Not getting any messages on your dating apps? Your pictures may be the reason why. They’re one of most important components for attracting others online, but they’re also one of the easiest to mess up.

Here are some ways you can improve your picture selection to make sure you’re getting the results you deserve:

Make Sure You’re Actually Visible

The primary role of your photos is to let people know what you look like, and in order to do that, people have to actually see you. This seems obvious, but it’s actually pretty common for people to only use artsy or group photos where they aren’t readily visible. Here are a few examples of what not to do:

Have An “Interesting” Photo

Try to have at least one picture that shows off something interesting about yourself. It doesn’t have to be extravagant like being on the top of Mount Everest, but it should be something that’ll help differentiate you from others. If you’re a chef, put a picture of you cooking. If you like to play soccer, put a picture of you playing. Anything to make sure your photos aren’t just a bland collection of selfies.

Have At Least Three Pictures

You should aim to have at least three pictures on your profile. Having only one picture can seem suspicious, and having two isn’t really enough to showcase yourself. I would recommend having the following at minimum:

The Close Up 

The Full Body Shot

The Interesting/Action Picture

Avoid These Photo Types Altogether

• Mirror Selfies – Absolutely do not do this. Get a friend to take your picture, or set up your phone with a timer at the very least. The only thing mirror selfies reflect is poor decision making.
• Low Quality Pics – You have all the time in the world to select your pictures, there’s no reason to use blurry or low pixelated photos at all.
• Edited Pictures – To reiterate the first point, people want to see the real you in your pictures. Save the Snapchat dog filters and overly photoshopped pictures for your 2006 MySpace page. They look immature and unattractive.

Ask Others For Feedback

If you’re still not sure whether your pictures are good or not, try incorporating a second opinion. A great way to gain in-depth feedback is to use Photofeeler, a picture testing service. They utilize a community of people as well as artificial intelligence to rate photos in various different categories.

Coffee Meets Bagel also offers a “Photo Lab” feature where you can have two of your photos voted on. It’s not as comprehensive as Photofeeler, but it’s a quicker and easy way to help decide between two photos.

Online dating is hard, but being more thoughtful with your photos should make things easier. If you have any questions or would like your own dating profile photos to be checked, click here!