Let’s be honest, there are a lot sexier forms of search engine
optimization than image optimization. Content marketing, long-form
posts, author rank and other newer, broader SEO tactics have captured
the fancy of marketers and business owners. Even link building remains
regarded as an effective, if often time-consuming, strategy.
Amidst all that, it’s easy to overlook image optimization. But that
is a big mistake. Image pageviews are a huge but sometimes overlooked
factor. In 2010, daily pageviews on Google Images topped 1 billion.
Image optimization is fairly easy to do, as long as you follow the
right steps. Here’s how you can make it work for your company.
What is Image Optimization?
Image optimization is essentially coding your images so that they
bring in the greatest possible amount of traffic. Search engines offer
separate image searches, which is a great way to drive people to your
site. But the Google and Bing bots can also crawl the tags on your
images for regular searches, and so it pays to use lots of photos with
descriptive text in every post.
There are three main best practices to keep in mind when optimizing your images. We’ll examine each one in detail, but for reference, they are:
- Picking a good file name
- Using alt text
- Reducing file size
If you pay close attention to all three things, your images should
boost traffic to your blog. Now we’ll walk through each step to ensure
you’re getting the picture.
Find the Right File Name
You might think of the file name as a simple descriptor you use to
designate a file. But search engines consider it so much more. File
names help clue them in to relevant pictures
in a search. That’s why the worst thing you can do when you’re
uploading a picture to your web site is to keep the random numbers or
letters assigned to the picture on your phone (i.e., KM20413_003) as the
file name. That tells the search engine nothing about what’s in the
photo.
Instead, think about what keywords you’re targeting for the page and
make one of them the name of your picture file. For instance, if you are
selling a product for killing mosquitoes, your file name might be “bug
zapper.” Before you decide on the name, you may want to do a search on
the keyword you are targeting to see what images come up and what their
file names are.
The greater the detail in your file name, the better, as you’ll show
up in more specific searches. But don’t overwhelm one photo with five
keywords. One detailed keyword is enough.
Use Alt Text Properly
Every image that you upload includes an alternative text attribute.
This is separate from the file name, and it essentially identifies what
the picture is. It’s the text that shows up on screen when a picture
doesn’t load properly. In a guide on image optimization, WebpageFX gives some good background on alt text, which can be confusing if you’re not a technical web person.
Most content management systems have a place to add the alt text.
When all is said and done, the HTML version will look like this:
alt=”[your alt text here]“. This is where you become
Google’s eyes. The
search engine can’t recognize what an image looks like unless you tell
it. So if you want your photo of a red bird to show up when someone
searches “red bird,” you probably want your alt text to read alt=”red
bird”.
Cut Down on File Size
Load time remains a major concern on the web. As sites have gotten
faster, surfers’ attention span has simultaneously gotten shorter. Three seconds
is about the maximum they are willing to wait for something to load.
Plus, page load time is one of the factors Google considers in its
algorithm. Don’t make your images part of the problem.
You will need to compress the size of your image before you load it
to your site in order to keep your load time down and thus optimize the
photo. While there is no set limit to aim for, keep common sense in mind
– don’t fill your website with tons of 1mb photos, or loading will be a
slow journey. Edit the image in photo editing software in order to
downsize it; do not rely on your CMS’s reduction tool. Your photos will
be crisper and load faster.
Making Image Optimization Work for You
Even with all the other new SEO tactics gaining traction every day,
image optimization is still a very smart, proven way to boost traffic to
your site. Don’t abandon it just because some other techniques have
risen to prominence.
SEO Martian
The Galaxy's Best Online SEM Optimization Company
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