Image Optimization
Image optimization focuses on achieving high ranking and high traffic volume from image search engine results. It is important to consider because consumers are increasingly searching for products via image search engines because they can rapidly find what they are seeking without having to dig through promotion-laden websites. This is especially true for users who browse through images to find destinations they can go visit.
Google can’t read images, they can only read text. Adding alt tags, or text descriptions to the image properties, provide Google with a clear snapshot of what the site is about.
The Google image bot not only relies on the filename and the alt tag to understand an image, but it also considers a lot of the same factors that the Google search bot looks at, including the title tag, meta description, heading tags, links and anchor text. Taking these factors into consideration is important when optimizing the images as it helps search engines better understand and index image content.
Also it’s often far easier to get ranked in Google Image Search. Last but not least images show up in the regular Google search via Google Universal search results. In most cases image results are displayed on top of the page or above the fold.
Read the following helpful article for more info on image optimization: http://www.matteoduo.com/image-optimization/
Featured Tools
Image Attribute pro plugin (Site)
Image Guidelines
Majority of Internet users nowadays are more visual. They tend to get bored with sites that display too much text and few images. Images are therefore useful to make the audience quickly understand what the site is all about.
- Avoid gratuitous use. Only use graphics when they provide a clear benefit for users.
- Use an appropriate graphic format as they use different forms of compression.
- JPEGfor photographs,
- PNGfor images that need a transparent background,
- PNG or SVGfor logos and simple illustrations.
- GIFfor animated images that have large areas of solid colour.
- Whenever possible, switch from JPEG and PNG toWebP as it provides the same quality and smaller file size for web images.
For more details, read: How to Choose the Best Image File Format for Your Website
- Optimize file dimensions. Crop and scale images to an appropriate size. Do not manipulate the height and width attributes of the image tag used in HTML markup to make images look smaller than they really are. Users still have to download the large image, and this approach can reduces the crispness and apparent quality of the image.
- Optimize file size. Reduce image size to obtain lowest page load time. Use TinyPNG www.tinypng.com
- Use thumbnails on blog cards and link them to the original image. This will decrease the site load time.
- Store all images in one directory (e.g.www.example.com/images/)
- Optimize the image’s alt attributes with the target keyword (up to 140 characters).
- Include the target keyword on the image filename or IMG SRC string and/or have the SRC URL string contain it.
