Essy Enjoys Taking Pictures
In Part 1 of this series, we discussed the value of optimizing video for search engines, and the best ways to do so. We briefly discussed the way search engines view a Web page — namely, as text and code only — and why it’s so important for sites to optimize their non-text content.
In this post, we’ll talk about optimizing the images on a site. This is especially important for sites which feature images as their primary content, such as portfolio sites.
Image Optimization
1. Quality counts. If you want people to notice your images among thousands of results, make sure they are high quality, clear images. Once you’ve taken or purchased a high-quality photo, be careful when editing the image not to over-compress it, leading to pixelation. A blurry, grainy, or poorly composed image won’t be given a second thought; no one will click on it, even if it’s the first result for their query.
Quality Is Important
2. Name the image something relevant, working in a keyword where reasonable. Avoid giving your images meaningless names like “photo1.jpg” or “123ch-2.png.” Be careful, however, not to simply stuff the image name with keywords; Google is smart enough to recognize that. Give your image a descriptive, relevant name, then replace all spaces in the image name with dashes. Dashes are more readable to robots, software, and across operating systems than are spaces, but search engines understand the meaning to be the same.
3. Host the image yourself, and pay attention to your directory structure. In order to draw ranks to your own site, you should avoid hosting your images on a site such as Flickr or Photobucket. Upload the images to your own site in a directory other than the root (such as one named “Images”), and make sure the directory is not blocked from search engines by your robots.txt file.
File Structure Matters
4. Surround the image with related content when possible. Google takes context into account when calculating image relevancy. This post is aimed primarily at low-copy sites, but do what you can. If the site is a portfolio site, perhaps you can give an explanation of the project near the image or include a list of tags. As with video SEO, allowing comments can assist in targeting long-tail keywords.
5. Use alt tags and title tags strategically and appropriately. Both tags are read by search engines, so they are an optimal place for keyword inclusion. However, alt tags are also used by the visually impaired, so only include a keyword where it actually makes sense; anything else is considered spammy. Likewise with the title tag, as this becomes visible when a user hovers over an image.
Use Relevant Keywords and Tags
Closing Thoughts
Remember, search engine spiders can’t see images the way we do, so if you don’t optimize your images, they may never be indexed at all. For image-centric sites, image SEO is essential for visibility. Be sure you don’t neglect this important step in your site’s SEO.
Don’t forget to read Part 1 to learn all about video SEO, and subscribe to our RSS so you don’t miss another SEO tip!
