Image SEO is the process of optimizing images on your website so that your pages and images may rank more prominently in unpaid search engine results, thereby driving more traffic to your site. Optimized images make it easier for search engines like Google to find and understand your images, making them more likely to show your images (and the pages they're on) for relevant search queries. Additionally, optimized images load faster and help users get the information they need, both factors that Google values when ranking search results.
Understanding Image SEO and Its Importance
Image SEO refers to the process of optimizing visual content to be easily discoverable and understandable by search engines. In the online world, images are not just a piece of the aesthetic puzzle—they play a crucial role in how websites communicate with search engines and users alike. Image SEO is the unsung hero of a well-rounded SEO strategy, ensuring that your visuals are not only seen but also understood by search engines.
Common image SEO tactics include: - Resizing and compressing images - Giving images descriptive file names - Adding alternative text (alt text) to images
The effectiveness of image optimization is largely influenced by Google image ranking factors like image relevance and website authority. Optimized images contribute to a better user experience, as fast-loading, relevant images enhance visitor satisfaction and encourage them to explore your site further. Search engines, in turn, reward user-friendly websites by giving them higher SERP positions.
Where Images Appear in Search Results
One of the main benefits of image SEO is that it helps your images appear in search engine results pages (SERPs), attracting valuable clicks from users. Many users go directly to Google Images to find visual content. Additionally, Google regularly displays images in standard search results.
On April 29, 2024, the Semrush Sensor showed that 55.62% of standard SERPs in the U.S. included an image pack. Image results are effective for drawing users' attention and clicks. Moreover, doing SEO for images can help with other rankings as well.
Selecting the Right Images for Your Website
The process of choosing the best images for your website does not have to feel like a challenge. When selecting images, keep these three rules in mind:
Less is more: Use fewer images to speed up how quickly your pages load. Since Google and other search engines strongly consider user experience in determining rankings, you should prioritize image optimization when making updates to your web pages. A site overloaded with images can overwhelm visitors and cause them to leave quickly, leading to a high bounce rate, which will drag your site down in search rankings.
Quality over quantity: Better-quality images tend to rank higher in image searches, which means they can help more people find your site. Plus, sharp, high-quality images help get your brand's message across and grab your audience's attention as soon as they land on your page.
Technical Optimization of Images
Several technical optimization techniques can improve your image SEO:
Image resizing and compression: Resizing and compressing images helps reduce file sizes, which improves page loading times.
Descriptive file names: Giving images descriptive file names helps search engines understand what the image is about.
Alternative text (alt text): Adding alt text to images provides textual information about the image content, which helps search engines understand the image and improves accessibility for visually impaired users.
Image sitemaps: Adding images to a sitemap helps search engines discover and index your images more effectively.
Image structured data: Adding structured data to images facilitates crawling and classification by search engines.
Image File Formats and Best Practices
Different image file formats have different characteristics and use cases:
Supported image formats: Use supported image file formats for web images.
Embedding images: Embed images using HTML image elements to ensure proper rendering and accessibility.
When selecting image formats, consider factors like image quality, file size, and compatibility with different browsers and devices. The source materials mention that Google has adopted a permissive approach to AI-generated images, focusing on transparency rather than prohibition by introducing labels for such images, including those altered with techniques like inpainting and outpainting.
Responsive Images and Mobile Optimization
Images often make up the largest part of webpages, making responsive design crucial for image SEO. Use responsive images for different screen sizes to ensure optimal viewing experience across devices.
Implementing lazy loading can contribute to faster page load speed by deferring the loading of offscreen images until they are needed. This technique helps improve user experience and can positively impact search rankings.
Original vs. Stock Images
When it comes to image selection, the source materials present clear guidance:
Use original images as much as possible: Stock photos are acceptable for SEO but do not provide the same benefits as unique images. They are less likely to help your site stand out if used by many other websites. Original images make it easy for your target audience to remember your messages, products, and brand.
There are plenty of image tools like Canva and Visme—some of them powered by artificial intelligence (AI)—you can use to edit photos and enhance their quality.
AI-Generated Images and SEO
Google has adopted a permissive approach to AI-generated images. It focuses on transparency rather than prohibition by introducing labels for such images, including those altered with techniques like inpainting and outpainting. This means that AI-generated images are acceptable for SEO purposes, as long as they are properly labeled.
How Search Engines Index and Understand Images
Google considers several factors to understand the context of images, including: - Surrounding text - Image file name - Alt text - Captions - Page content
Google also uses image recognition technologies to understand the content of the images. By optimizing these elements, you can help search engines better understand and index your images.
Advanced Image SEO Techniques
Several advanced techniques can further enhance your image SEO efforts:
Markups: Using schema.org markups can help facilitate crawling and classification of images by search engines.
Image tags: Inserting the image size in img tags can speed up the rendering of image files.
Linking: - Internal linking and repeated use of images: A reasonable internal linking has a positive influence on the SEO of your website. For images, you can do this indirectly by thumbnails, for example. The repeated use of the same image on a website also has a positive effect on its ranking in search results. - Backlinks: Backlinks are an important factor for the SEO of a website. Websites that are frequently linked to can also have a positive influence on the ranking of the image files they contain.
SafeSearch: The SafeSearch setting is a default on Google. That's why it's important to check whether images from your website may not be considered safe by Google and therefore may not appear in search results. If this is the case, you should block the corresponding files for crawlers in a robots.txt file as otherwise, you run the risk that Google will exclude all images of your website from search results.
Longtail search queries: Similar to the SEO of websites, it's often easier to achieve a high ranking for very specific longtail search queries in the context of image SEO.
To audit your site's images and get tips on how to optimize them, you can use various tools. For example, SE Ranking's Website Audit Tool and On-Page SEO Checker can help audit your site's images and provide optimization recommendations. To check if an image is available to Google, use the URL Inspection Tool in Google Search Console (GSC) for images hosted on your site. For images hosted on another domain, use the Rich Results Test.
Conclusion
Image SEO is a critical component of a comprehensive SEO strategy. By optimizing images through proper file naming, alt text, compression, responsive design, and other techniques, businesses can improve their visibility in search results, enhance user experience, and ultimately drive more traffic to their websites.
Key takeaways include: - Use fewer, high-quality images rather than many low-quality ones - Optimize images for both quality and speed - Use descriptive file names and alt text - Implement responsive images for different screen sizes - Consider using original images when possible - Take advantage of image sitemaps and structured data - Be mindful of SafeSearch settings and potentially inappropriate content - Target longtail search queries for easier rankings
By implementing these image SEO best practices, businesses can ensure their visual content is working as effectively as possible to attract, engage, and retain their audience.