Here at Hammersmith Support, we’ve been highlighting the various ways to boost your website’s SEO organically – meaning without paid ads / services. Fresh content, both internal and external links, using Google Search Console are all important parts of SEO. But what about the videos and images you’re using in your content? Are you getting the maximum SEO boost that you could from those images? Here are 5 items to consider for each visual post to ensure you are getting the biggest bang for your image bucks:
File Name
When uploading pictures to your website, be sure o pay attention to the file name. Web crawlers look to the name of each image to categorize it. Be sure to use plain but distinctive language and avoid keyword stuffing at all costs. Instead of using generic names like “image001.jpg,” use descriptive and relevant names that include relevant keywords. For example, if you have an image of a yellow dress, a good file name could be “yellow-dress.jpg.” This helps search engines understand the content of the image and allows them to index it more accurately.
Alt Text
Alt Text is often overlooked because most don’t understand what it is and what it does. Alt Text is the descriptive words that appear should an image fail to load. The wording is also used for those who are visually impaired. Similar to the image name, using a short and plain, but distinctive description works best for web crawlers to analyze and categorize. The difference is that the description should also include model numbers, years, and anything that is specific to the image.
For this image, the Alt Text could be “Meridian Search Consultants Website Build Graphic on Laptop Screen”.
Size Images
Keeping the size of your images in mind is important because an image that is too large won’t load quickly. This is an issue for both SEO and for your visitors. Most are not going to wait around for 3-5 seconds for an image to load. So keeping image size on the smaller side is important. Several online tools are available that can help reduce image file sizes while maintaining the image’s visual appeal.
Captions
While these are analyzed for SEO, captions are utilized mostly by readers. Captions are the short descriptions under an image. Captions provide context to images and help search engines understand their relevance to the content surrounding them. Including relevant keywords in captions can also improve the chances of your images ranking in image search results.
The caption for this image could read “At Hammersmith Support, understanding our client’s needs is the paramount to our work.”
Use Relevant Images
Slapping just any old image on your site won’t do you any good with boosting your SEO. Be sure that the images you choose are relevant not only to your business, but more importantly, be sure that they are pertinent to the content around the image. Using relevant images to your topic is important from a few angles. First, it lends validity to your site from a search engine standpoint, and a visitor one as well. Second, it gives an informative and professional appearance to your site. Avoid posting any images that don’t work with your content – the result is spammy and will turn off readers and search engines.
Don’t have any images to use? Don’t worry! There are tons of free stock photo sites out there – our favorites are Canva and Pexels. Just be sure your images are on topic.
Hammersmith Support Can Help
Our SEO Services can help increase your search engine rankings. Schedule a complimentary 30-minute consultation to discuss how our SEO services can help improve your search engine rankings.