The Guide To Images With SEO Intent
A picture is worth a thousand words, and the right words can get your site ranking, fast! While a “pretty face” is always great for a site, images can offer so much more for a business’ digital marketing strategy. Grab your best camera and join us as we present our unofficial guide to promoting images that benefit your SEO strategy.
The Details of Your Images Matter
A visitor to your site should instantly be able to determine what your brand represents. That’s why the images used on your homepage and service pages must be high-quality, original, and optimized for size. Even if you’ve taken a phenomenal picture of your product, this doesn’t mean it will translate well to your site. Image file type and quality-to-size ratio heavily determine how well your site loads. Usually, if an image is too large it will slow down your site if posted as-is. While you may be tempted to load up the large image and reduce the file size once it’s in your publishing program, we say, “don’t do it”. For the best way to bring out the details in your photos is to use a standard editing program to reduce the file size prior to publication. This will keep your bounce rate low and guarantee your image still shows up with great detail.
Stock Images Don’t Help Your SEO
Yes, stock images are easy to find and even easier to use; but do they help your SEO efforts? Not according to current Google updates. Even a well-optimized stock image won’t help out your SEO as much as an original image you’ve taken. Reality and authenticity are “in” these days for Google. Take advantage of the opportunity and get creative with images to stand out during crawls!
Give Your Images a Reason to Exist
Don’t just drop an image or graphics to take up empty page space. Let your images tell a story or summarize the information you’ve just presented in a fun way. Some tips for doing this include:
- Infographics;
- Screenshots of your subject matter; or
- An image with an emotional impact no paragraph could sum up.
Optimize Elements Visitors Won’t See
Ready to get technical? Provide SEO-friendly images with these simple backend SEO techniques.
Naming Images
Properly named images are the easiest way to gain some SEO points. Google loves descriptions, so make one that uses the keyword you’re aiming for. Ditch the pre-made numerical descriptions and name your image based on what it represents.
Alt-Tags
Aside from simply naming your image, add an alt-tag that helps browsers and users with visual impairments recognize the contents of an image if it doesn’t load. Use your alt-tag as an opportunity to describe what’s going on in the image.
Include Your Images in a Sitemap
Take some extra time to publish an image sitemap. Doing this lets search engines quickly find the images on your site and get your pages found on image searches. This can easily be done with a WordPress plugin or with the help of an experienced digital marketing agency.
Paint the Right Online Picture of Your Brand with Every Use of Imagery
It takes time and imagination to map out the types of images that will work for your brand. From original, high-quality content to the technical SEO involved with optimization, your site’s success could rely heavily on the images it showcases. That can be pretty stressful for a local business owner. If running your business and producing conversion-driven, original content becomes a lot to handle, and that’s okay! Help from a digital marketing agency like Dallas SEO Dogs could benefit your site, even beyond the images. Don’t let the pictures on your site present a blurry image of your brand. Get out and get creative with your SEO strategy, today!
