In addition, the universal search displays images on the results page combination. This means you do not need to search to find an image, you can appear at any time. Therefore, it is important to learn how to optimize your images for search engines. Here are the some essential keys.
Optimize Images for Better Search Engine Rankings
1. Alt Attribute
Although the technology for image recognition has come a long way, searchers are still struggling to interpret the content of images. Today they can recognize letters, colors, and even faces, but little else. Because of this need to use the Alt attribute to describe your images.
The name comes from alternate Alt text or alternative text, and what use search engines to know what displays an image. It is also the text that uses the browser when the image can not be loaded along with the rest of the page content.
Suppose you put on your website an aerial view of the Science and Technology Park of Albacete. The HTML code of the Alt tag would be:
<Img src = "http://yourblog.com/image.jpg" alt = "Tips To Promote A New Blog" />
(In principle no need to worry about the code, since most content managers allow you to add the label easily.)
The key to creating good tags Alt is:
- accurately describe the content of the image
- Include the main keyword
- be concise
2. File Name
The file name is an indicator of image content. Think an image called "chocolate.jpg" probably show a chocolate cake.
To optimize the name you should try to be short and descriptive, and not need to include as much information as the Alt tag.
If you noticed in the example above, we have called the file "photo.jpg" without further. However, this generic name does not bring any benefit in search engines.
To make it more descriptive, we might call the image file "tips-to-promote-a-new-blog". With a more specific name we will have more chances that the search and understand the content and display the image in a more prominent position.
A good filename is characterized by:
- Represent the image content
- Include the main keyword
- Be very concise (you can exclude empty words)
- Use hyphens to separate words
3. Context
It is very important that your images are surrounded by text and the text is related to the content of the image. By this I mean the caption or legend, but also the text that is above and below the image, headers and page title (as far as possible).
Note that if the text surrounding the image has nothing to do, relevance to the search will be low. So the closer the relationship between the image and the context in which it is better.
4. File Size
Ideally, the file size is as small as possible. Thus the images load quickly, and that is something that reward seekers.
But the file size depends on 2 things:
- The dimensions of the image
- The image quality
If you want a large image in a small file, the quality will be affected. But if you want a high quality image, you will not be other than downsize.
This commitment makes the JPEG format ideal for image search engines, but you can also use PNG and GIF if better serve your purposes.
When preparing your images:
- Use JPEG for images in general and photographs
- PNG is more suitable for flat images and / or transparencies (b.p. logos)
- GIF is ideal for animated images
- It uses the exact dimensions you need (do not rely reducing dimensions to the CMS since loading the full image and then resize)
- The JPEG medium quality is more than enough for the Web
- To capture, crop and resize images using Skitch. This tool does a good job keeping quality images, and allows add annotations, shapes and patterns. Other interesting and free tools for working with images are GIMP and BeFunky.
Before uploading images to the web, it is recommended that compression to reduce as much as possible, without thereby compromising quality. To do this, use the online Compressor.io tool, but if you prefer desktop tools and test JPEGmini ImageOptim.
On the other hand, if you use WordPress as content manager, you may be interested in the plugin WP Smush.it. While you have active, it will compress all images that you upload without apparent loss of quality.
5. Image Data
Image file format is a specification that allows various types of metadata include in the image file. This data takes specific details, such as exposure, aperture, focal length, and even geographic coordinates are included.
Although the Exif data that can more interest are:
- Image title
- Description
- Name and web author
- Copyright
- Other interesting tags
While search engines do not use the Exif content as weight factor currently, the data appears on certain pages of images (b.p. this Flikr) which can positively influence the relevance factor.
By file properties in Windows (right click) you can edit and add some data relevant to the image information. Although if you really want to experience, it is better to use an advanced tool. PhotoME is a free option.
Something else to consider with Exif is that if you are using compression tools, you must ensure that preserve Exif information in the resulting image. This you can see on the developer's website, or in the FAQ and directory Changelog WordPress plugins section, if applicable.
6. Long Description
A little known attribute for images or longdesc is the long description. As its name suggests, it serves to include a longer than can be included in the Alt tag description.
The syntax for the long description is:
<img src = "http://yourblog.com/tips-to-promote-a-new-blog.jpg" alt = "Tips To Promote A New Blog" longdesc = "http://yourblog.com/tips-to-promote-a-new-blog.html"/>
If you notice, longdesc not include a textual description, but the URL where to find it. This can be a page specially created to include the description, or the page itself where the image is included, but that does not make much sense.
The truth is that the long description is very little or no use, but I wanted to include it to count with all the options.
7. Sitemap Image
An essential aspect of image optimization is indexing. Images must be in the search engine index to appear in the search, but the search does not find your image files can hardly register.
There is a way to increase the chances that your images are indexed, and is generating a specific sitemap for images. This file includes the URL of each image, but can also incorporate the title, license and caption.
If you are using WordPress as content manager, you should know that the plugin Yoast SEO optimization includes images within the XML Sitemaps function. However, if you prefer a dedicated plugin you can use Udinra All Image Sitemap.
See Also : PageRank, SEM, SEO and Importance To a Blog
A key more
Since you've bothered to read this far, I will not let you go without giving you an extra key. And I advance that this tactic is precisely the most effective:
If you want to improve the visibility of your images there is nothing more effective than getting links. Links to the page containing the image and to the image file itself. If further links include keywords in the text (anchor text) will improve the positioning for relevant searches.
That said, I do not recommend using this tactic artificially, because search engines like Google penalize the creation of links designed to influence their results. The smartest strategy is to create images capable of attracting links themselves, as in the case of computer graphics and photos with Creative Commons license.
What other methods do you use to optimize your images?
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