09/17/2026
One of my least favorite things about being a professional photographer is that to a degree, my business is at the mercy of algorithms. Social media algorithms. Google algorithms. Blah blah blah. For many years, I seemed to have the whole SEO thing pretty figured out and was on page one of Google for Boston keywords, and then it all came crashing down around February when my website basically dropped off the face of the earth. I absolutely panicked and was convinced that my business was going to disappear with it, but you know what happened? While I got far fewer inquiries by way of Boston keyword searches, I continued getting inquiries for local keywords, which meant that nearly every single new booking was from my town or surrounding towns. It turned out to be such an unexpected win, and I met so many people who are practically neighbors (like this family!).
If you’re a photographer, how do you get most of your inquiries? Do you feel like you’re at the mercy of algorithms too, or do you have a giant word-of-mouth network? I want to know!
