Using Flickr for SEO – Does It Work?

By A Karmakar

Flickr is an image sharing portal which is by far one of the most popular photo sharing websites and has a plethora of applications. Flickr has allowed its images to be tagged and those tags can be linked via blogs and websites to add more depth to your snaps. This particular feature in Flickr has made it an SEO tool.

The quality and the relevant themes posted on your account can help in diverting more traffic to your site. Some businesses have a visual appeal attached to them, for them Flickr serves as an apt platform for increasing their web traffic.

Certain steps can help in increasing optimization like tagging your image, giving descriptions, adding comments (humorous one help retain interest), adding a note or if the picture is location specific then add the location with the help of Yahoo! Maps. Footage should be given to linking your snaps to your website.

Such optimization tools may help promote traffic towards your blog or site. All this optimization has brought a new wave in web-marketing but it violates the terms of services of the Flickr users. Flickr is made for personal usage only. If your account has been found for be used for commercial purpose than you might end up losing your accounts and all the snaps uploaded on it!!!!

This policy had made using Flickr for SEO difficult. If all the images that you upload has tags which lead to e-commerce websites than chances are that your account will be scrapped.

The methods to save your account on Flickr while adding a little commercial advantage to your photos are:

Post More Pictures: The point here is to add more pictures so that your content becomes random to both humans as well as browsers. If you have many pictures leading to e-commerce websites it will draw attention to the ‘misuse’ of the account and violation of Flickr User policy.

Interact with the Community: Adding messages, comments, etc would not trigger the red flag to the flickr team members. Adding huge comments and messages can also reveal that you are optimizing your accounts; even such limits should be avoided. Playing it moderate is the key to maintaining your account on Flickr as well as using it for SEO to divert more traffic.

Use Links Sparingly: Using a large number of links that lead to the same URL may also lead your account to fall under the “misused” category. Therefore links should be added but you should be careful about how many links you add, you can scatter a few links here and there, and then add some surrounding text that is relevant to your website but the text should not appear to be ‘selling’ anything.

Hence Flickr cannot be used for SEO totally but as a user you should be aware of its policy and can take wise steps and allow your Flickr account to be used for diverting and increasing more traffic to your blog.

A. Karmakar is a successful writer and runs a Content Development Company with a worldwide clientele. You can visit Content Writers Organization to know more.

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