User Generated Content for Your Image Heavy Wix Sites
An image-heavy site design is an obvious choice for a photographer, designer, and illustrator portfolio. It can be hard sometimes for these type of sites to rank in Google since Googlebot has fewer context clues to take from the content.
"Ask Me Anything" with Google’s John Mueller
During an AMA with Google’s John Mueller, he discussed the lack of content for ranking for image heavy sites. He mentioned that visible text on the page is used for ranking, but he also explicitly mentioned the usefulness in user generated content, in the form of comments about the images, as a way to build greater context and content.
He also brought up other usual ways that bring context to images, such as links:
"We’re not going to interpret the images there, so we’d have to make do with the visible text on the page, and further context - eg, in the form of links to that page - to understand how it fits in. With puns, especially without a lot of explanation, that’s going to make ranking really, really hard. How do you know to search for a specific pun without already knowing it?
What I’d recommend there is to find a way to get more content onto the page. A simple way to do that could be to let people comment. UGC (User Generated Content) brings some overhead in terms of maintenance & abuse, but could also be a reasonable way to get more text for your pages."
Wix and image-heavy sites
Wix is a great platform for image-heavy sites such as your portfolio website. The best tool to use for your portfolio website is the Wix Pro Gallery, the most professional gallery on the web.
With advanced image settings to control the quality and sharpness of your photos. You can easily enhance your gallery with auto-play videos and colorful text boxes. In addition, the Wix Pro Gallery also comes equipped with:
Right-click image protection to ensure that your images are given the credit you deserve
Images optimized for each mobile device
Get more eyes on your photos with easy social sharing
Let visitors show their love with a heart button
Allow downloadable videos and photos
Add thousands of photos & videos
Pick the perfect layout from 9 different options
What SEO possibilities are there for your image-heavy Wix site?
Besides creating a stunning website, managing your site’s SEO is the most important thing you can do to promote your website online.
Good SEO can increase the likelihood of new clients finding your portfolio and getting in touch with potential opportunities. Check our blog post New Image SEO Tips From Google and How to Implement these in Wix to help your images rank better in Google's search results and bring more traffic to your website.
How to add User Generated Content in Wix
The Wix App Market has several apps that have the possibility to add User Generated Content (UGC) to your site.
There are two free comment apps:
Facebook Comments by Wix
Voice Comments+ by Heyoya
And several paid comment apps, of which Comments by Uri Shaked is probably the most widely used. The cost for this app is $3.97/month. The app is fully customizable and integrates with Wix Blog and Wix Stores.
The Wix App Market also provides several apps to get customer feedback and post reviews directly on your website. The most user-friendly are:
Customer Reviews by James Brake, $2.42/month
Testimonial Builder by VocalReferences, $3.95/month
Infusse Testimonials by Infusse, $3.17/month
Wix Code makes it possible to collect and display UGC fully customized and for free. See the example below for a review collection form for Manzanita Vacation Rentals. A similar type of form can be made for photographers, designers, illustrators, etc.
What you should keep in mind as well
Writing blog posts is non-negotiable for those who like to be found on Google! We strongly recommend that you set up a Wix Blog on your site if you do not yet have one.
Keep your keywords in mind for every piece of content you produce and provide relevant and useful content with consistent topics.
Google loves good user experience signals and Wix has a fantastic blog, so use your blog to provide context to your readers. Make sure to turn commenting on your Wix Blog to create more User Generated Content.
Did you know Wix has expert blogs?
Wix has several Expert Blogs with lots of tips and tricks for photographers and designers that may be of interest to you.
Would you like us to design a beautiful, functional, and relevant Wix website for you? Contact WixCreate, we will create an online presence that works for you.
