You didn’t pick up a camera to spend your evenings fighting with your website. We build stunning, search-optimised websites for photographers, designed to turn visitors into enquiries, not just look pretty in your browser.
Built by an SEO specialist with 15+ years of search engine expertise and 20+ years in web development. Every site we deliver is engineered to look incredible, rank, convert, and grow your business.
Search Engine Optimisation
Social media algorithms change overnight. Referrals dry up without warning. But every single day, potential clients are typing things like ‘wedding photographer near me’ into Google, asking ChatGPT for recommendations, and searching Perplexity for the best portrait photographers in their area.
If your website doesn’t show up in those results, you’re invisible to the people who are actively looking to book right now. Not scrolling. Not browsing. Searching with intent and ready to spend.
The Backlight SEO Academy teaches photographers exactly how to get found in both traditional search and the new wave of AI-powered discovery. No jargon. No fluff. Just proven strategies from an SEO specialist with over 15 years of hands-on experience.
AI Search Optimisation
Search is changing faster than most people realise. Google’s AI Overviews now answer queries before anyone clicks a link. ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude are becoming the first place people go for local recommendations. And most photography websites are completely invisible to all of them.
The Academy teaches you how to optimise your website for AI discovery. You’ll learn what structured data, schema markup, FAQ content, and llms.txt files actually do, why they matter, and exactly how to implement them on your site. This isn’t theory. It’s the same approach we use on every Backlight client site, and it’s already getting photographers recommended in AI search results.
This is the biggest shift in search since Google itself. The photographers who move now will own the space. The ones who wait will wonder where their enquiries went.
Design Meets Function
A membership built specifically for photographers who want to take control of their online visibility. Whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been shooting for years but never cracked the SEO code, the Academy gives you everything you need to get your website ranking and your diary filling.
Inside, you’ll find structured courses, live coaching, a supportive community of photographers on the same journey, and exclusive access to professional SEO tools that would normally cost hundreds a month. All built and delivered by someone who’s spent 15 years in the trenches of search engine optimisation, not just talking about it.
This isn’t a course you buy and forget about. It’s an ongoing resource that grows with you, with new content added regularly, live sessions every week, and a community that holds you accountable. The goal is simple: get you found by more of the right clients, consistently.
Design Meets Function
The Academy is built around clear, focused SEO training modules that take you from the foundations right through to advanced strategies. Each module is broken into short, practical lessons you can work through between shoots, during editing downtime, or whenever suits your schedule.
You’re not thrown into a library of random videos and left to figure out what order to watch them in. Every module builds on the last, with action steps at the end of each lesson so you’re making real progress on your actual website as you learn.
How search engines work, what they’re looking for, and how to set your website up for success from the ground up.
Find the exact search terms your ideal clients are using, and learn how to target them without sounding like a robot.
Title tags, meta descriptions, heading structure, image optimisation, internal linking. Everything that happens on your actual website.
Dominate the map pack in your area. Get your Google Business Profile working properly and build local citations that matter
Create content that sends all the signals search engines are looking for, and attracts the right clients, and establish you as the go-to photographer in your niche.
With this cutting-edge module, optimise your site to be recommended by ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and other AI search tools.
Where to get quality backlinks, which directories actually matter, and how to get featured on the blogs and publications your clients read.
Google Analytics, Search Console, and tracking your progress. Know what’s working and where to focus next.
Design Meets Function
SEO can feel lonely when you’re figuring it out on your own. Inside the Academy, you’re surrounded by photographers who are on the same journey. Share wins, ask questions, get feedback on your latest blog post, or just vent about Google’s latest algorithm update with people who actually understand.
It’s an active, moderated community where every question gets answered, usually within hours. Members share their ranking wins, their traffic reports, and the strategies that are working for them right now.
You’ll also get direct access to Lee and the Backlight team. No support tickets. No waiting days for a reply. Just real conversations with people who genuinely want to help you succeed. Regular AMAs and Group Coaching calls are available, so help is alwas there when you need it.
Everything You Need to Succeed
Every Academy member gets access to JourneyScore, our purpose-built SEO scanning and monitoring platform. It’s not a generic SEO checker. It’s specifically designed to analyse photography websites, with checks tailored to the way photographers structure their portfolios, galleries, and service pages.
Run a scan on your website and get a detailed breakdown of your SEO health, AI visibility readiness, page performance, and content quality. JourneyScore doesn’t just tell you what’s wrong. It tells you exactly what to fix, in plain English, with step-by-step guidance you can follow without any technical knowledge.
Use it to track your progress as you work through the Academy modules. Watch your scores improve as you implement what you learn. It’s the feedback loop that turns knowledge into results.
Analyses over 100 SEO factors specific to photography websites, from heading structure to image optimisation to schema markup.
See whether your site is visible to ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overviews. Most photographers score below 30% on their first scan.
Every issue comes with a clear explanation and a fix you can implement yourself. No jargon, no guesswork. We’re there for you if you get stuck.
Monitor your scores over time and see the direct impact of the changes you’re making.
Design Meets Function
Courses are great for learning at your own pace. But sometimes you need someone to look at your specific situation and tell you exactly what to do next. That’s what the live coaching sessions are for.
Every week, Academy members can join a live group coaching call where you can bring your website, your questions, and your challenges. Get real-time feedback on your SEO, ask about anything you’re stuck on, and learn from the questions other photographers are asking too.
We also run regular AMA (Ask Me Anything) sessions covering hot topics like algorithm updates, new AI search features, seasonal SEO strategies, and whatever else the community wants to dive into. Every session is recorded, so if you can’t make it live, you can catch up on your own time.
Bring your website and your questions. Get personalised feedback and actionable next steps in real time.
Open Q&A covering the latest developments in SEO, AI visibility, and photography marketing.
Every live session is recorded and added to the Academy library. Never miss a session, even when you’re on a shoot.
Seo Learning and support
Every day you wait is a day your competitors are getting found instead of you. The Academy gives you the knowledge, the tools, the community, and the support to change that. No long-term contracts. No complicated setup. Just log in and start learning.
Every day you wait is a day your competitors are getting found instead of you. The Academy gives you the knowledge, the tools, the community, and the support to change that. No long-term contracts. No complicated setup. Just log in and start learning. Cancel any time...but when you see the needle moving on your website, we think you'll stay!
