For maternity & newborn photographers
How to connect your social media to your Google Business Profile (and why every photographer should).
In about two minutes, you can have your latest work showing up directly on your Google listing — right under your address, hours, and reviews. Here is exactly how, and why it matters for your studio.
Google quietly rolled out one of the biggest local SEO updates in years, and almost no photographers are using it yet. It is called the Social Media Updates carousel. Once you connect your Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, or TikTok to your Google Business Profile, Google can pull your most recent posts and display them directly on your listing — visual proof of your work, sitting alongside your contact info and reviews.
For a maternity or newborn photographer, this is significant. When a parent in your city searches "newborn photographer near me," your portfolio now becomes part of your search result. They see your work before they even click your website. It is free visibility, and it takes about two minutes to set up.
Here is the full setup, the platforms that matter most for photographers, and the posting cadence I recommend to keep your carousel fresh.
i.The five-step setup
01
Sign in to the Google account that manages your Business Profile, then search your business name on Google. Your profile card appears in the results panel on the right.
02
Click Edit profile, then open the Contact tab.
03
Scroll to Social profiles and click Edit next to it.
04
From the dropdown, choose a platform, paste the full URL of your profile (not just the username), then click Add social profile to add another.
05
Save. The links appear right away. The Social Media Updates carousel populates over the following days as Google indexes your posts.
ii.The seven platforms Google supports
Google currently supports seven platforms. You can add one link per platform, so pick the account you actually post to. For photographers, here is how I would prioritize:
- Highest impactInstagram
- Highest impactYouTube
- High impactFacebook
- High impactTikTok
- Worth addingPinterest
- Worth addingLinkedIn
- Worth addingX (Twitter)
Instagram and YouTube are doing the heaviest lifting for most photographers I work with. Facebook and TikTok are climbing fast. Pinterest, LinkedIn, and X are worth adding if you already post there.
iii.The posting cadence that keeps your carousel fresh
Connecting your social is step one. Step two is keeping it active enough that Google has something to surface. Here is the rhythm I recommend:
Three to four posts per week on your primary platform. Google needs recent content to surface; a dormant feed shows nothing.
Name what you do in roughly half of your posts. Say the words newborn photographer, maternity session, and your city. Both Google and AI search engines read your captions to understand who you serve and where.
Mix services with story. Post a session preview, then a behind-the-scenes, then a client moment, then a service offer. Variety keeps the carousel interesting; service mentions keep it findable.
Tag your location. Geotag your studio or session location on Instagram. It is a small signal that meaningfully strengthens the local SEO connection between your social and your Business Profile.
iv.What to do this week
If you do nothing else after reading this, do these three things:
- Connect your Instagram and YouTube to your Google Business Profile today.
- Audit your last ten Instagram captions. How many of them clearly name what you do and where you work? If the answer is fewer than five, rewrite your next ten.
- Set a calendar reminder to post three times next week. Schedule them now if you can.
“The photographers who win local search in 2026 will not be the ones with the prettiest websites. They will be the ones whose social is connected, current, and clear about what they actually do.”
Keep going
For more practical strategies on local SEO, Instagram growth, and pricing your studio for sustainable income, explore the full Ana Brandt Education library.
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