Why Are Image File Names an Important Consideration for SEO?

There is no one single technical consideration when optimizing a website for SEO. It takes a concerted effort on all the different technical SEO-centric areas to construct and maintain a website that ranks high in the SERPs.

In this article I want to focus on image naming optimization and the SEO strategy that it encompasses. Images make a publication more readable and add interest. Additionally, those images can add valuable keyword search terms to your website if you deploy them with best practices for SEO. That means thinking like one of your customers and making sure that you use relevant and searchable keyword descriptions in both the image alt tags and the file name itself.

Why are keywords in file names and alt tags important?

Think about how you yourself search for things on the Internet. Very often when I want to buy something, especially if it is a major purchase like a car, I begin by looking at images. When you search for images with keywords and keyword phrases, images appear in the SERP that match those keywords. These images are located and indexed by the search engine spiders mostly based on file names and image alt tag descriptions.

What is the difference between keyword-rich and keyword-stuffing?

There is a fine line between composing website elements such as image file names and alt tags using a keyword-rich approach verses keyword-stuffing. Keyword-rich is a ‘White Hat’ approach, meaning a good acceptable strategy for promoting your website whereas keyword-stuffing is a ‘Black Hat’ approach which could get your web page or worse, your website, blocked entirely by search engines. The search engines look for natural verbiage written the way people speak. Here is an example of good white hat file naming and alt tags as compared to a more dangerous keyword stuffing approach for comparison;

White Hat Example                                                                       

comfortable-love-seat-blue-suede.jpg                                

alt=”comfortable love seat for living room in blue suede”

Borderline Black Hat Version

sit-seat-couch-chair-furniture-luxury-parlor.jpg

alt=”best cheap affordable furniture couch love seat chair living room”

As you can see, the file name and alt tags of the white hat version are written more in the manner of natural speech. The black hat version however, clearly focuses on adding search term keywords with little regard for the human reader. 

Remember that in addition to SEO value, the main purpose of the image alt tag is to provide a description of an image when the image is unavailable on your website or for visually impaired Internet users who cannot see the actual image. The alt tag is supposed to describe what the image portrays. Stuffing the alt tag with nothing more than keywords is considered a black hat approach and keyword stuffing. The difference between the two versions is subtle and requires study to perfect.  

How Do I Identify the Right Keywords for My Website and Webpages?

This is a common-sense thing where you start by thinking like one of your customers or the people you want to attract to your website. Your product should always be the first place to start. The keywords for your webpage and website should describe what your website and webpage are about.

If you sell cars then your keywords would be car, cars, auto, autos, automobile, automobiles, sale, sales, and sell, for example. An extended keyword list could be things like jalopy, reliable, transportation, best, deal, sport, used, new, etc. 

If you have a blog that promotes information about good health then your keywords would be health, care, benefit, benefits, diet, nutrition, exercise, etc. An extended keyword list could be something like aerobic, swim, walk, run, strength, disease, heart, lung, eye, etc.

Since language changes and evolves, so must your keyword list to keep up with the times. For a complex idea or product your keyword list will be thousands of words not just a handful. Think of all the different ways that people might search and all the different questions they might ask about the products you sell.  

It is always imperative that some of your keywords appear in every image file name and alt tag but always in a natural speaking form. A well named image and alt tag will cause your website to appear in the SERPs for the search terms you establish in the file names and alt tags.

Is There a Limit to the Length of File Names?

Yes. It is important to remember that the image file name becomes a part of a URL path. There is no published or understood maximum length to file names however there is information available in regards to the proper length of URLs for assets on your website. MOZ advises that URLs should be kept under 100 characters in length. 40-60 characters is what they advise you should shoot for. Only part of your file name composes the URL address of the images.

For example, if your domain name is; abc.com and you sell letters of the alphabet in different fonts then here are some examples of complete URL structures to images on a website;

https://www.abc.com/alphabet/letters/english/times-new-roman/letter-r-italic.jpg

https://www.abc.com/printing-press/history/offset-lithography/1891-printing-late-1.jpg

What Is the Short-List of Best Practices for Image File Names for SEO?

1.      Do not use caps only small case letters

2.      Do not use symbols or punctuation in file names such as; ‘ * # $ @ % ?

3.      Do not use underscores or spaces in file names

4.      Do use dashes between words in a file name; ie. this-is-an-image.jpg

5.      The file name should describe the image in natural speaking language

6.      The file name should always contain 2-4 keywords that describe the image; ie. metallic-silver-2017-nissan-sentra-new-car.jpg

7.      The alt tag description should describe the image in a sentence structure

8.      The alt tag should contain 2-4 keywords that relate to the image and the webpage

9.      Total URL-length pointing to images should be under 100 characters including dashes.

Should I Consider Hiring an Outside SEO Agency?

This really depends on your own abilities in house. An outside agency will analyze your current website, provide suggestions and feedback for improvement and most will develop original content with best SEO practices and promote them to help drive traffic to your website. But keep in mind that there are no big trade secrets where best SEO practices are concerned. SEO agencies do not have any insider information or techniques that you can’t get on your own by studying best SEO practices from sites like MOZ and HubSpot.

It all boils down to your language skills. Does your team have good writing skills and common-sense? Can they follow a set of standards and do they have the time to produce good quality content for your website? If the answer is no then you would likely benefit from an outside SEO agency.

What is the Big Risk with Hiring an Outside SEO Agency?

The big risk with an outside agency is that your own team could become complacent about best SEO practices believing that SEO is no longer anything they have to worry about. Improving the SEO for your website takes a concerted effort. There is no one thing that improves an overall SEO ranking for a website. 

Everything has to be examined and well thought out from the URL structure, the file naming conventions and the content that is published on your site. If any of the key players on your team lose sight of the SEO goals for your company then chances are an outside SEO agency isn’t going to bring any real improvement in your site searchability. There is no quick fix for broken SEO on a website and it requires a focus on best practices from every angle.

For further reading consider some of my other blog articles;

Internal Links - The Do's and Don'ts

How Can I Drive More Traffic to My Website?