The internet is still the most powerful marketing tool available, and its core includes social media, messaging apps, and Snap-shared content. Blogs, Instagram Stories, and Wikipedia are still key tools for brands and businesses.
Here are ten SEO website optimization tips on how to optimize your existing images. With the rise of the smart consumer, who expects their online experience to be electronic and personal, optimizing your images has never been more important.
10 Important Image SEO Tips
1. Choose the Right Format
The best thing you can do to ensure your content is seen is to upload images that will draw the audience in. Choosing the right format for your work depends on where you’re presenting it. Images displayed online–such as long-form, short-form, or video–give a glimpse into what the piece is about. You can use many file types or qualities for images online, with PNG and JPEG being the two most popular formats. It’s helpful to consider how much quality you want to show while considering file size when choosing an image to upload.
2. Compress Your Images
Depending on what type of site you’re building, images can take up a lot of space on your website, resulting in slower loading times and more server processing time. Luckily, these image-compressing tools include Photoshop or a WordPress plugin like WP Smush for WordPress websites. Also, optimizing your images will help you get a faster page speed, which is also considered one of the effective website optimization techniques. A tool can help you see how much load your image files add to your web pages.
3. Create Unique Images
Websites often use generic stock images because it’s so easy to get them, and they’re so quick. However, those generic images can make a website look unprofessional and be easily identified by the user. Additionally, many websites do this with their website optimization strategies and marketing materials, making them look like they need more creativity. It’s important to create unique images that accurately represent your brand or business to avoid these mistakes.
4. Beware of Copyright
Copyrights are a hot topic regarding SEO, but you can do a few things to stay legal. Here’s what you need to know:
High-profile cases of 5 million and 2.5 million lawsuits made the news. You may be liable for copyright violation under DMCA conditions if you receive a notice.
If someone who owns the intellectual property notices their content on your website, they can issue a DMCA takedown, and this will require you to remove the content or face legal consequences.
5. Customize Image File Names
When you upload an image to your website, it will get added with a generic name such as “image1.jpg.” If this differs from what you want, customization options can help your image rank higher in search results. For example, if you want to show off an idea for chocolate, you could name it “chocolate-cake.jpg” or “chocolate-frosting.jpg.”
6. Write SEO-Friendly Alt Text
Alt tags are important for on-page SEO. They allow you to place your target keywords within the alt text, making it valuable for search engine results pages and ensuring that people using a screen reader understand what is on the page. To write effective alt text, you’ll want to include your target keyword and a brief description of an image before writing anything else.
7. Think about the Image File Structure
The first step to getting images with your blog is to be aware of copyright laws. The next step would be to think about the file structure for your images and ensure the image filenames are descriptive and that each image is properly tagged with keywords. Optimize the page title and description tags for keyword stuffing. Lastly, make sure your images are mobile-friendly.
8. Optimize Your Page Title & Description
The best way to get your images seen is by optimizing the page title and description with relevant keywords.
To maintain a strong on-page SEO strategy in this digital age, consider these helpful tips:
- A short and descriptive URL slug;
- Use appropriate file names;
- Optimize images for Google Image Search;
- Add alt text to all images.
9. Define Your Dimensions
You must define your image dimensions if your website is AMP or PWA-compliant. Making sure that the images load quickly and properly on all devices is a best practice you should follow when building a website. Be sure to include the width and height attributes for every image on your site. If you have large images, it can cause issues with website speed.
10. Make Your Images Mobile-Friendly
Many search engines use images to figure out what your website is about. Whether you’re optimizing for a web or mobile device, your images must be responsive, so they shrink to fit the device they’re on. It’s best practice to include two versions of each image – one optimized for large screens and the other for smaller screens.
Conclusion
For your website to climb in the SERPs, images are an important part. But don’t get caught doing anything that could harm your ranking. By following our tips for uploading images and getting them validated, you’ll see that they positively affect your rankings and the amount of traffic coming to your site. So take the time to upload cool photos and get creative with them! You can also hire SEO agency if you are unable to do it yourself.