SEO Images: 3 Things You Need to Know for Optimization

Did you know that images can have a big impact on your search engine optimization? In this article, you’ll learn 3 things you need to know to SEO images on your site.

Before We Begin: Think Like a Search Engine

Before we begin, we need to give you rule number one: Think like a search engine. Search engines need to know where to categorize images on your site. And, unlike us – they can’t actually see your image. You need to spell it out and make it obvious what your image is, and why it’s included on your website.

1. The Name of Your Image Matters

If your image is named "img_5422133.jpg.", search engines aren’t going to know what it’s a picture of. It could be an airplane, a person, a graph, a chart – anything on earth. You need to make it simple. If your image is of a chart showing the benefits of SEO, name it something like "benefits-of-seo-chart.jpg" so that search engines will know exactly where to categorize it.

2. Optimize – Don’t Stuff – Your Alt Tags

You may not even know what an alt tag is – it’s not something you stumble across every day while browsing in the internet. Alt (short for "alternate") tags are there to explain what your image is, if the browser can’t display your image. For example, if your image of a cat doesn’t load, text will appear to show there is an image. Make sure this is optimized for your keywords – but don’t stuff them in there. Include them only if they make sense for the image.

3. Image Size is Important

Don’t take your large photo, upload it to your post, and then downsize it manually. The browser will load the entire image, and then downsize it to fit the screen. This means your website’s load time will increase, which hurts your SEO in two ways: Search engines penalize slow sites in the rankings, and people will grow frustrated and leave your site if it loads too slowly (high bounce rates decrease your rank as well). Edit your photo in a photo editor, and reduce the size to the exact size you want. Then, run it through an image compressor to get it as small as possible (while still maintaining quality, of course).

SEO Images: The Basics to Get You Started

If you just did these three things every time you upload a photo to your site, it will go a long way towards the overall SEO of your site. Click here to learn more DIY SEO tips from iCanSEO that will get your site to the top of the search results where you belong!