|EN| 7 Image SEO Best Practices/ You Need To Know
Discover seven simple but important SEO friendly tips that can help you optimize the images on your site and improve your website ranking on search engines.
Content management is a permanent job. Once the e.g. website relaunch project is handed over to you as our client we as Logic Joe would like to make sure that the ranking constantly improves. With these simple tips we would like to point out the importance of good image SEO.
Image SEO is an essential element of on-page SEO – with the emphasis on the O which stands for optimization. It plays a significant role in improving your website’s visibility, search engine ranking, page load time and users experience.
What can you do to ensure the image SEO on your website is spot-on and avoid the negativity that comes with getting it wrong?
You are about to find out.
Here are our 7 image SEO best practices you can apply to get optimal results:
- Use high-quality and unique images
- Select the right image format
- Use descriptive names for your images
- Use the right alt texts
- Compress the images before upload
- Make your images mobile-friendly
- Include your images in a sitemap
1. Use high-quality and unique images
Over the years, including images in website content has become a mainstay, as they help the target audience appreciate and better understand the content. Research shows that the buying decision 50% of online buyers are influenced by images.
However, we advise that you steer clear of low-quality and stock images. Instead, opt for high-quality and unique images.
It is no secret that high-quality images are easy on the eye. Using them in your search results thumbnail will catch the attention of your target audience.
Furthermore, search engines and website visitors prefer websites with unique content, including images.
If you have been using generic pictures, your site won’t enjoy the same benefits as another with high-quality and unique pictures. Hence, you need to pay attention to the pictures you use.
If you are a marketer in charge of B2B and medium to large-sized companies, this is a great opportunity for you to help your company stand out from its competitors.
We recommend that you take and use photos that portray what the company does to make them attractive and unique.
Additionally, if you need original animated images, graphics, and infographics, we also recommend putting effort into these image types by creating them uniquely suitable for your content and products.
2. Select the right image format
There are so many image formats out there. Four of these formats have become the go-to options for the web: PNG, JPEG, SVG, and WebP. They are ideal for different scenarios.
Below is a guide to help you choose the perfect fit:
- PNG is renowned for producing higher-quality photos with transparent background.
- JPEG is the most popular format. It is perfect for online artworks, photos, or emailing preview images.
- SVG is the go-to option for logos or icons
- WebP serves the purpose of reducing images on the web to the smallest possible file size. According to Google, images and graphics in WebP format are about 30 percent smaller than PNG or JPEG files with the same image quality and with all the advantages in terms of reduced loading time. Please note that WebP as a relatively new format is not compatible with old browsers.
3. Use descriptive names for your images
Most image file names appear like “IMG_6390” or something along these lines. You might want to leave the name as it appears because you feel it does not count.
But you shouldn’t because you can make it count and improve your site’s ranking by giving your images relevant names. All you have to do is rename the image file, using a suitable image description and related keywords that add more value.
This helps search engines and users to understand your pictures and improves your image SEO. Nonetheless, avoid keyword stuffing, as you may get banned or penalized on search engines like Google.
For optimal image SEO, always name your images after the appropriate keyword. A keyword that succinctly and distinctly describes the image and the searcher’s intention requires the same effort as a keyword selection for textual content.
By using this optimized file name, you make it easier for the search engine to understand the topic affiliation of the image.
For example, if you have a portal where you sell clothes, name the image accordingly. „image9308403402.jpg“ or „pants-ladies.jpg“ are of little use.
At best, name the type, brand name and color in the file name, which you also mention on the article page – „jerseyshirt-brandname-color.jpg“ or „sneakers-brandname-color.jpg“ will lead to success. In addition, the following tips are also recommended:
- Separate the individual words in the file name with hyphens instead of underscores. This is easier for most programs to interpret.
- Always write in lower case. This does not directly promote SEO, but reduces the potential for errors when embedding.
- Beware of umlauts and other accepted characters in filenames.
4. Use the right alt texts
Alt texts, otherwise known as alt descriptions or alt tags, help you achieve three SEO goals in one stroke.
First, it makes it easy for search engine crawlers to index your site effectively. This, in turn, will influence your search results positively.
Secondly, it makes your site experience accessible for screen readers aiding visually impaired users.
Thirdly, it provides the user with an upfront image description whilst loading the images completely on their device due to -for example – a low-bandwidth connection.
Here is an ideal example of how to write alt texts:
<img SRC = “ice-cream-vanilla.jpg” alt = “scoop of vanilla flavored ice cream in a cone”/>
5. Compress the images before upload
The last thing you want is website visitors leaving your site due to your website loading slowly. Since this is what it could add up to when you have large file-size images on your website. And the higher the bounce rate on your site, the lower your conversion rate.
However, you can make your site load faster by compressing or reducing image sizes before uploading them. Ensure the file size is at most 100 KB.
You can effectively achieve this with tools like Squoosh, Adobe Photoshop, or Compress JPEG.
6. Make your images mobile-friendly
These days, most users access the internet via their mobile devices. Therefore, it’s important to optimize the images on your web pages for mobile devices to improve user experience and search engine rankings.
Recent statistics show that 53.74% of the total website visits are mobile, while 49.26% are desktop. 51% of internet users are also likely to buy products from companies with mobile-friendly websites.
In addition, 71% of individuals expect the mobile version of a website to load faster or as fast as the desktop version. Hence, your surest bet is satisfying both worlds — desktop and mobile devices.
7. Include your images in a sitemap
It is advisable to either add images to an existing sitemap or to create a new sitemap to accommodate your images. This makes it easier for search engines to discover, crawl, and index your images.
You can decide to add images to a sitemap manually or use free online tools like xml-sitemaps.com that automatically produce image sitemaps when you provide a URL.
Final Words
Image SEO is above all: Consistent work. It is important to teach and brief the previous findings and tips to your content management team in order to establish a consistent implementation of these optimizations in your daily work.
We recommend that you regularly look at the optimization potential of your website. New and improved standards will come surely, paving the way for further optimizations.
There are good chances of ranking high in search engines, earning valuable backlinks, or getting much-needed organic traffic by applying our SEO image advice within a short period of time.
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