A picture is worth a thousand words and if it is on the internet it may be worth even more. Visuals have always been a better source of conveying information. It helps viewers to understand the information and does not require much effort. One glance and you know what the other person is trying to say.
With the growing search engine optimization trend. Every aspect of your online presence is important and should be optimized. The key amongst these variables is the visual content of the images. Over the past few years, image optimization has become very relevant and is known to be the future of search engine optimization. So, here are some tips as to how you can capitalize on this opportunity.
Titles are underrated
The name you choose for your image is the most fundamental and basic variable in image optimization. It acts like a tag or an address for the Search engine to find. The better and clear it is, the easier it is for the search engine to find.
Always keep the title relevant to the image. It should be simple and something people would search for. Adding fancy and impressive words would work on people but computers don’t need to be impressed. The title of the image is the very first step to Image optimization. Using correct keywords helps in getting the best outreach on search engines. It helps the search engines to locate the images better and rank the page accordingly.
Format it right
Images are not simple. There are many types of images. You too, at some point would have noticed the difference, by looking at the extension. Some are JPG, JPEG, PNG and many more. These extensions determine the type of image and how the various systems will interpret it. For example.AI files can only be opened and edited on Adobe Illustrator.
You must always keep in mind the fundamental difference between these extensions and use them accordingly.
Using a different in the wrong place can make the image look stretched or blur or it may not even show, instead you will get an error 404.
Make sure you use the correct image format. Also, try to be consistent with the extension. It will help you standardize your image filing system and make it easier to produce similar, if not the same quality in content.
The file format is also important because some formats may not be compatible with the browser causing problems in loading the images. When using the image for SEO it is vital that all pieces fall in the right place or you risk an incomplete picture.
The name should match the content
When you upload your image on the internet, it is stored in the library. This storage space is then used by the search engines and that is why we need SEO. Pressing any keys at random or giving irrelevant names to the image can cause chaos for the search engine. This will lead to the search engine skipping the image altogether. Something you most definitely don’t want.
Try to keep a relevant name of the image. Something which will be searched on the search engine by the users. Make sure it is descriptive of what is in the image. The new algorithms on the search engines are able to detect the objects in the image and not using the right name will make them ignore your content. So be thoughtful and name your image wisely
Pick someone of your own size!
The proverb cannot be more true for any other situation than in the Search engine optimization of images. When it comes to the size of the image, it does matter because it helps the search algorithms and makes the content look even better.
High-resolution images tend to be huge in size, which may cause browsers to load them slower. Image compression is a very viable option, but you need to do it very carefully because it sometimes distorts the quality of the picture.
Resizing is also an option, but it may cause the image to look out of place in some cases. Try to maintain a fixed pattern and create a structure for your content. Google responds better to a structured website. Use a standardized method or a blend of methods to optimize your images to get a better response from search engines.
Form the lack of better alternatives
The most important aspect of preparing your images for Google or any other search engine is adding an ALT tag to your image. ALT is short for “alternative text”, which is a tag that can and should be attached to the image file. This helps the search engine to find the image easier. Even when it is unable to load the image it can rank the page.
Important note always use relevant tags to get the maximum impact on the search engines.
Responsive content
How many times have you visited a website created for mobile on a desktop, only to see the images horribly stretched and out of place, or vice versa?
At least once I am sure. You don’t want this to happen to your image. One of the many criteria of Google ranking your page is how responsive your image is to various devices. It is simply how well the images adjust themselves to various devices, such as desktops, mobiles and so on. Regardless of it being a necessity for google ranking, it is important to have responsive images to have better visual effects and better viewing experience.
Do you have a map?
Always add an image map for your images. It sounds very technical, but it is simply adding a simpler way for the crawlers to find out about the image resources when they are not able to find them itself. It is not necessarily focused on SEO improvement but helps with the visibility of your image, guiding the crawlers to find their way to the image.
Match your text
Not directly related to image optimization but a variable that should not be ignored. Try to match your text to the image. This will help the search engine to match keywords and images, assisting it to display the image even when the keyword is searched for. SEO optimization is important not just for images but for every resource you put on the internet. Better synchronized optimization produces desirable results.
In the end
Images are always a better means of conveying information than text. They help users understand better and are more appealing. Hence it is ever more important to have as many images as possible. But not just any image will do. You will have to work on the description and tags you add to the image.
Simply uploading the image is just a waste of the image. The real work begins after the image is uploaded. It is what decides how many people will be targeted with the image and its impact on the large screen of the internet. In any case, it is a very effective tool in search engine optimization, and you should not let go of such opportunities.
William Hills is a technical writer at JanBask. He loves writing and sharing topics on website design services, digital marketing Services, Java application development, cloud computing solutions and latest trends going around in web world.