How to leverage the power of traffic linked to the search for images? Here are some tips for optimizing the referencing of your website images.
Image SEO has long been overlooked in SEO strategies. Those days are over with the advent of Google Universal Search in 2007, causing images and photos to appear in web search results.
Since the birth of Google image in 2001, image search has been on the rise on Google and other engines. The largest image quest on the internet is Google Image. SEO company in Pakistan is also optimized for your Image Referencing.
Image Search Infographic
In 2015, 80% of Google search results displayed a universal search with an image in 35% of cases.
Why Optimize Image Referencing?
Coming out in a good position in the results with a sales image linked to your activity is the assurance of acquiring qualified and potentially significant traffic.
For specific categories of websites, proper positioning of images is essential today; this is the case for:
- E-commerce sites,
- Portfolios of artists, graphic designers,
- Image banks,
- Travel agencies and tourist sites,
- Printers,
- The web agencies 🙂
- Photographers,
8 Tips For Optimizing Image SEO
Here are 8 simple tips for implementing (on WordPress in particular) to optimize the referencing of the images of your website and acquire qualified traffic.
1 – The Names Of The Images
Google does not know how to read an image; it is up to you to tell it what is in your vision And photograph. For instance, if you want to reference pictures of the Oise forest, avoid image names such as IMG801225.jpg and prefer foret-oise.jpg, admit that it will be easier for Google to position your photo with relevance by placing a few keywords in the filename.
2 – The Alternative Text Or “ALT” Tag
The alt text or the “ALT” attribute is text read by search engines, so it is essential to optimize the referencing of images. In addition to the name of the image, the “ALT” tag also improves the SEO of your site since it allows you to accommodate additional keywords that will be interpreted by the engines, be careful not to stuff your Image keywords (keyword Stuffing). The keywords placed in the ALT tag will replace the image if the browser cannot display the image.
3 – The Format And Weight Of The Images
Preferably use the JPG, GIF, and PNG formats even if some engines can read other forms. Also indicate the height (height) and width (width) of your image to tell search engines the size of your image the picture will have the same native size as the display size, this will reduce the weight of your photos with the consequence of reducing the loading time of your pages.
4 – The Content And Context Around The Images
The context and content (including the image caption and title) on the page where the image to be referenced is located search engines with important information about your vision.
For example, avoid including a photo of a business card in a cooking recipe page, so you send search engines a confusing message about the subject of the business card.jpg image.
Search Console Help Center guideline: Make sure that you place your images near relevant text whenever possible. We further recommend that you assign descriptive titles and captions to your pictures.
The environment of the page is, therefore, essential to optimize the referencing of your images.
5 – The Title Of The Image
The title of the image (title attribute) is a text that is displayed when the mouse hovers over; the information of this attribute does not affect the referencing of the photos; it is, on the other hand, a plus in terms of accessibility and user experience.
6 – A Specific Sitemap For Images
When you have configured all your photos, you can send a sitemap for the images through the Google Search Console interface.
7 – The Caption Of The Image
The caption of the image corresponds to the text displayed under the picture; the caption does not provide any direct added value in terms of reference. It can be useful for the user experience and brings content around the image; the caption helps to take care of the context.
8 – Long Description
Like the caption, the long description of your image is not read by Google directly, but it is beneficial for attachment pages. It is also a formidable SEO lever for portfolio type sites or sites dedicated to photography.
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