You have heard a lot of SEO, and you may have also heard of image SEO. A good website should include images, as it won't make your website feel boring, especially if you have a blog for your website. The article should always include images, as they can bring your article to life and contribute to your website's SEO.
An image SEO is not just about inserting an image into your website or article. You will need to optimize it to increase your search traffic, or else it will just slow your website speed, and your target audience will leave your website.
Search engines won't be able to read your images if there is no alt text. Optimizing your image can create a better user experience, faster speed on your website page, and increase your chance of being ranked. It is becoming an important role in SEO strategy.
So how do you optimize your image to get more organic traffic to your website? Here are a few important things you should know about image SEO and provide your target audience with a better user experience.
What Is Image SEO?
Image SEO refers to the process of optimizing your images for search engines to read and find, improving your website visibility, and ranking your page in search engines. You can optimize your image through alt, file dimensions, appropriate captions, and many more.
Image SEO is an important part of SEO strategy but is often overlooked in on-page SEO. If you don't use this strategy correctly, it can sink your page's ability to drive valuable organic traffic. The right strategy allows search engine crawlers to interpret your content easier, making your website more discoverable.
Best Image SEO Tips #1 – Find The Right Image
When choosing the image for your website, always look for images related to your content. It is best to use original images rather than using stock photos. Of course, there are no issues with using stock photos, but another website may be using the same image, which doesn't make your image unique.
Using original and unique images is important, as search engines and visitors prioritize original content. It helps to rank on image results pages. You may consider creating your own infographic for your article. If you don't have the original image to use, there are places where you can get images, such as Unsplash or Canva. But beware of copyright.
Images should be relevant to the subject. Adding a random photo just to meet the SEO requirement doesn't meet the purpose. What do you feel when your article is about kitchen cabinets, but you are putting an image on cars? It doesn't fit into your article.
Besides, try to insert the image near the relevant text. If you have an image you are trying to rank, insert it at the top of the page without feeling forced.
Best Image SEO Tips #2 – Choose The Right Format
There are a few image formats you can choose. There is no right or wrong. It depends on how you want and plans to use it. But you will want to get a basic understanding of the few common image format for the web.
JPEG is the most popular image that is often used for the web. It is used for online photos or artwork. As they can be compressed to small sizes, they can be useful for emailing preview images. But you may lose some image quality, but you can find a good balance to find a better quality level.
PNG can be used for transparency in the image background. It produces a better-quality image, but the file size will be larger. Webp has higher compression than PNG and JPEG. It supports images and animated images. But it is not supported by older browsers.
Best Image SEO Tips #3 – Compress Image
Compressing your images isn't just about reducing the file size. It helps to decrease the page load time. The loading speed of your website can affect whether visitors want to visit your website and also the ability to rank your page and gain traffic. If your page's loading speed is slow, the search engine isn't going to look at them favorably.
Compressing the image won't affect your image quality. It minimizes the file size without compromising the image quality to an unacceptable degree. Consider using PageSpeed Insights, and you will get an assessment of your page's speed. You get to see if the images affect your page speed and how much space you can save if you compress them.
Improper-sized images are often the main reason that affects page speed. Image compression is important when you are doing image SEO. The main goal of compressing the image is to have a faster loading speed when you use images for your website.
Best Image SEO Tips #4 – Use Alt Text
Visitors may understand the image, but for search engine spiders, you will need to give them a clue. This is where alt text helps out. It provides the information that Google needs whenever there is an image query.
Besides giving search engine spiders the information it needs, it helps visually impaired users to understand the image. When a glitch prevents an image from loading, it can be helpful as search engines can read the alternative text.
The alt tag should be written in more detail than the file name. Aim for 10 to 15 to express what the image is about.
Best Image SEO Tips #5 – Choose The Right File Name
You want the search engine to know what the image is about, so choosing the right image file name is important. The best option is to include your focus keyphrase in the image file name to get the most SEO power. Separate the keywords with hyphens. Remember not to use underscores, as search engines don't recognize them.
Your image file name can impact how search engine crawlers interpret the image you insert. So give a proper image file name before you upload it to the website. It helps to ensure your image appears on the image search results page.
You Might Be Interested In These Too!
- Video Marketing in 2024: 5 Trends You Need to MasterFebruary 20, 2024
- 3X Better Leads, 2X Faster: How I Used ChatGPT to Generate High-Converting Landing PagesFebruary 10, 2024
- The Future of SEO in Malaysia: AI Trends to WatchFebruary 23, 2024
- Set Up Successful Ecommerce: 5 Exclusive GuidesAugust 23, 2022