You’ve probably added images to your web pages before, and more even more probably don’t know whether it all worked for your website or not. Chances are, it didn’t. And that is why we are here with these image SEO best practices to help you get out the rut. Image SEO is one of the most important aspects of On-page Optimization and can take your overall SEO strategy up by several notches by making the page more appealing to both the search engines as well as the audience. Here goes nothing.
Use the right kind of images
Visuals with image will fall flat if there is no context to why you are using them, no matter how high a quality you choose. Every image you post needs to be perfectly in tune with the content you place it around with. Doing so is a great way of showing search engines that the page is valuable and engaging and adds to the user experience rather than robbing the users off it.
Compression and Quality go hand in hand
Compressed images that appear to be of low quality are no good. High-quality images that are too large in size are no good. While the former will bring down the quality of the page several steps below, the latter will end up increasing the page load time consequently and decreasing your chances of getting ranked higher. Find an optimum balance between compression and quality.
The File Type is just as important
The type of image you are using and its file type has more of a role to play than one would think. And uploading images without any thought or pattern in place can backfire. So, as a rule of thumb, JPEGs are best for photos. PNGs for graphics, screenshots, and logos. SVG custom graphics in different sizes without compromising on the quality. And GIFs for animated visuals.
ALT Tags are of prime importance
Search engines can’t see images when they are crawling a page. But they can read the text. And that is the entire premise SEO stands for, till something else comes along. Adding ALT Tags or ALT Text to your images is a great way of letting search engines know what the images are all about and whether or not they fit in with the rest of the content on the page so they know where to rank them. Never, ever, keep the same ALT Tags for any of the two images on a page.
Add Target Keyword in the File Name and Image Title
This is one of the best practices to follow when performing image SEO to get those images ranked in search results. Whatever your target keyword is, make sure to include in both the file name as well as the title of the image. To go a step further, you can also keep same text for the image title and ALT Tags. This is one aspect where keyword optimization and image SEO coincide to deliver better results for your pages when done right.
Don’t overlook Structured Data for Images
Structured data markup for both the text and the images allows search engines to deliver visual results in a better way. Adding Structured DATA, also known as Schema Markup, to the images makes it easier for search engines to better understand what the image is all about. Doing so is also a great way to open up your image’s chances of being displayed in the rich results. So only add it to what you think are your most important images.
Don’t overlook the Sitemap
It is great way of increasing the chances of search engines crawling and indexing your images thereby resulting in more organic traffic and improved rankings. So make sure you don’t forget adding images to the sitemap. If unable to do it manually, there are many plugins including Yoast that automate the process, keeping things easy for you all the way through.
Final thoughts
– Before you start with the whole process of singling out images to add to your pages, make sure you have studied and understood the above-mentioned Image SEO best practices to the core. While everything is just as important as any other practice, ALT Tags and putting the target keyword in the image title and file name takes precedence over others. Happy sorting!