Images are an important part of the content marketing strategy. Your website needs a gorgeous image that matches your brand identity with each and every piece of content that you create.
SEO for images is pretty simple. You just need to make sure that the image is well-optimized, clear, and concise so that it is not going to get lost in search results.
In the years to come, more focus will be shifted towards content and image SEO. This is because digital marketing has become so prominent and is now a key component of any company’s marketing strategy.
Content has been the focus of SEO for a while, but image SEO is also starting to gain traction in recent years. With this shift in focus, companies will need to find ways of creating captivating images that will help with ranking and thus improve their bottom line.
Many businesses are missing out on a great opportunity by not optimizing online images for SEO.
Not only does the increase in traffic straight to your website benefit your business, but it also helps with general rankings for organic searches.
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Importance of Image SEO
Have you ever considered that the images on your site are just as important to SEO optimization? A good search engine ranking starts with a solid foundation: titles, headers, and body content.
But there is one place where it all falls apart—the images on your website. Images can’t be analyzed by search engines in quite the same way people do; without proper image tags, they won’t show up for users who would otherwise see them if properly tagged.
10 Tips on How to Optimize Images for SEO
So why not take some time away from optimizing those other aspects of your web presence today and get started building an excellent framework for tomorrow’s success?
#1. Identify your Keywords and Phrases
Keywords are terms that people use to find information about a topic. Keyword phrases are groups of keywords that people use in the form of search queries.
When doing your research, make sure you also check out the image search engines such as Google Images and Bing Images. These engines can help you find images that are relevant to your keyword phrases.
An important thing to remember is that it’s not just about finding the best keyword in order to rank high on the search engine result pages; it’s also about finding images that have a good amount of relevance with the keyword or keyword phrase.
#2. Label or Rename Images for SEO
Images are important for SEO, and they should be named with keyword-friendly names. A good image name is descriptive, includes the main keywords of the post or page, is short and easy to remember.
These are a few best practices for naming images on your site:
- Keep it short.
- Put your main keyword first in the title.
- Use a descriptive verb or noun tag that fits the image content.
- Avoid using obscure words or acronyms that may confuse searchers or show up as a search result misspelling the word you’re trying to rank for.
We understand that it’s tempting to take the easy way out of naming an image which might mean labeling them with nothing more than what your camera gives them–a generic name such as “imagefile4.jpg” for instance–or providing some other simplistic designation such as ‘Image 2′. But there are two important reasons why this isn’t good enough: firstly, because search crawlers read through files’.
#3. Choose the Right Format
Images are a key factor in SEO. They improve the user experience by attracting more attention and providing valuable information that is hard to understand with text alone.
Images also provide a better user experience because they help users retain what they read. In addition, images have been shown to increase the likelihood of sharing content on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.
The most important thing to do when making an image for SEO is to choose the right format for it. You want to make sure that your image is optimized to show up on search engine results pages (SERPs) so that it can get seen by as many people as possible.
There are many image formats to choose from, but PNG and JPEG are two of the most common for web use.
The file size is much larger when you’re using a PNG – which produces better quality images. However, with that increase in quality comes increased size; on occasion, it’s worth sacrificing some detail because your computer can’t handle large files efficiently (both Chrome and Firefox support WebP).
I typically only upload photos taken by true photographers as jpegs due to their high resolution- they look great online!
#4. Compress your Images
The importance of using compressed images on your website isn’t just for faster loading times. It’s also important for image SEO.
A study from HighReachability found that photo optimization can boost a website’s SEO by 27%. Will this be the next gold rush?
Image compression has been around since the early days of web development. In fact, compression is an essential part of any website that wants to load fast and stay ahead of the competition in SEO.
And with how quickly image SEO is becoming a requirement, it’s most likely that we’ll see even more websites going the extra mile to beat their competitors at their own game.
#5. Optimize image alt tags
Alt tags are used for the image to describe what the image is about. This can be anything from a description of the photo to the title of the article.
Image SEO includes optimizing images and alt tags. The alt tag should include keywords that relate to the image and its content. Also, it should be as specific as possible instead of using generic words such as “illustration” or “photo.”
In order for an image to rank higher in search engines, it is important that it has a relevant and specific alt tag on it. The alt tag should contain keywords that are related to what the image is about. It can also feature titles of articles where this picture is mentioned in them.
#6. Create Unique Images
With the increase in photo uploading and photo sharing, online marketers are struggling to stand out in search engines. This is where image SEO comes into play.
Here, it is imperative for marketers to create images that get them high search engine rankings. Some of the top ways to do this include:
1) Use a keyword-rich title image that has great relevance to your content
2) High-quality images with captions that actually provide value and information for your audience
3) Images with visual hierarchy, such as text or an image on top of an image
4) Images that are relevant to the content being covered or that support the point being made.
#7. Avoid Lifting images from Google
With the rise of digital photography, there has been a new way to steal content online. Copyright infringements are becoming easier and more prevalent. Image SEO is a new way of creating content from other people’s content without giving credit.
Image SEO is an act in which you use an image that is not yours without giving credit for it. If you want to use someone else’s image for your website or blog, then you should get permission from them first.
The owner of the image can also send a DMCA takedown notice if they believe that their copyright was violated. If they don’t send a DMCA, then the image will remain on your website
Stock photo providers like Getty, DepositFiles, and Shutterstock have been known to issue copyright notices to individuals who are using content without a license. Recently the US Postal Service has paid $3.5 million in an image copyright lawsuit for violating copyrighted images – not just once but twice! Sketchers also got sued over their use of copyrighted materials on t-shirts with prices ranging from $2-$4 per shirt at Walmart stores across America.
#8. Proper Title Tags
Title tags are the most important aspect of an image as they are what viewers will see at the top of a Google search. If you have a title tag that isn’t relevant to your image, it is going to have a low click-through rate and may not rank as well.
In order to make sure that your images rank well, try adding keywords or phrases that will make them more appealing. For example, if your image is about a specific person, tweak the title tag to also include their name.
Title tags are key in ranking an image on search engines. You should always put SEO keywords into your title tags so they can attract users and rank well on Google.
#9. Create well-researched blog posts
The best way to get your blog posts in front of a large number of people is by using original and well-researched content. Your blog post can be shared on social media, sent out for guest posting opportunities, or go viral.
#10. Make Your Images Mobile-Friendly
There are several things that need to be done in order to make your images mobile-friendly. One of them is to optimize the image for search engines by adding alt text and title tags. This makes it easier for the bots to understand what the image is about.
There are also several ways that you can improve your image SEO on your own such as ensuring that there is consistency in URLs, location, and file type.
The good thing about these improvements is that they can help you get more traffic from Google and Bing search engine results pages.
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Conclusion
We hope that this article has helped you understand how to optimize your images so they get the most visibility and shares on Google. If any of these tips are new to you, be sure to update your marketing plan accordingly.
And if anything we’ve discussed here is unclear or needs more explanation, you can use the comment section below to get answers to your questions.
Our team would love nothing more than to answer all of your questions about SEO best practices for digital marketers who want their work seen by as many people as possible. What do you think?
Do these image optimization strategies seem like a good idea? Let us know what you thought in the comments below!
