called keywords. They can be one word or “long tail keywords” (3 or more words, short sentences).

Whenever you upload a piece of art, make sure to include the most important keywords in the following areas (and the more detailed you are, especially in the description, the better your chances at showing up in search results!):

If you take the time to learn about Search engine optimization and you apply it to your artworks, rest assured you’ll start growing faster.

So, remember. Search engines are your friends. They can help you get your art noticed by the right people if you optimize your content properly!

Apply these SEO tips for artists I just taught you. Remember to include the most important keywords in the file name, title, description and tags section 🙂

Did you know SEO for artists was a thing too? Are you going to apply it the next time you post your artworks? Let me know how it goes for you!