The days in which being good at SEO meant focusing only on keywords are long gone.
Marketing trends keep on evolving together with the rest of the digital landscape; SEO is no alien to this: if you want to stay ahead of the curve and beat your competitors while grabbing some good rankings, there are many different factors you should consider in your SEO strategy.
Image optimisation is possibly one of SEO’s unsung heroes and one of those areas where you might not have put too much effort or necessarily thought a lot in terms of optimisation up until now.
Sounds familiar?
Read ahead to find out why you should think twice about optimising your images for search engines and how to get the best results when including SEO image optimisation in your SEO arsenal.
Why is image SEO important?
Whilst we all know that good imagery on your website is a key factor to consider for improved user experience, it is important to know that their power stretches much farther than that: images that are powerfully optimised for search engines offer tangible opportunities for driving traffic and improving search engine rankings.
According to BrightEdge Research, images now appear on 21% of desktop and 24% of mobile search engine results pages.
This is a significant window opportunity for brands, bloggers, and businesses to harness image SEO as a key part of their digital marketing strategy – and certainly one that cannot be overlooked in times when visual communication is more important than ever.
Before we take a deeper dive into the weird and wonderful world of image SEO, let’s get the basics covered: you might be asking yourself “what exactly is image SEO”?
Simply put, image SEO refers to the process of optimising the images on your website so they can be properly indexed and understood by search engines. It covers everything image-related, from choosing the right file name to compressing the image for faster load times and anything in-between.
When implemented effectively, image SEO not only makes your site more accessible and user-friendly, but it can also help you increase traffic to your website via image search results, improve overall SEO score and domain authority and increase engagement across your website.
In this practical guide to image SEO, we’ll walk you through useful and effective ways to make sure your images are not just eye-candy, but also powerful SEO assets optimised for discoverability.
Whether you’re new to SEO or a seasoned marketer looking to sharpen your skills, these tips will help you get the most out of every image you use on your website or blog, so – read on and happy image optimising!
How to optimise image file names for SEO
Quick Tip: go for descriptive file names that use target keywords
This is literally first things first: before your image even makes it to the web, its filename plays a crucial role in image SEO.
When search engines crawl your website, they rely on many, many different signals to understand the content you’re offering.
While users might not think much of filenames and use some random naming conventions in the spur of the moment (enter the dreaded abc.jpg, jdhjdshfshiu.png, final_version_final_seriously.jpg), search engines use them as an important indicator to understand the actual subject of an image, so you should really up your image naming convention game in the name of SEO.
A generic name like “IMG1234.jpg” provides no useful information whatsoever to search engines and is indeed detrimental to your SEO efforts, whereas a name like “red-leather-sofa.jpg” gives immediate context and helps crawlers.
Using descriptive filenames helps your images appear in image searches that are relevant to the content you’re sharing.
But that’s not all, folks: keywords can really be used to your advantage in image SEO.
Adding relevant target keywords to your file name can improve visibility and drive additional traffic to your website, which never hurts.
Just make sure that the filenames are natural and not forced, as keyword stuffing does not go unnoticed to search engines even in this context and your content might be penalised for it.
Image SEO file naming best practices:
- Be specific and concise, using language that accurately reflects the image content
- Use hyphens to separate words, as google recognises them more effectively than underscores
- Avoid special characters and unnecessary numbers unless they serve a clear purpose
- Stay away from non-descriptive file names and leave behind the old customs of naming a file as a jumble of letters and numbers or super-final-version-123.jpg
SEO friendly naming conventions for images are a simple yet often overlooked tool that you can use to boost your image discoverability, helping your content stand out in an increasingly competitive digital space.
How to use Alt Text to boost SEO
Quick Tip: create compelling Alt text with SEO and accessibility in mind
Let’s make sure that everything is clear before getting too technical here: what even is alt text, you might be asking yourself?
In simple terms, alt text (or alternative text) is a brief description of an image that serves two crucial functions: enhancing accessibility for users with visual impairments and improving your SEO performance.
Screen readers use alt text to describe images to users who can’t see them, making it a vital aspect of inclusive web design. At the same time, search engines use alt text to understand the content and context of images, helping to determine when they should appear in image search results.
Writing good alt text is a balancing act between being clear and include smooth keyword optimisation: to craft alt text that will help your SEO performance you want to be descriptive enough that someone who can’t see the image can still understand it, while also incorporating keywords naturally.
How to write effective alt text:
- Describe the image clearly, focusing on the most important elements
- Include relevant keywords, but use them sparingly and naturally (absolutely no keyword stuffing allowed)
- Avoid redundancy. Don’t use phrases like “image of” or “picture of,” as screen readers already announce it as an image and you’re losing key real estate by stating the obvious to them
Example: For an image of a woman using a reusable coffee cup in a park, your alt text could be: “Woman drinking coffee from a reusable cup in a sunny park.”
Well-crafted alt text doesn’t just improve accessibility and SEO, it can also help to enhance the overall quality of your website and makes sure that it’s accessible for everyone – so it’s something you should put effort in as part of your SEO optimisation.
Search engines reward websites that prioritise user experience, and clear, informative alt text is one small but significant way to do that.
How to use schema markup for image SEO
Quick Tip: use structured data to indicate image licensing and context
If you need to brush up on structured data and schema markup and want to know how to use them to boost your SEO performance, we’ve got a very in-depth guide ready for you.
In short, structured data is a form of metadata that provides additional context about the content on your website, and it has a place in your image SEO strategy.
By using structured data to annotate your images, you help search engines understand the purpose, authorship, and licensing of your visual content. This can lead to your images being featured in rich results, which are more eye-catching and clickable than standard listings.
Structured data is implemented using schema mark-up, which is a standardised vocabulary that allows you to label different aspects of your content. For images, this might include the image’s creator, licence type, or a link to where the image can be purchased or downloaded.
Benefits of implementing structured data for image SEO:
- Enhanced SERP presence: rich snippets with image details are more likely to attract clicks
- Improved Image credibility: by clearly attributing your images, you establish trust with both users and search engines
- Support for content discovery: structured data helps Google index and present your images in the most appropriate contexts
Adding structured data requires a basic understanding of HTML and schema syntax as illustrated on Schema.org website, but many CMS platforms offer plug-ins or modules to simplify the process. It’s a relatively small effort that can yield significant long-term benefits.
How to optimise images for better SEO performance
Quick Tip: do not forget about image compression and delivery
If you are not well-versed into web-design, you might not be thinking about this on a regular basis, but the size and compression of your images really matter when it comes to SEO and overall website performance.
Page load speed is a critical factor in both user experience and SEO: large, bulky and un-optimised images can significantly slow down your website, leading to higher bounce rates and decreased rankings in search engine results.
Optimising your images for web delivery means reducing their file size without compromising visual quality.
Best practices for Image Optimisation:
- Choose the right format: if you can, choose WebP as it offers excellent compression with minimal quality loss. JPEG is ideal for photos with rich colours, PNG works well for images requiring transparency
- Use compression tools: you can optimise images using Photoshop (and save time by creating actions that can automate the process for you), but if you don’t have access to it, there are several online tools like TinyPNG, ImageOptim, or Squoosh can dramatically reduce file sizes without noticeable loss in quality
- Implement responsive images: using “src”, “srcset” and “size” attributes allows you to serve appropriately sized images based on the user’s device, ensuring faster load times
- Enable lazy loading: we’re entering technical territory here, and you might need a helping hand from web designers to do this (by the way, we can help with that!) but enabling lazy loading can really boost your website performance. By loading images only as they enter the user’s viewport, you can significantly reduce initial page load times and conserve bandwidth
Optimising how your images are delivered not only improves load speed but also boosts user engagement.
A faster site keeps visitors around longer, encourages more interaction, and sends positive signals to search engines about your site’s quality.
Wrapping it all up: are you ready to master image SEO?
As the internet continues to evolve into a more visually driven space, optimising images is no longer a want, it’s a need.
From helping your website rank higher in search engine results to improving accessibility and user experience, image SEO is a multi-faceted tool that can significantly enhance your digital presence.
Think of each image as a content asset with the potential to reach new audiences. By investing a little time and effort into SEO best practices, you’re positioning your site for greater visibility, higher engagement, and improved performance across the board.
Start optimising your images today and watch as your content becomes more discoverable, accessible, and impactful.
When implemented strategically, image SEO can be a powerful asset for improving both your website’s visibility and user experience.
Let’s recap the essentials:
- Use descriptive filenames with relevant keywords to provide context to search engines
- Craft alt text that is informative, inclusive, and keyword-optimised.
- Implement structured data to enhance image credibility and visibility in rich search results
- Compress and optimise delivery to ensure fast loading and a smooth user experience across devices.
Each image you add to your site is an opportunity not just to visually engage users, but to bring in new visitors through organic search channels.
Need More Help? Look no further
Does this all sound great, even if a bit too technical for you – or simply a task you don’t have time for?
At Logic Digital we’re passionate about all things SEO – and that certainly includes image optimisation for search engines: we would love to help you out for all your image SEO needs.
If you want expert guidance on image optimisation and wider SEO services that are effective and tailored to your business, contact us today and discover how we can help you attract the right customers, boost conversions and improve your business performance.
