Climb the Search Rankings with Optimized Images: A Step-by-Step Guide

Images are powerful tools that can be used to draw attention to your website and improve SEO rankings. But creating great images is only half the battle. To make sure your images are optimized for search engines, you need to follow a few basic steps. This guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to optimizing your images for search engine rankings, so you can stand out from the competition and get your website noticed. From choosing the right file format to setting alt tags, this guide will arm you with the knowledge you need to boost your search engine rankings and improve your overall online presence.

What is Image Optimization?

Image optimization is a process for optimizing your images for better SEO. This includes optimizing the file format, size, alt text, as well as the SEO-friendly file name. Image optimization can help boost your SEO, as images can have a serious impact on your website’s ability to rank in Google.

Image optimization is important because it helps Google understand what your images are about, and people can find them more easily. Google has long used algorithms to determine the best images related to a certain topic.

With the rise of mobile browsing, however, Google’s ability to understand images has grown even stronger. Now, Google can see your images, and they use image recognition to determine its relevance to a certain topic. Google also uses your images to help people find your website.

Why is Image Optimization Important for SEO?

Images are the most important content on your website. They are what people first click on and what they remember when they leave. The better your images are, the more clicks and leads you’ll get. The first step in optimizing your website for search engines is to pick out the best images for specific keywords.

The trick to picking out the best image is to create original visuals that are relevant to your audience’s interests. Once you’ve found the perfect image, it’s important to optimize it for search engines.

The biggest reason for image optimization is to give search engines a better understanding of your image’s content. If search engines don’t understand what your image is about, they won’t show it anywhere in the SERPs.

You need your images to be easily accessible and understood by Google so it can show them whenever someone searches for your topic.

How to Optimize Images for SEO

A picture is worth a thousand words, and the same can be said for images on your website. Images can help you stand out from the crowd and can be a big factor in determining whether someone decides to click through to your site.

But images are more than just decorations on your website. They are also a powerful tool for boosting your SEO. The first step in optimizing your images for search engines is picking the best images for your topic. You need to make sure that your images are original and relevant to your topic.

You don’t want to use any stock photos or images that are already on the internet. You want to create exclusive visuals that are relevant to your audience’s interests. Once you have the perfect image, the next step is optimizing it for search engines.

The biggest reason for image optimization is to give search engines a better understanding of your image’s content. If search engines don’t understand what your image is about, they won’t show it anywhere in the SERPs. You need your image to be easily accessible and understood by Google so it can show it whenever someone searches for your topic.

Choosing the Right File Format

The first step in optimizing your images for SEO is selecting the right file format.

There are a few different image file formats that are good for both compression and SEO:

• JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) – This is a lossy image format, and this means some of that data may be lost during compression. This reduces the file size, making it a good choice for websites. JPEGs are also compatible with all web browsers, making them a good choice for compatibility.
• PNG (Portable Network Graphics) – A lossless image format, meaning that no image data is lost during compression, makes PNGs a good choice for certain images, such as logos and graphics. However, PNGs are usually larger than JPEGs, so they may not be the best option for use on a large website.
• GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) – This is a lossless image format that is best suited for small images, such as icons or simple graphics. GIFs can prevent animation, so they are a good choice for short, looping animations. However, they are not as efficient at compressing large images, thus not often used for pictures or detailed graphics.

What is the Best Image Resolution for Online Use

In general, it is advised to use images with a resolution of 72 pixels (ppi) for web-based use. This is due to the increasing popularity of modern monitors since the pixels that make up most displays have a PPI of 72. This is why it is convenient to use images with this resolution for web purposes.

What is the Best Image Size?

When it comes to online images, size matters. That’s why it’s essential to make sure that your image file size is under 10 megabytes, or else Google may resize the image for you. Most high-quality images are around 2 megabytes, and any larger than this can be detrimental to your website’s performance.

The bigger the file size of your image, the longer it will take for it to load on your viewer’s screen – and if loading times are too long then this could drastically reduce viewership as people become frustrated with waiting.

This affects search engine optimization (SEO) because viewers may not stay on your site long enough for their visit to be registered by Google’s crawlers.

The best image file size for online use will depend on a few factors, including the dimensions of the image, the quality of the image, and the amount of visual detail in the image.

Setting Alt Tags

In terms of SEO, it’s important to use relevant, descriptive file names for your images and to use proper alt text to describe them. This helps search engines understand the content of your images and can improve your website’s search rankings.

Alt tags (alternative text tags) are used to describe the contents of an image on a website. They are important for SEO because search engines use them to understand the content of an image and to determine how it should be indexed.

To write alt tags for SEO, follow these tips:

• Use descriptive, relevant text: The alt tag should accurately describe the content of the image. It’s a good idea to include keywords in the alt tag if they are relevant to the image and the overall content of the page.
• Keep it short: These tags should be short and to the point. Aim for fewer than 125 characters.
• Don’t stuff with keywords: It’s important to use relevant keywords in your alt tags, but you should not participate in keyword stuffing. This is when you overuse keywords in an attempt to manipulate search rankings. Google’s analytical data is sophisticated and recognize when this is happening, which would result in a penalty to your website.
• Use plain language: Alt tags should be easy for people to understand, so it’s a good idea to use plain language rather than technical jargon.
• Use spaces and punctuation appropriately: Use spaces between words and punctuation to make the alt tag easier to read.

Here are a few examples of good alt tags:

• “Golden retriever puppy playing with a toy”
• “New York City skyline at sunset”
• “Close-up of a red rose in full bloom”

Overall, it’s important to use alt tags that accurately describe the content of the image and that are relevant to the overall content of the page. This will help search engines understand the content of the image and can improve your website’s search rankings.

Resizing Images

The next step in optimizing your images for SEO is resizing them. You want your images to be the perfect size for your website, depending on their usage, so you don’t want them to be too big or too small. If your images are too big, they can slow down your website and hurt your SEO. If they’re too small, they’re harder to see.

• Most Use Cases – images are between 100 and 1,000 pixels wide. Anything over 1,000 pixels is too big, and anything under 100 pixels is too small.
• Website Headers – Minimum image size is 1200 pixels wide. Height depends on the image and your preferences. Header images can be as large as 2500 pixels. This is in the event they are resized by your website or slider.

You can use an image editing software, such as Photoshop or Canva, to resize your images.

Writing Image Descriptions

The next step in optimizing your images for SEO is writing image descriptions.

Image descriptions are similar to alt tags, but they are more detailed and are typically visible to users. They can be used to provide additional information about an image and to make it more accessible to people with visual impairments. Image descriptions are not typically used by search engines for SEO purposes, but they can still be important for improving the user experience on your website.

To write image descriptions for SEO, follow these tips:

1. Use descriptive, relevant text: The image description should accurately describe the content of the image and provide additional context. It’s a good idea to include keywords in the description if they are relevant to the image and the overall content of the page.
2. Keep it short: Image descriptions should be brief and to the point. Aim for around 200 characters or less.
3. Don’t stuff with keywords: It’s important to use relevant keywords in your image descriptions, but you should avoid keyword stuffing, which is the practice of overusing keywords in an attempt to manipulate search rankings. This can actually hurt your SEO efforts.
4. Use plain language: Image descriptions should be easy for people to understand, so it’s a good idea to use plain language rather than technical jargon.
5. Use spaces and punctuation appropriately: Use spaces between words and punctuation to make the image description easier to read.

Here are a few examples of good image descriptions:

• “A golden retriever puppy is playing with a red and green striped toy on a white background.”
• “The skyline of New York City is visible at sunset, with the Empire State Building and other tall buildings lit up in the evening light.”
• “A close-up of a red rose in full bloom, with drops of water on the petals.”

Compressing Images

The next step in optimizing your images for SEO is compressing them. Compressing your images means reducing their file size without impacting their quality. This can be done by adjusting the image quality settings or by resizing them.

The smaller your images are, the better. You want to make sure that your image file size is less than 10 megabytes, or Google will resize it. If you don’t want Google to resize your images, you can compress them manually by downsizing them.

You want to make sure that your image is high-quality before compressing it, otherwise it can end up looking pixelated and blurry. You can use an image editing software, such as Photoshop or Canva, to compress your images. You can also use a plugin for WordPress like Smush Image Compression.

Benefits of Image Optimization

When you optimize your images for SEO, you make it easier for Google to crawl your website. This can help you improve your click-through rate and get more leads from your website.

If you’re using images in your marketing campaigns, image optimization can help you get more targeted traffic from people who are looking for your products or services. Image optimization also helps you rank in image search results.

If people are searching for images related to your topic, Google will show your image in their search results, which can help you get extra traffic.

Let Our Team Help with a Digital SEO Strategy

If your website doesn’t rank on the first page of Google, you’ll lose customers to competitors who do. And with the continuous updates by Google, it’s hard for small businesses to keep up.

Digital marketing is a necessary investment for any company in this day and age. Search engines are how people find products, services, and solutions — so if your site isn’t ranking on the first page, who will find you? You need a digital marketing strategy to stay afloat in your industry and make sure you’re providing what people are looking for.

Why not hire a team of skilled SEO consultants, like ours? We’ll create an effective campaign that will help your website rank at the top of search engine results. We won’t settle for second place! Contact us now for a free consultation.