Admit it! When you are thinking of On-Site SEO, image optimization is not the first thing that comes to your mind. In the SEO world, optimizing images is not the first most important aspect, as are meta tags, title tags, keywords etc. Nowadays images are by far one of the most important aspects of any website and therefore they must be optimized like any other kind of content.
Always bear in mind that images are considered as content as well. For all of these reasons, image optimization is moving up the SEO priority list of every webmaster. Most importantly, all images can easily become search engine friendly, by any user, providing a very successful result in ranking terms.
So, act now by optimizing the following image aspects:
Image Filename:
When you name an image, try to use in the filename the keywords for which you want to rank. Separate words with underscores or dashes and not with spaces. Do not use stop words like “the, not, of, a, and”.
Image Alternate Text (alt tags):
Images must have an alt tag which is a short keyword oriented description, based on the article’s subject, usually between 90 and 120 characters. Try not to use the same keyword that you used in the filename.
Image Size:
Resize your images before you insert them into a post or a page. Do not leave the resizing process to WordPress or any other cms platform because it is only visual.
The image will look smaller but in fact will be the same in kb terms. Keep your images small in kb size and crop them to the exact size for your post. Site speed matters for people and crawlers.
Warp Text:
Articles with good quality content, containing an image, helps define the image further. Also, captions can be very beneficial and provide search engines with more information.
Image Anchor Text:
When you link any kind of text to an image, try to pick a descriptive anchor text. This is crucial for how images rank for keywords. Do not use words such as “image” “view here”, “pic”. Give an anchor text that means something more for search engines and people.
Give priority to the Search Engine Optimization of images. Tune-up the existing images of your website and in the future keep in mind all the above tips.
Optimizing images can be a good SEO technique and will definitely help the overall search engine ranking of your website in long and short terms. Images are also considered as content and as such they must be treated with respect and caution.
rehansaredar
Rehan is an enthusiastic blogger and travelling manager. A regular contributor to many blogs, he also provides marketing guidance to many SMEs.