It’s no secret, visual creations are a must for an online audience. Whether we’re talking about an image, an infographic, a video or any other kind of optical entertainment, people love it.

The reason images are so exciting is that human beings are visual creatures, and 90% of the information our brains process comes in the form of images. This is also why humans are able to process visual things 60,000 times faster than text.

When images are integrated into blog posts, social updates or even sent to a friend via a message, everything becomes more attractive.

It doesn’t matter if the images are taken by you or if they come from one of the many photography sites, they keep people interested and improve the site from an SEO point of view.

Search engines can’t see the images, but they record them and make sense of them. Images can be an advantage in SEO when used properly as they provide deeper context and help in ranking for the keywords they are optimised for. In addition, images might persuade someone to start reading a piece of material or to delve deeper.

The problem is that most people don’t know how to use them correctly.

78% of SEO problems have to do with image optimisation, and this is worth exploring.

If you want to discover how you can solve the image problem and help your site in the SERP, then read the following optimization techniques.

1. Correct file names

This is where image optimisation starts. The file name will provide Google with most of the information on the subject of the image, so make sure the image description is correct using a keyword that you want to rank for.

It is best to put the keyword as close as possible to the beginning of the file name.

For example, if your image shows a parrot in a large tree, then the name of your image should be parrot-big-apple.jpg. Since the word parrot is the one I want to position the best, then it is the first one placed.

2. Text that provides context

We’ve all been known to end up on a site where an image was supposed to appear, but didn’t load. Depending on the reason for the failure, whether it was the site’s fault or our own, this often causes problems.

To avoid this situation on your website, it is important to add alt text containing keywords that you want to increase in Google results. Make sure you don’t lose any information or functionality.

In addition to alt text, you should also use title text. This space is for less pertinent information such as the condition of the image. Using these tags to their full potential will improve your SEO effort.

3. Changing Dimensions – SEO Success

As we know, site loading speed is an important ranking factor for Google. The loading time of a website, especially the version for mobile devices, has an impact on the user experience and therefore an impact on the ranking in search results. When adding images to a website, blog, etc., make sure you reduce the size of the image you want to add.

If you add a large image to a site, and it appears in a small space, it will have to load and will slow down your page load speed.

If you want people to have the option to see the image in more detail (such as products), offer the option to expand in a pop-up or new window.

4. Shrink the file size and choose the right format

In order to further optimise the loading speed of the site, you need the attached image to determine the smallest possible file size.

You can achieve this by removing the EXIF data or by using tools such as ImageOptim, JPEGMini.

Equally important is that the type of file format uploaded is suitable for each scenario.

Remember that:

  • JPEG is better for eCommerce situations because it offers excellent quality and small file sizes.
  • GIF-urile are best suited for thumbnails and similar small graphics.
  • PNG is perfect for decorative use and offers a very small size.

Choose the right format to improve the loading speed of a website and improve UX.

5. XML IMAGE SITEMAPS

Often people have questions about Image Sitemap, but Google is quite explicit:

“To provide Google with information about images on your site, you will need to add image-specific tags to the sitemap. You can use a separate sitemap for images or you can add information about images to an existing sitemap.

Including your images on an XML sitemap will help the search engine index your images and improve the quality of your SEO efforts.

Image optimization is as important a piece of SEO as any other technique. It might take a little more time, but in the long run, it will pay off with better rankings in the SERP.

Want to find out if your website meets all these SEO requirements? Request a free free SEO audit to find out!