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Project Overview
In February 2026, Loopex Digital started providing local SEO services and Squarespace SEO services to Christina Schmidhofer Photography, a commercial food and product photography studio in San Francisco's Mission District. The studio shoots photo and video content for restaurants, beverage brands, and consumer packaged goods companies across the Bay Area.
Goal
At the start of the project, the Squarespace website faced four problems:
- Almost no organic traffic. The website brought in around 4 visitors per month, so search was sending the studio very few leads.
- Main keywords stuck just below the top. "Food photographer san francisco" sat in positions 8 to 9, and "product photographer san francisco" sat in position 7. Both were close enough to the top, but not close enough to get clicks.
- Low domain authority. With a Domain Rating of 2, the website had little behind it to push those keywords higher.
- Weak local signals. The website sent Google very few signals about where the studio is based, and the Google Business Profile had room for improvement.
Our goal was to move the studio into the top 3 of Google's organic results and the local map pack for its main service keywords, "food photography san francisco" and "product photography san francisco," so more brands searching for a local photographer would find and contact the studio.
Solutions
Because the studio serves a specific region, our SEO team built the strategy around local SEO services. We combined Google Business Profile work, on-site local signals, new location pages, and a link-building campaign to strengthen the website's authority.
Our Local SEO Team Optimized the Google Business Profile and Published Weekly Posts
We optimized the studio's Google Business Profile, so it clearly matched the services people search for: food photography and product photography in San Francisco.
Our team then published weekly posts on the profile to keep it active and send Google regular signals of an engaged, trustworthy local business. This work directly supported the studio's visibility in the local map pack.
We Added the Studio's Address, Phone, and Map to Strengthen Local Signals
Our SEO team made targeted on-site improvements to connect the website more clearly to its San Francisco location.
We optimized the Contact Us page and added local signals across the website, including the studio's phone number, address, and map.
These changes helped Google link the website, the Google Business Profile, and the studio's physical location together.
Our SEO Team Created Location Pages for Napa Valley and Santa Clara
To capture searches from beyond San Francisco itself, we built new location pages targeting nearby areas where the studio's clients are based, such as Napa Valley and Santa Clara.
Each page supports the main target keywords while speaking to the local audience in that area. We planned these pages as part of a wider SEO content strategy development services, so they would support the homepage and core service pages instead of competing with them.
Loopex Digital's Link Building Experts Secured 13 Backlinks to Build the Website's Authority
Guest Posting with Relevant Food/Photography Related Websites
With a Domain Rating of 2, the website needed stronger authority to compete for its main keywords. Our link building services focused on a targeted campaign to secure high-quality backlinks from relevant, trusted websites.
We focused our outreach on two types of websites. The first was photography and creative industry publications covering commercial and editorial work, helping build topical relevance around the studio’s expertise. The second was food and restaurant media, including food blogs and culinary publications that are relevant to the studio’s restaurant and beverage clients. By securing placements through high-quality, SEO-optimized articles, we helped strengthen the domain’s authority and improve its visibility for competitive search terms.
We focused on quality and relevance over volume, following the same link-building strategies we use for local businesses in competitive markets.
Results
The Studio's Commercial Keywords Reached the First Page of Google
When the project started, the studio's main keywords sat just outside the positions that get clicks. "Product photographer san francisco" was in position 7, and the website brought in around 4 organic visitors per month.
Our local SEO work moved the commercial terms onto the first page:
- "Food videographer" - position 2
- "Product photography san francisco" - position 4
- "Commercial product photographer san francisco" - position 5
- "Product photographer san francisco" - position 9
From 4 to 19 Monthly Organic Visitors
When the project started, the website brought in around 4 organic visitors per month. After our local SEO work, that grew to 19, a 375% increase.
The numbers are small, but the traffic is not. This is a B2B studio selling high-value commercial shoots, so each visitor is a brand searching for exactly the service the studio offers in its own area.
13 High-Quality Backlinks Acquired and Domain Rating Raised from 2 to 9
At the start of the project, the website had a Domain Rating of 2. Through our link-building campaign, we secured 13 high-quality backlinks, and the website's Domain Rating grew to 9, a 350% increase. This stronger authority helped the studio's service pages move up for their main keywords.
From 0% to 56–92% AI Visibility Across Tracked Prompts
Before the project, the studio had no presence in AI search results. Our AI SEO services changed that through local signals, the new location pages, and the backlinks our team secured.
We track these prompts in Loopex Digital's AI visibility tracker, which monitors four models: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews. Across the tracked prompts, the studio now holds 73% overall visibility:
- "Food photography san francisco" - 92% visibility
- "Product photographer san francisco" - 73% visibility
- "Food photographer san francisco" - 67% visibility
- "Product photography san francisco" - 56% visibility
The screenshots below show how Christina Schmidhofer Photography appears in Google AI Mode answers for these target queries, listed among the photographers the model recommends in San Francisco.
