Naming your photos so they get found

A photographer uploads dozens of images to their site and socials every month. How many still carry the camera-default name, like `IMG_4827.jpg`? To Google and AI engines, that name says nothing — the image stays invisible on the searches that could lead clients to you. Here are six rules to rename your photos before upload, and make each one a real entry point to your work.

1. Describe what the image shows

The file name should tell Google and AI engines what they have no other way to guess. `IMG_4827.jpg` says nothing; `loire-castle-wedding-ceremony.jpg` describes the subject, the place, the moment. The right test: if someone read only the name, would they understand what it shows?

2. Name the place

This is what unlocks local searches — the ones that bring you real clients. A name that contains “lyon”, “bordeaux” or “provence” has a chance of appearing on searches tied to those places. A photo with no geographic clue has none.

3. Prefer hyphens to spaces and underscores

Search engines treat hyphens as word separators; underscores and spaces, much less so. Write `rustic-wedding-provence.jpg`, not `rustic_wedding_provence.jpg` or `rustic wedding provence.jpg`.

4. Stay short and precise

Three to six descriptive words are enough. Beyond that you dilute. `family-portrait-garden-natural-light.jpg` is readable and precise; adding `professional-photographer-high-quality-2026` brings nothing — it's noise that engines ignore and that makes your name unreadable.

5. Avoid generic names and duplicates

`photo1.jpg`, `final.jpg` or `best.jpg` serve no purpose. And two photos with exactly the same name on your site, even in different folders, are poorly indexed. Each file must have a unique, descriptive name.

6. Think consistency across the whole portfolio

If your file names repeat the same strategic keywords — your specialty, your main locations — you reinforce your presence on those terms. A wedding photographer in Lyon whose every relevant image contains `wedding` and `lyon` builds, file after file, a coherent mass that engines and AI engines learn to recognise.

Not just captured. Created.

A great photo named `IMG_4827.jpg` stays invisible. A decent photo named `wedding-castle-normandy-ceremony.jpg` is findable. Naming takes thirty seconds per photo; its effects last years.