Total SEO Tips Part 5: Image Optimization

Image SEO: Tips to Optimize Images for Search Engines

Images are a necessary part of your website, they aid to intrigue visitors and enhance the overall look of your site. However, images should also serve another, greater, purpose: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – our favorite topic here at Total Web SEO! Every single element on your website, landing page and blog posts should help, not hinder, your SEO efforts and images are no different. Read below our easy to understand, 5-part Guide on the SEO Importance of Image Optimization.

On-Page Image Optimization Tips

Optimize Images Weight:

Don’t let your gorgeous, high-quality images slow down your website. Heavy images can hinder your websites’ load time, increasing your bounce rate and decreasing your site’s optimization. Images comprise about 66% of a total webpage’s weight and Google will penalize your for slow website speed.

 

To combat heavy photos, always upload pictures as JPEG files, unless it is an animated photo (GIF). Depending on the site and quality of your photos, their “weight” should range from 50 – 150 KB.

 

Keep Images in a Dedicated Website Folder:

It is important to use a dedicated folder on your website when uploading photos. This will ensure we deliver our images to front-end users and Google Bots as fast as possible. If someone else is hosting your images, your page will essentially load twice: once for content and once for images. Using your own dedicated folder ensures your site content and photos upload at the same time. Your photo files should read: www.YOURWEBSITE.com/images/name-of-image-here.jpeg.

 

Use Meaningful ALT Text:

Since Google is unable to read images, ALT attributes are a key factor in telling Google what this photo is all about, but not in the literal sense. You want to use meaningful, keyword driven ALT tags to tell Google what your website wants to rank for.

 

If you’re a Furniture Store ALT tags like Red Couch or Gray Sectional may seem logical. While accurate, those examples won’t help you in your Google Rankings. Ideally your keyword driven ALT tags would read: Discount Furniture Store in Bensalem PA or Buy Furniture in Bucks County PA. The first set of exampled ALT text accurately describes the photos, but doesn’t tell Google anything about your company. The second set is keyword driven and tells Google you want to rank for variations of Furniture Store Bensalem PA.

 

Off-page Imagine Optimization Tips

 

Keyword Rich Photo File Names:

In the same aspect as the tip above, you want your photo file names to be meaningful. You’re marketing a website for Furniture Store in Bensalem PA and your file names should aid in your SERP Rankings.

When naming photos always use all lowercase with hyphens in between each word so Google can quickly read the image and pick up the keywords. Examples: furniture-boutique-store-in-bensalem-pennsylvania or family-owned-furniture-store-in-bucks-county-pa. Using keyword-driven file names and ALT tags are an easy way for you to outrank your competitors.

 

Invest in the Proper Image Optimization Tools:

The above photo optimization tips will help you with your website’s SEO efforts. However, if you are not using the right tools these guidelines are useless. Photo resizing software is vital to image optimization. Photoshop is a paid software that millions of graphic designers use for photo resizing, manipulation, creation and much more! Paint.net is a free tool you can use for image resizing and basic design (this is my personal favorite). Furthermore, both tools include a weight optimizer, refer back to Tip 1 as a reminder to why this is important. You can also utilize free, online sites like Optimizilla, CompressNow, or Smush (WordPress) to make optimizing photos even easier.

 

Image Optimization Key to Google Rankings

In conclusion, photo optimization is an SEO step that is vastly overlooked. Investing the time in the above steps will help immensely in your Google ranking efforts. Here at Total Web SEO, a Philadelphia SEO Company, our SEO Marketers take the time to ensure the above photo optimization steps are followed for every website we work on. Give us a call for an SEO Consultation to see how we can help optimize your website!

 

Lastly, if you’re in the market for a completely new website, Total Web Company, a Website Design Company in Bristol PA is here for your website needs! From design to redesign, mobile responsive and more, we’ll create a website that works for your brand!