When a booker, journalist or record label searches your name on Google, what they see in the first results defines their first impression. This guide walks you through the essentials so you can take control of that.
Why SEO matters for artists
Because word of mouth in the digital age starts on Google. When someone recommends you, the first thing the other person does is search for you. If what they find is a 2018 Facebook profile, a blurry photo and no website, your credibility drops immediately.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) isn’t black magic. It’s signals you send to search engines to tell them who you are, what you’re about and whether you deserve to appear.
The 5 pillars for artists
Your name is a keyword. Make sure your artist name appears clearly on your homepage, in the browser tab title, in the meta description, in the H1 heading and in the main body text. Google needs to see the name repeated in consistent contexts to understand that page is about you.
Your own website is worth ten social profiles. Instagram, Spotify or Facebook profiles don’t belong to you. Your own website is your digital territory — the one you control. On Google, personal websites with original content rank far better than third-party aggregators.
Content is the fuel. Articles, blog posts, concert reviews, press releases published on your website — all of this tells Google your site is alive and relevant. A website that never updates gradually loses rankings. You don’t need to publish every day, but having a rhythm matters.
Links from other websites are gold. When a festival website, a cultural media outlet or a venue links to you, Google reads it as a vote of confidence. How to get them: ask venues where you perform to list you in the programme with a link, and create press releases that journalists can reference.
Speed and mobile experience matter. Google penalises slow websites or ones that don’t display well on mobile. If your site takes more than 3 seconds to load or buttons are too small on a phone, you’re losing rankings and visitors at the same time.
Quick action checklist
Set up Google Search Console
It's free. It lets you see which search terms bring visitors, what errors your site has and request Google to index new pages. search.google.com/search-console
Google Business Profile
If you have a company, dance school or venue, set up a profile on Google Maps. It appears in local results and reinforces credibility. Free.
Review every page's title and description
The title is the blue text in Google results. The description is the grey summary below it. Both should include your name and what you do, in under 60 and 155 characters respectively.
All images with alt text
Google doesn't "see" images — it reads them through alternative text (the alt attribute). Describe what's in the photo including your name: "Joan Artist, saxophonist, concert at the Palau de la Música, 2025".
SEO for artists is different
Unlike an online shop, your audience isn’t searching “buy jazz performance”. They’re searching your name, your style (“contemporary string quartet Barcelona”) or your context (“musician for hire Barcelona”). Orient your content around these three axes.
Want us to handle it?
At Ressona we do full search engine registration: Google, Bing, Perplexity and ChatGPT. We include structured data (schema.org), keyword analysis and quarterly ranking tracking. Get in touch to find out more.