People often ask questions about the keywords they should use, the impact of content creation and is there a need for unique meta description. Well, the answer to all these questions is – yes. While working on a website or a blog, people often overlook the importance of images. But, surprisingly, when it comes to Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Images hold another level of importance. If you’re looking out for ways to increase organic traffic from Google then you must opt for Image SEO optimization. It is an effective way of uplifting your search presence on online platforms.
In recent times, the higher number of searches are being made on the images tab of Google. Several people think how images affect their rankings on Google. But to your surprise, Google also considers the quality and uniqueness of images while ranking a website. With this, it becomes clear that having original optimized images is utterly more important than ever.
If you’re someone who knows about SEO (Search Engine Optimization), you might have an idea about ALT tags and filenames. People who love to work on practical strategies for their websites to rank better in Google Image Search will love Infographics.
Here, we bring you some important tips for image optimization to boost your search rankings.
Tips for Infographic SEO to rank higher on Google
Initiate with Keyword Research
To make a strong statement about keyword research, you must know that almost 21% of total search volume is of image-specific search. This data is not just limited to Google but the whole World Wide Web.
With this, you must have got an idea about the importance of keyword research in image SEO. There are several tools available for keywords research. All you have to do is put in the keyword on the search bar, then narrow down the topic and pick the most relevant keyword with the highest search volume.
Once you’ve mastered the skill of recognizing high-volume keywords for your images, you’ll be benefited from search engines. Besides this, you’ll always be a step ahead of your competitors who might have skipped this process.
You can also use the option of Image Search filter available on Google Trends for finding image search queries with the latest growing trends. Take advantage of these image search trends by creating infographics and other images for trending keyword searches.
Enhance CTR with Exceptional Images
None of us would deny if asked about seeing a website with stock photos, because there are so many of them. Honestly, we all know that they are utterly bad and serve no good to your business.
Always remember that using stock images can adversely affect your website while destroying its EAT (Expertise Authority and Trust) rating. This rating can massively impact your rankings. So, make it a point to use or create high-quality images that will help you in getting an increased number of clicks from image SERPs and also improve your image SEO.
Do you still wish to go with those stock images?
Then, you’ll have to be ready for competing with all those websites on Google Images search that are using the same image.
If you’re smart enough and choose to create/ using unique images,
You’ll have to go through a three-step process. Foremost, you’ll have to check the search results for your targeted keywords, after that make a note of what’s in there, Last but not least, create/pick something completely different.
Picking the Right File Type
Who else hates waiting for images to load? Everyone.
There are instances where people choose a wrong file extension for their images, which ultimately leads to poor image quality and massive file size. To make sure that your audiences don’t have to through such experience, always pick the right file type. There are several types of image file format available, like GIF, JPEG, and PNG.
There are several types of image file format available like,
GIF
GIF works wonders for short animation or flat images without gradients. Whereas if you use it for small images inside a screenshot, it will be a disaster.
JPEG
JPEG blends amazingly well with photos of places, people or things. Avoid using it for screenshots of texts, websites or apps.
PNG
PNG is an appropriate choice for screenshots of websites or apps with gradients. While the text looks clean, the sizes could be a problem.
Picking the right file type will make your image look clear and won’t take much time to load. Besides this, it will also lead to improvement in your Image SEO. After you’ve chosen the apt image file type, all you have to do is open the image in an image editing software. The last step is to click export and save.
Get your Images to Perfect Proportions
Instead of leaving your images to your website’s CMS to reformat it, you must reformat your pictures before uploading them to CMS. Always make sure to resize them according to the exact width of your website’s display area. Doing this will help you fasten the loading time of pages and reduce the file weight.
There are several tools available to edit your images other than wordpress.
Preview
The preview has everything you need for basic image editing. Rejoice Mac owners! It is standard on all Apple macs.
Pixlr
Pixlr can be put to use for small minor formatting and is free.
Photoshop
Photoshop is a widely used image editing tool. The reason behind is its “save for web” option, which helps in keeping the file size low with higher quality.
File Name Optimization
Once you’ve optimized the image size, it’s time to optimize the file names. Though Google has advanced a lot still sometimes, it lacks behind in recognizing simple things. Image recognition is getting better day by day, but again, there are times when search engines may need some help. It is better to use a custom descriptive filename for your images.
With a custom descriptive filename, we refer to the subject of the image and what it is all about. It will help search engines in knowing what and where to rank your images. Besides this, it will highly improve your image SEO.
While deciding the filename, always remember these three things. Foremost, describe the image within one to five words, incorporate your targeted keywords at the starting point, last but not least, avoid using stop words like I, we, etc.
Lower the File Size
Once you’ve chosen the right file type and resize the image, the next step is to lessen the size of your image. You must try to make it as lightweight as possible as these images lead to a faster website and a quicker website results in higher rankings.
To get rid of the excess weight of your images, you’ll have to compress the image. But while compressing the image, try to maintain its quality.
There are several tools available for reducing the image size without harming its quality like,
- JPEG Optimizer
- Kraken.io
- Optimizilla
- ImageOptim – Google’s recommended tool.
- Trimage
- Compressnow
Draft descriptive alt text
One of the essential parts of image optimizations is describing the content of the image. Make sure that the ALT text is detailed but still short around 125 words. Remember to place the targeted keyword in the starting and avoid using any conjunctions.
The term ALT text is an alternative text that appears in the place of the image in a situation where it fails to load. The primary reason behind the ALT text is to help people with weaker eyesight. Not only people, but it also supports Google’s Bots.
By providing an alternative text, you give search engines a way to understand the content presented on the image file while also improving your image SEO.
Add Titles and Captions
After you’re done curating your ALT Text, now is the time to create a catchy title and caption that grabs the attention of your audience and goes with the ALT Text. The image caption must be one to two sentences long. Besides this, it must have important details about image content. You can also think of adding LSI keywords to boost your infographic SEO strategy.
Optimization of the Page Your Image Sits on
Now when you’re done with captions and titles, move on to the optimization of content surrounding the image. Foremost, you’ll have to update your page title and include your targeted keyword. After that, do the same to the page your image sits on.
Now, change the URL of the page to include your target keyword (or LSI). Shorter URLs are always better than Longer URLs. Always support the image content with relevant text.
Wrapping Up
These image SEO tips can work wonders for websites overall. It will help your website in getting attention from your audiences and also improve its ranking. If you pay attention to these guidelines carefully and follow them, you’ll see a positive change in your Google search rankings.
We hope this blog on image SEO will help you in reaching your target audience and improve your sales.
If you have any suggestions or feedback, please feel free to share it in the comments.
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