“A picture is worth a thousand words”
Pictures or images are one of the heaviest elements of a website, but it is also necessary to use them. Google has also dropped the page experience update on the desktop. Imageless websites are considered very bad for the user experience. So, it is very important to optimise your image through the image SEO process.
Many business categories are like wedding photographers. It is important to use more images. Now if he doesn’t show more photos on his website, will he not be able to show experiences?
How do you find out the issues of your images?
The best tool, the free tool, is GTmetrix. GTmetrix analyses the images of your website very carefully and not only tells about the problem but also tells their solution.
Table of Contents
Why is image SEO important?
Friends, there are two reasons why we need image SEO:
The first reason is that we know Google. When we search for something, we can also search for the images section. And when we go to the images section, the different images that are being ranked there, if we engage on those images, click on them. We redirect that image to any particular website or webpage.
This means that traffic can come to the website through the images section. That means if we rank our images, then we have the potential that we can get traffic to our website.
Interesting!
The second reason is important in respect of the on-page. If we do proper SEO of our images or if we optimise our images properly, then all those things will also help us on our on-page.
Here I have written 10 points which are very important with regards to image SEO.
1.Resize Images
The most important is to resize all images on the website. Now, the first step to optimise images is to control their size, not the size of KB or MB, but the size of the pixel, the size of the images. Now, you can resize the images through CSS, but if you resize the images correctly, then you can avoid one extra error.
But what is the correct size?
| Elements | Size |
| Icons | 16*16 px |
| Slider Images | 1800 px width *400 px height |
| Featured Images | 250 * 250 px |
| Blog Post Images | 680 px width |
So resize the images of your website according to this size chart and then use it.
2. Image File Name
Pay close attention to your image file name. Make it image-related. I have seen that if you upload an image on your website, then you have named it. I am talking about the file name of the image. I am not talking about the caption of the image. I am not talking about the alt text of the image either.
I have seen many people, like image 0003, image 007, or image, or dummy image, or new image, or old image, or final image. This type of person saves a name, which is not recommended.
If you want to do the SEO of the image in a better way, then make sure that the file name of your image is also related to your image.
Now, this does not mean that you will do keyword stuffing. Like if you put the image of an Elephant, then simply if you are writing Elephant.jpg in the example, that’s more than enough. Or if it is an African elephant or Asian elephant, then you can make the name a little more specific as a file name. But it doesn’t mean that you do keyword stuffing in it.
Keyword stuffing you don’t have to do anywhere from the point of view of SEO.
Clear!
Wherever you feel that you want to give a signal to Google through this thing. You want to tell what this image is about, what this content is about, what this page is about, what this video is about, and what this paragraph is about.
3. Image File Types
Now, friends, if I talk about image file types, here you see majorly three types of image file types, of which PNG is very good quality-wise. But guys, you don’t have to use PNG or GIF image type. You have to use the image file type of JPEG.
Make sure that your images are within 100 KB, so you get compression. Many compressing tools, like TinyPNG and Compressor make your work easier.
Your image should be in JPG form. The reason is that, even after compression, its quality doesn’t decrease that much.
By the way, if you look at it quality-wise, PNG looks better. Guys, if you want to use a small logo somewhere where you want to use transparent images, then you can use PNG images there if you want. But if you want to use some big images in some important locations on the website, then you must use the JPEG format of the image. It is not recommended that you use the PNG format for images.
4. Alt Text
The second is to use alt text and also captions. When we upload an image to our website, we have two options. We have to use alt text for images and also use captions for images.
Here you have to mention the alt text of the image. Along with that, you can see a small added caption in the image below.
All text is not for users. All text is not visible to the user from the front. However, the captions are visible to the user. So make sure that both caption and alt text are related to the image.
Alt text is basically for those people who are not visually sound or who are not able to see our image. For them, alt text is there. Or if our image is not loaded, then also alt text is loaded there.
The crawlers, which can’t scan our images properly, can’t understand the image properly. The text around our image makes us understand something about our image, about which image it is. So use alt text and also caption.
5. Create an Image Sitemap
Yes, friends, the images also have their URLs. If we mention URLs in a format anywhere, that is a sitemap for us. So, you create a sitemap of images too.
If we talk about our website’s sitemap. So, what happens in the sitemap of our website? All the pages of our website are together. They are basically in one place, in one XML file. So when a crawler comes, he sees that these different URLs are on this website. So that he can understand how many URLs are there in this website and its position or locations.
So, friends, in the same way, the different images on our website also have a sitemap. If you are working on a WordPress website, then in that particular case, if you are using the Yoast plugin, the Yoast plugin by default gives you the sitemaps of different categories. So you don’t have to worry too much.
6. Image Compression
The 60% weight of an average web page is its images. So compression of images is very important for increasing website speed.
The standard is that our image should also be under 100KB. But apart from that, there is a very famous plugin called WP Smush, which you can use if you need image compression.
7. Placement of Images
Make sure images are placed in the right place.
Try to understand this line.
Placement of images on web pages or blogs is very important for websites and a better user experience. A good user experience can drive old traffic and decrease the bounce rate.
Friends, we have to see whether our image is with the right text or not. That is, whether the images are placed where the images should be placed or not. It shouldn’t happen that the images are very small.
8. Never Put Text on Images
I have seen, in many cases, what many people do. They mention a lot of text in the images. Put text on the content. There is no purpose for that and the images are also not good for the user experience.
So, if you want to use text in some context, then use the text in the content. Don’t write the text on the images. It’s not good practice. So this is also an important point regarding image SEO, which you have to keep in mind.
9. Responsive Images
Make sure that your images are responsive. Now, the direct meaning of responsive images is that your images should be device friendly.
Now Talk about the features of image responsiveness.
If your website is in WordPress, then it comes by default in WordPress. It was not there before, but after WordPress 4.4 version, WordPress automatically makes images responsive.
It But if it is done through code, then the source set is used,
< src=”image.jpg”
srcset=”small.jpg300w,
medium.jpg 600 w
large.jpg 900w”
sizes=”(max-width:300px)100 vw, (max-width: 600 px) 50vw,
(max-width: 90 px)33 vw,900 px”/>
The image of this type is used in different dimensions. Small, medium, large. This type of code is used so that the type of dimension required can be taken
For example, a small dimension will be seen on the tablet in comparison to the desktop. After that, if we talk about phones, then the dimensions smaller than the tablet will be shown there.
So, the responsiveness of images is also a very important concern.
10. Vector Images
The format of vector images is basically SVG images. So friends, many times you must have seen your images, whether it is JPEG image etc. When you zoom in, then that image starts to pixelate.
But SVG images, means if we have to use some line diagrams type, use logos type, So, the JPEG images are in pixel format and the SVG images are in line format. So, if you zoom them a lot, then there is not much problem and its quality is not reduced.
But this does not mean that you can use SVG images wherever you want. It is not like that at all, guys. Where you feel the need for a logo or want to use some illustrations, then you can use SVG images there.
FAQs on Image SEO
Which image URL is best suited for image SEO?
A: Right way of image URL is to use one particular URL format. If your website is running on HTTPS www, then the URL of the images should also be HTTPS www. If the website is running only on HTTPS, then the URL of the images should also be only HTTPS.
EX: https://abc.com/image.jpg
https://www.abc.com/image.jpg
What is the best image type for SEO?
A: There are mainly three types of image format: PNG, JPG and GIF.
PNG is very good quality-wise. But guys, you don’t have to use PNG or GIF image type. You have to use the image file type of JPEG type.
Is PNG or JPG better for SEO?
A: Quality-wise, PNG looks better. Guys, if you want to use a small logo somewhere where you want to use transparent images, then you can use PNG images there if you want. But if you want to use some big images in some important locations on the website, then you must use the JPEG format of the image. It is not recommended that you use the PNG format for images.
Do images help SEO?
A: Adding visuals to the web page of a blog is beneficial for SEO. It is very effective for a good user experience. Google page experience update supports user experience, which is one of the Google ranking factors.
Can I use copyright images on my website?
A: Rules apply to images like copyright and intellectual property. Before using a copyrighted image, you must determine if you can claim that your use falls under the Fair Use guidelines. If it does not, you must pay to use the image or find a different copyright-free image. On many websites, like freepik, you can find copyright-free images.
Finally my friends, I hope you enjoyed this blog.
What are you doing to get your site ready for Image SEO?
Let me know through the comment below.
Thanks for reading, Keep learning.
Very informative blog. Learnt so many new things. Want this type of blogs more.