This document provides tips for optimizing images for search engine optimization (SEO) and rankings on Google. It recommends creating unique, high quality images sized appropriately for mobile that include the target keyword in the file name, alt text, title and description. The document also suggests compressing image file sizes to improve page load times and adding structured data to images. Following these image SEO best practices can help websites rank higher in Google image searches and boost website traffic.
1. Image SEO: Optimizing images For
Incredible Rankings in Google
Are you aware you can rank in Google using image
optimization?
It’s true!
Just like you can rank your blog posts on Google using Search
Engine Optimization, you can rank on Google using Image
SEO as well.
In fact, Google Image Search is on the rise. According to a
March 2020source, Google Images are responsible for over
25% of all web traffic.
Did you know Google removed the “View Image” button and
replaced it with a direct link to your website?
Clearly, you are missing out on website traffic if you don’t
optimize your images.
This guide covers the importance of Unique Images, Image
Compression, and Structured Data in image SEO.
This post will tell you how to rank on Google and boost traffic
using images.
Let’s get started!
2. Step 1: Create Unique Images
There are certain factors that boost the chances of your
images ranking:
Make sure your image is high quality. Clarity counts.
Make sure your image is high on your web page. The
higher “above the fold” your image is, the more important it
looks to Google and the more visibility it will get.
Make sure your image is unique. This means your image
should not be a widely-used stock photo. Canva is a popular
graphic design tool that allows you to create your own unique
images.
You should also avoid using someone else’s
image. Today, most webmasters have their names or
watermarks on their photos. If you use someone’s photo
without giving source credit which includes a link to the site
3. where the image originated, you can be in violation of
copyright restrictions.
In fact, my friend’s guest author used someone’s image
without consent, and my friend, the host blogger, was fined.
Make sure your image is relevant.You might enjoy looking
at flowers, for instance, but if the bouquet is unrelated to a
post about how to make money, avoid using those tulips.
Make sure your image is the right size. I prefer using
1024 x 683 pixels.
In 2021, Google will be prioritizing ranking according to
“Mobile First.” In other words, which web content is
optimized for mobile?
You don’t want your image to be too big for the
smartphone or it will look distorted. Scaling your image
to the right size is important for SEO.
Make sure when you upload the image, you name the
image or video whatever you want your keyword to be.
This guide assumes you already have a keyword you want to
rank on Google.
4. There are many keyword tools you can use to find keywords
you can rank for. I recommend the MozBar which is my
personal favorite.
The MozBar is a free Google Chrome extension that gives you
unlimited search engine queries. When you download the
MozBar, you get additional perks like competitive analysis.
Here is a MozBar tutorial.
A quick refresher on finding a keyword: Make sure the
monthly search volume is high but the online competition
difficulty level is low.
If your image is saved under a different name than your
keyword, right click and you can rename your image.
Note: This step won’t work on a MAC since you can’t right-
click on a MAC.
5. Put the keyword in the Alt Text, the Title, and the Description.
I’m writing a post on the importance of entrepreneurship, so
that was my keyword.
Step 2: Image name
Make sure your image name contains hyphens if your keyword
is more than one word long. My keyword is medium tail since
it contains three words.
Look above the red boxes in the screenshot. You see
“Original image: keyword hyphen keyword hyphen
keyword.jpg.”
This is how yours should look. Mine reads “importance-
of-entrepreneurship.jpg” and follows this formula.
It should go without saying that your spelling is accurate.
Does .jpg matter? If you are given a choice of a .jpg image or
a .png image, does it matter which you pick?
Yes, .jpg has better quality than .png. In addition, .jpg are
more SEO-friendly than .png. Save .png for transparent
images and screenshots.
Once your keyword is in your post, you can adjust the
image’s size here:
7. Are you a WordPress blogger? WordPress lets you see how
your image will look on a mobile device.
Looks good! I don’t need to alter the dimensions of the image.
It gets better!
This post offers empirical proof in the form of data that these
tips work.
8. This Ahrefs screenshot shows my content is in Position
1 for the keyword term “good vibes quotes” with a
monthly search of 2,400.
Look under SERP Features. Do you see a blue square with an
image in the middle?
This tells me my image is in Position 1 on Google’s Search
Engine Results Pages.
Which image? I have many images accompanying the post.
My dominant image can be found in Page 1 in the SERPs for
the keyword. This is the image that is highest on the page,
above the fold.
As you can see from the screenshot, my post actually ranks
for 14 keywords. Six of them have the target URL in the
image pack!
9. Let’s recap what we’ve learned about image SEO before
moving on:
1. Your image should be original.
2. Your image should have strong clarity.
3. Your image should be high on the page.
4. Your image should have your keyword in your Alt
Tag, Title Tag, and Description.
5. Your keyword should be based on research.
6. Your keyword should be medium tail or long-tail.
Avoid one-word keywords.
7. Your keywords should be spelled correctly.
These tips are of the utmost importance for people involved in
ecommerce. If people like the product images they see, they
will click the image and be brought to your site.
Step 3: Image Compression
You need to reduce the file size. Image loading slows your
site.
10. The longer the loading time, the longer the search engine user
will need to wait, and the less likely Google is to show your
content.
In addition, if people get frustrated waiting for your site
to load, they will leave to go to another site. This
worsens your bounce rate which also discourages
Google from showing your website to web browsers.
Clearly, user experience is of paramount importance to
Google.
There are many image compression tools you can use to
reduce the image size. I have personally used many.
Ewww Image Optimizer, Squoosh, Smush, and
Optimole are all image compressors I used.
Lazy Loading
The issue of how image loading affects site speed is actually a
controversial one.
For instance, Lazy Loading will only load your images when
the visitor comes to the image on your page.
The advantage is clear: Your page loading time is improved.
However, what isn’t clear is if Google will rank all your images
before the fold.
11. Caching plugins
Caching plugins such as W3 Total Cache, also helps speed
your site’s loading time for return visitors.
The caching plugin keeps your site in your visitor’s memory
speeding up the site’s loading time on their return.
W3 Total Cache is free and is available for WordPress
bloggers..
If you have concerns about your site’s loading speed, go to
GTMetrix.com. GTMetrix is a free tool that will assess your
website’s loading speed.
Step 4: Structured Data
When you add structured data, web surfers get additional
information about your pages. Your image appears as rich
snippets.
Google images supports structured data for three types
of content: recipes, products, and videos.
12. Bonus Image SEO Tips
Link Building
No post about SEO is complete without a discussion of link
building. Image SEO is no exception.
Traffic Generation
Here’s a trick using Image SEO that boosts your search
traffic:
Make an infographic. Infographics are free with tools like
Canva and Piktochart.
Ask an authority blog to link to your relevant content and offer
them your infographic. Many will agree. That’s how popular
infographics still are.
Regardless of the image you choose to put in your article,
images are a valuable source of traffic generation.
First, as this post has shown, Google Images gives visibility to
unique images placed above the fold.
Next, there are ways you can use your images to boost traffic
on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest. On Twitter, you can use
Twitter Cards to make your images more prominent. Add your
images manually when you promote your web content on
Facebook and they’ll look bigger than other Facebook users’
images. On Pinterest, you use rich pins to make your images
stand out.
13. Clearly, when images stand out, they are more noticeable
which leads to a traffic boost. When people click on the image,
they are taken to your website. This is true at Google Images
as well.
In addition, are you aware most people are visual learners
who would rather learn from images than plain text?
Let me share some data:
According to Forbes, 65% of all people are visual
learners. This staggering statistic emphasizes the
importance of images.
Plus, the more images you have in your blog post, the
happier the majority of visitors will be.
Also, people remember images more than text. This
results in return visitors for you which leads to social
shares and more traffic for your website.
14. Wrapping Up: Image SEO
This post included empirical evidence, data from Ahrefs which
proved these image SEO tips effectively boost your Google
rankings and web traffic.
You can track your own metrics. Ahrefsis a premium tool,
but Google Search Console and Google Analytics are free.
The blogging world is competitive and getting more
competitive over time. You need to step up your game in 2020
and beyond.
This post explained how you can boost your chances of
ranking and traffic generation by optimizing your images for
Google and social media sites.
