There’s a moment in every long-term project where intention has to turn into infrastructure.
Getting the email from Google Search Console telling me my site earned five clicks in the last 28 days was small, quiet, and oddly motivating. Less than eight weeks old, no deliberate SEO effort, and yet the site was already being noticed. That’s the signal. Not to celebrate—but to get to work.
The content is there.
The voice is there.
The taxonomy is finally under control.
Now it’s time to deal with the plumbing—the invisible systems search engines use to decide whether my work deserves to be seen.
What follows is a nine-day, end-of-year SEO plan. Not theory. Not growth hacking. Just focused, unglamorous work that compounds.
Day 1 — Establish the Baseline (December 22)
Before changing anything, I need to know what the current state is, what I am working with.
Open Google Search Console and document current clicks, impressions, CTR, and average position. Confirm which pages are indexed, check for crawl or coverage errors, verify sitemap submission, HTTPS status, canonical URLs, and the preferred domain.
This mirrors how I approach photography projects: establish the frame before you move within it. I’ve written before about understanding structure before expression in How to Build a LIFE Magazine Photo Essay. SEO is no different.
Day 2 — Titles & Meta Descriptions (December 23)
This is where intent becomes explicit.
Write unique title tags and meta descriptions for the homepage, about page, portfolio, and each major blog category. Titles should reflect what I actually do, not just my name: urban photography, street portraits, photojournalism, and Toronto as subject rather than garnish.
This echoes the discipline I explored in Chapter Two of the Two-Year Project. Clarity beats cleverness. Always.
Day 3 — Headings & Content Hierarchy (December 24)
Search engines read structure before nuance.
Ensure every blog post uses a single clear H1, with logical H2 and H3 sub-sections. Rewrite weak headings so they say something. Remove duplicate or decorative headers that exist only for style.
This reinforces what I wrote in Finding Style in the Street: presence comes from intention. If a heading exists, it should carry weight.
Day 4 — Image SEO: Alt Text & Filenames (December 25)
I have 178 images on the site. That’s not decoration—that’s data.
Add descriptive alt text to every image that explains what is happening, where it is, and why it matters. Rename filenames where possible so they use human language instead of camera defaults.
This aligns perfectly with Faces of Toronto and The First Portrait. Images carry meaning—but only if they’re legible to the systems reading them.
Day 5 — Internal Linking & Context (December 26)
This is where the site becomes a conversation with itself.
Add internal links between related posts: street photography to urban theory, self-portrait work to identity essays, photojournalism posts to decisive moment thinking. Make sure anchor text is descriptive, not generic.
I’ve already done this conceptually in Selfies vs Self-Portraits. Now I’m doing it technically.
Day 6 — Performance & Speed (December 27)
Speed is honesty. Slow sites waste attention.
Compress images without degrading quality. Enable caching and browser compression. Remove unused plugins and scripts. Test mobile performance and fix what breaks.
I think about walking speed when I shoot cities. Websites move the same way. Pace matters.
Day 7 — Indexing, Cleanup & Canonicals (December 28)
This is janitorial work. Necessary. Invisible.
Ensure no duplicate content is indexed. Confirm canonical URLs are correct. Eliminate orphan pages. Remove thin tag or category pages that masquerade as content.
This mirrors how I cleaned up taxonomy using ChatGPT earlier this month. Structure first. Always.
Day 8 — Analytics, Goals & Search Intent (December 29)
SEO isn’t traffic. Its alignment.
Identify which posts are already getting impressions. Adjust the content slightly to match search intent better. Add schema where appropriate. Set realistic 90-day benchmarks.
This is the same thinking behind Why Walking the City Is Essential to My Practice. Data informs direction. It doesn’t replace instinct.
Day 9 — Documentation & Forward Momentum (December 30–31)
The final step is not optimization. It’s continuity.
Document everything that has changed. Create a repeatable SEO checklist for new posts. Schedule a monthly SEO maintenance day. Commit to writing with discovery in mind.
SEO doesn’t change how I photograph.
It changes whether anyone ever sees the work.
This isn’t about chasing algorithms. It’s about respect—for the work, the time invested, and the audience I haven’t met yet.
I didn’t build this site to whisper into the void.
I built it to be found.
Nine days of plumbing won’t make me famous.
But it will make the work visible—and that’s the prerequisite for everything else.