Today, site owners make every effort to ensure that their content is unique, high-quality, and SEO-optimized. Everyone understands the importance of SEO-optimized content, but they often completely forget about SEO image optimization.
If you are not optimizing your images, you are losing additional traffic and leads. Only by optimizing images for SEO will search engines find your business and content.
In 2022 the focus on image optimization is growing. For this reason, our software development agency decided to answer the questions:
- What is image optimization in SEO?
- Why is SEO image optimization important?
- How to properly optimize images for SEO?
- What are the most effective SEO tips for optimizing your images?
Why is SEO for images important?
SEO is important for images because it takes up most of your traffic and can bring many new visitors and leads to your site.
Image SEO is the optimization of all the images on a website for search engines. This way, search engines will quickly figure out what your image is about and show it to users searching for similar queries.
After SEO image optimization, images are likely to show up in Google's image search. This can lead to increased traffic, faster downloads, and taking the top SERPs position.
Why does your website need images?
Today it is convenient to do business on the Internet, but not easy because there is a lot of competition. To get into the field of view of users, you have to try very hard. Your site's visual component is the first thing they pay attention to and is key to catch their attention.
Images grab the attention of users
The image itself on your site is like a red cloak for a bull — whatever it is, it’s the first thing Internet users pay attention to. You can add photos, graphics, infographics, or diagrams. Remember that Internet users are like small children; they should be interested.
Images help you better understand your content
Images are like a summary of your blog or article. The main task of all the images or graphs on your site is to help users accept the information you want to convey. Therefore, when adding images, think carefully about their message.
Images explain complex things better
If you want to explain something, it is better to illustrate it. Suppose you are writing a blog about IT — for example, how to set up a plugin. It is best if you illustrate the step-by-step guide with screenshots. Users get through complex material much faster if images accompany it.
What affects the position of the site in the search results?
Many factors affect the ranking of a site in the SERP. They are all divided into:
1. Internal factors (keywords, linking, meta tags, robots.txt, sitemap.xml, site loading speed, other factors)
Keywords can be used in image titles. Re-linking helps to make lists of photos. Re-link site pages to other pages where there is photo content. Website loading speed is an important indicator. Images can be extensive, so they need to be resized and used in specific formats.
2. External factors (building up the linking base)
Photos are considered part of the content and play a significant role in link building. Now we touch on the buzzword of inbound-marketing. If you generate high-quality pictures, it can affect inbound links. If a photo is exciting, then there is a great likelihood that someone will share it on social networks. That increases the interaction with the site and your position increases.
3. Behavior factors (bounce rate, page views, page visit time)
The bounce rate, the number of viewed pages, and the duration of the visit all affect the site's position in the search results as a whole. If you have a lot of photos, it keeps visitors on the site longer. This will increase your position in the search results.
How the search engines index the images
To prove to you that SEO image optimization is essential, here's a quick guide to how search engines index all the images on your site.
- First, the site as a whole is indexed.
- When search engines find images on your site, they are analyzed by their size, color, and format.
- Further, all images are automatically reduced to a size of 16x16 pixels.
- After that, each element is assigned a specific number. These numbers are called signatures.
- Next, similar signatures are combined.
- Then similar fragments are again reduced and converted into a numerical characteristic.
9 working tips for SEO image optimization
Use these tips and tricks to make images SEO friendly.
1. Add high-quality images
Your images will attract more attention if they are sharp and of high quality.
2. Choose the best file type
Choose the right format for your photo so that it loads quickly.
The most popular photo formats are:
- JPGs are recommended for photography
- PNG is recommended for graphics, screenshots, and logos
- SVG is recommended for images that will be viewed in many sizes
- GIFs are recommended for animated or moving graphics
3. Add the image alt tag
The image alt tag is prescribed so that search engines understand what your picture is about and for people for whom the image has not loaded for some reason.
To write SEO-friendly Alt text, you should:
- Include keyword
- Keep it short
- Create alt text in a way that your reader can search it
4. Use the target keyword on the image title
Another must-have for SEO image optimization is to fill in the image title. When writing the title, use the same keyword that you used in the alt tag.
5. Add the main keyword to the image file name
The image name is also an important element for searching for your image. The title must contain the main keyword, so it will be easier to understand the images. You give the title to the image when you create it.
6. Use unique images
If you have the choice to use stock photos or your own photos, we would recommend choosing the second option.
Do you create unique blogs? Then try to add only unique images. They can boost your search rankings.
7. Include images in your site map
The sitemap is like a guide for search engines. It contains a list of all the elements that you have on your site. Add all the important images to your sitemap for better search results.
8. Make your images mobile-friendly
Create responsive images to make them mobile-friendly. As a result, the image will be displayed correctly no matter the display size.
9. Geocode your images
Geocoding is important to Google. If you specify your office's geolocation, the coordinates will be automatically recorded in the EXIF data, and local search results will display the photos.
5 ideas for image content
Photos are needed by all web resources. Take the ideas for photo content:
- office photo
Just don't forget to geocode them.
- screenshots
It is helpful if you want to explain difficult things.
- infographics
This information is most often shared on social networks if there is a need to submit information in a nutshell (instead of long texts and descriptions).
- photo reports
Such images can also be geocoded and in the local SERP raise the position of your site.
- product photos
It is especially important here to write the correct alt, which will allow you to increase the density of keywords and
increase the position in the SERP.
Optimize your images for SEO with Wishdesk web development agency
When it comes to optimizing images for SEO, not everyone understands why it is important. However, it is just as vital as SEO content optimization.
Use the tips to do everything right and get the most out of it. If you need help with SEO, our SEO specialists are always on the alert.
