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Video Summary
Welcome to today’s video where we’ll dive into the world of image SEO and explore 10 powerful tips to increase organic traffic to your website.
Most of the time people talk about driving traffic with the keywords you use on a page, but this time, we’re doing it with attributes of the images.
So here are tips to increase organic traffic to your website using image SEO…
Video Transcript
Hello, my name is Jeffrey Kirk.
Welcome to today’s video where we’ll dive into the world of image SEO and explore 10 powerful tips to increase organic traffic to your website.
Most of the time people talk about driving traffic with the keywords you use on a page, but this time, we’re doing it with attributes of your images.
So, let’s get into it.
Tip 1 — Use high-quality and relevant images
When it comes to image SEO, quality and relevance are crucial. When you use high-quality images, your visuals look professional, and they appeal to your audience.
So, it’s essential to select images that align with your content and convey the right message. Additionally, optimize the dimensions and resolution of your images so they load quickly and don’t slow down your page speed.
Tip 2 — Optimize image file names so they’re descriptive and keyword-rich
Image filenames play a significant role in image SEO. Instead of generic file names, use descriptive names that include important keywords. Doing this provides context for both search engines and site visitors.
For example, if your image shows a solar panel installation, don’t use the name of the photo given by your camera, like “IMG_1234.jpg.” Instead, use a filename like “solar-panel-installation.jpg”. It’s much more informative and helps search engines understand what the image is about.
Keep in mind that it’s a good idea to separate the words within a filename with hyphens or underscores, not spaces or other characters. Search engines view hyphens and underscores as word separators, and that makes it easier for them to understand the words. So, in the example, “solarpanelinstallation.jpg”, is preferred if you do “solar-panel-installation.jpg” using the hyphens.
Tip 3 — Utilize alt tags with descriptive text and relevant keywords
Alt tags, or alternative text, provide text descriptions of your images for those who can’t see them. That actually includes visually impaired users as well as search engine crawlers. Be sure to include text in the alt tags that accurately represent the image content.
You can use keywords, but they must be relevant. Don’t just stuff with keywords hoping to trick the search engines. When used properly, alt tags enhance accessibility and contribute to better image SEO. And this improves your chances of appearing in the image search results. You might also notice that images can be given a title tag. The title will show up on an image if someone hovers their cursor over an image, so doing this can be a helpful part of the user experience.
However, in terms of SEO, the title tag does not carry as much weight as the alt tag.
Tip 4 — Compress and optimize image file sizes for faster loading times
Website speed is a crucial factor in user experience and SEO. Large image file sizes can significantly impact your page load time, leading to higher bounce rates and lower search engine rankings. To overcome this, optimize your images by compressing them without sacrificing quality. Several tools are available that can help you reduce image file sizes while maintaining optimal visual clarity.
For example, a web-based tool is TinyPNG, which reduces the size of PNG, JPG, and WebP files. You simply upload to tinypng.com and download the updated files. Or, you could use Adobe Photoshop on your desktop to optimize and compress images. Photoshop allows you to adjust the quality settings, so you find just the right balance between file size and quality.
Tip 5 — Choose appropriate image formats
Choosing the right image format is essential for image optimization. For photographs or complex visuals with various colors and gradients, JPG is usually the preferred format. JPG compression enables you to get smaller file sizes while keeping the image quality high.
On the other hand, if you have images with transparency or simple graphics, such as logos or icons, PNG format might be better because it handles transparency without compromising image quality. Besides JPG and PNG, there are two additional formats worth considering: GIF and WEBP.
GIF (often pronounced GIF) is widely supported, and it’s known for its ability to display short animations or looping sequences of images. It’s suitable for simple animations, logos, and graphics with limited colors.
And WEBP. This is a new image format developed by Google which offers much smaller file sizes compared to JPG and PNG while still maintaining good image quality. WEBP works well for photographs, complex graphics, and web assets. But, older web browsers may not fully support the WEBP format.
When deciding which format to use, consider the characteristics of your images and the purpose they’ll serve on your website. By choosing the appropriate image format, you can optimize the visual quality and file size. And this ultimately improves the overall performance and user experience of your website.
Tip 6 — Implement image captions with relevant keywords
Adding captions to your images provides additional context and improves the overall user experience. Captions help users understand the image content and its relation to the surrounding text. And by including relevant keywords in your image captions, you can enhance your SEO because search engines consider the text when determining the relevance of your content to specific queries.
If you’re using a content management system like WordPress and there’s others, you can find available plugins that simplify the process of adding captions. Otherwise, you can wrap your images in the <figure> and <figcaption> tags in HTML.
Just like with Alt text, your captions should be descriptive and provide meaningful information about the image. And search engines might consider the text within the captions when indexing so include relevant keywords and that’ll help the search engines better associate the images with the content of your page, and that potentially improves its visibility in the search results.
Tip 7 — Place images near relevant text to enhance relevancy
Strategic placement of images near relevant text can boost the overall relevancy of your content. When search engines crawl your page, they analyze the context and the relationship between images and the surrounding text. By placing images in close proximity to the relevant text you reinforce that connection. Doing this supports your page keywords and topics.
Of course, the layout must appeal to your site visitors so strive for a layout that provides a seamless and coherent user experience.
Tip 8 — Optimize image metadata
Image metadata includes things such as the title, description, and copyright information. All of these can play a crucial role in image SEO. When uploading images to your website, be sure to provide accurate and keyword-rich metadata.
The title should describe the image concisely, the description should provide more details and relevant keywords, and the copyright information helps protect your images and maintain proper attribution. You can edit image metadata with most image editing software such as Adobe Photoshop or GIMP.
By adding your copyright details, include your name or business name and the year, you can also make sure the information stays along with the image even if it’s downloaded or shared.
Tip 9 — Build image backlinks to increase visibility and authority
Backlinks are valuable for both text and image-based content. By acquiring backlinks from authoritative websites, you increase the visibility and authority of your images.
Look for opportunities to get your images featured in the relevant articles, blog posts, or social media platforms, and make sure they give you proper attribution and linking. Image backlinks can drive referral traffic, improve your search rankings, and boost your overall online presence. The best way to utilize an image backlink is to have an image on the relevant site link to the appropriate page on your site.
Tip 10 – Use tools to monitor image performance
To gauge the effectiveness of your image SEO efforts, it’s important to monitor the performance of your images. Tools like Google Search Console provide valuable insights into your images and how they’re performing in the search results.
You can track impressions, clicks, and other metrics specific to your images. Monitoring image performance allows you to identify areas for improvement, refine your image SEO strategy, and stay ahead of your competition.
But there’s a caveat here, when you use the Google Search Console to look at performance of images, you will see the search queries that brought up the images as well as the pages where people land when they click the images, but Google does not show you the actual URL of the images. So, keep that in mind.
Well, there you have it – 10 powerful tips for image SEO.
By following these best practices, optimizing your images, and aligning them with your content and target audience, you can enhance the visibility of your business in the search results, you improve user experience, and you drive more organic traffic to your website. Remember, image SEO is an ongoing process. It’s good to regularly assess and optimize your images to maintain their impact and stay ahead in the ever-evolving digital landscape.
If you found this video helpful, be sure to subscribe to my channel for more digital marketing insights. And if you have any questions or topics you’d like me to cover, please let me know in the comments area. You can also get some free resources from my website at upatdawn.biz.
Your business deserves to be seen online, and I will help you get there.
Thanks for watching and have a great day!
