As the popularity of JK Rowling’s characters exploded, the likelihood of successfully searching Google for a local potter /craftsman by including the word “potter” in a search string diminished dramatically. I posted that issue on a forum over at ceramicartsdaily.org just recently and received good reactions to my post, “Google – Find a Potter“. The consensus of opinion from a small group of responder (but very engaged/passionate responders) is that the following search terms are most likely the best to use when searching for a potter/clay-artist…obviously, if you know the individual’s name or the name of the studio your chances of success are excellent. But what if you are in a new place and just want to see who-is-doing-what with clay? Here are the recommended search terms:
- pottery
- ceramics
- potter
- crafters
- hand made
I like this list, even though I’m scratching my head about still including “potter” on that list (no offense, Harry). So, here goes. I reviewed the meta data, title tags, and content on my own site and have made sure that these words are included…ok, I excluded crafters to avoid the whole clay is a craft not an art debate. In the next month or so, the amount of time that it seems to take Google to circle back around to index the content on my web site, I hope to enter “Nashville” plus some of these terms and have my site show up on the first page of the search results. I tried it today, and…nothing – not even page 2 or 3, so today is my baseline for this experiment.
For those who actually use Google to find clay artists and potters when you are on the road, I would be curious to know if you use other search terms…I guarantee that there are artists out there who need to know! And for the hard working potters in the world, take note: look at your web content and make sure that your copy includes descriptive words that people might actually use to find you (see list above). Don’t be a muggle…use your magic to be discovered on the web!
P.S, And bless all those clay-artists/potters whose actual name is “Harry“.
P.P.S. Yes, I get it. This very post is the most likely to return in search simply for the concentration of key words…we shall see:)
P.P.P.S. No one uses “Home Page” in a search engine to find you, so use something else in you title tag…trust me on this!!
