Image SEO and Its Major Practices

Image SEO

Image SEO, or Search Engine Optimization for images, involves optimizing images on a website to improve their visibility and ranking in search engine results.

Why does image SEO matter?

Investing in image SEO has become central to online marketing. Humans are visually influenced and the machines that control search results know this. As search engines improve their understanding of visual materials available on the web, they become better at showing relevant images to searchers. And, as a result, can provide more opportunities for your target audience to find your assets, and therefore your products and services, by displaying images in the search results.

How do images appear in Google’s search results and platforms?

While Search Engine Results Page (SERP) layouts and components are constantly changing, images are increasingly becoming more present in search in a variety of ways that can increase brand awareness, drive traffic to your site and encourage people to visit your business location.

Major Practices for Image SEO

File Name: Use descriptive file names that include relevant keywords. For example, instead of "IMG1.jpg," can describe Car.jpg if it's a Car image.

Alt Text: Alt text is also known as Alternative text which search engines understand the content of an image and improves accessibility for users.

Image Size and Format: Optimize images for web use by compressing them without sacrificing quality and select appropriate image formats such as JPEG, PNG or WEBP depending on the content.

Image Sitemap: Include images in your website's XML sitemap to help search engines discover and index them more efficiently.

Page Relevance: Ensures images relevant to the content and this helps in understand the context and improves the overall SEO of the page.

Page Load Speed: Optimize image file sizes to improve page load speed. Faster-loading pages tend to rank higher in search engine results.

Mobile Optimization: Ensure images are properly optimized for mobile devices to provide a seamless user experience across different devices.

Image Captions and Surrounding Text: Use captions and surrounding text to provide additional context for images. This can help search engines understand the relevance of the image to the content.

Image Hosting: Host images on your own domain rather than using third-party hosting services. This helps associate the images with your website and improves SEO.

By following these practices, you can enhance the visibility of your images in search engine results and drive more organic traffic to your website.