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| Best Image SEO Method |
Image optimization is a critical component that is often ignored. When a site is planned, constructed, and images are added, more often than not, the images are added without being properly optimized, and the thinking of images appears to end there. Despite the fact that the photographs seem to be excellent, they often end up with filenames such as IMG982713.jpg, which are not very descriptive. So you're squandering a valuable SEO asset without sufficient optimization and preparation.
What is the significance of image search engine optimization (SEO)?
Image optimization will increase your site's UX, load time, and rankings in both normal and image search results. If you run an e-commerce site, image SEO is particularly critical because you'll almost certainly have hundreds of images to optimize, and if you don't, you'll be losing out on a lot of potential traffic and rankings.
With the advent of visual searches, such as the ability to use images to buy items, image optimization can play an even larger role in search. Google's Google Lens and Bing's visual search are both available.
If your website's photos aren't properly marked up and configured, now is the time to concentrate your SEO efforts on that aspect.
Image optimization for e-commerce
You already know that SEO is another beast when you run an e-commerce business and any minor modifications or changes that you may make to your site help you gather a benefit in comparison to your rivals.
One of them is image optimization. Images take up more room than any other feature on a website, particularly for e-commerce sites that often have hundreds, if not thousands of products and consequently product images. All of these product photos can have a significant effect on the success of your website, as well as consumer retention and conversions.
Here are six suggestions for improving your site's image optimization, plus three bonus suggestions.
1. Create image filenames that are exclusive to you.
You can start your SEO image with the image file name. Use a descriptive file name that covers the point image keywords when naming your image files. The explanation for this is that the file name of your image will be used to help Google figure out what the image's subject matter is.
It's crucial to note that the file name of your image is what Google and other search engines can use to determine what your image is for.
2. Make picture alt text that is SEO-friendly.
Alt-text is crucial for your site's images because it allows you to provide clearer image meaning, which in turn helps search engines accurately index your images. It'll also show up if your picture fails to load due to a technical issue.
Google also discusses the value for images of alt text and states that it provides useful information about the picture they may use to make up their mind about which image to return to a user's query.
3. Dimensions of the image format
The size of your image files affects how quickly your site loads for users and search engines. When you have big (file size) photos on your site, it can take a long time for them to load. The photos on your website can be large files, which is inconvenient for users. This is where optimizing the website image files is critical because large file sizes will directly affect the SERP ranking and image searches, in particular, if you have hundreds or even thousands of photographs in a large eCommerce website.
You can't afford to minimize the size of your picture file in a haphazard way. One of the best choices for you is Adobe Photoshop's 'Save for Web' feature.
When you begin making changes to your pictures, Squoosh allows you to preview how the quality of your images will improve. Simply drag and drop your image into the web app to make the required file size changes.
4. Decide on the most appropriate image file format.
JPEG, GIF, and PNG are the three most popular image file types that can be used across your web. There are advantages and disadvantages of each of them. JPEG is usually the better choice since it offers the most options for preserving image quality when compressed or resized.
PNG is a popular format for logos because it allows you to produce a tiny picture with high resolution. However, keep in mind that a higher-resolution display will result in a larger file size, which can trigger problems with your computer.
GIFs are similar to PNG files in that they are suitable for small pictures; however, they should not be used for product photos or large images.JPEG is the best choice because it keeps file sizes small without sacrificing image quality and is widely used.
5. Make a sitemap for your images.
Generate an image sitemap, or adding your images to your current sitemap will help Google discover your site's images, increasing the likelihood that your images will be displayed in image search results and generating more site traffic, similar to how a sitemap would help Google discover all of the pages on your site.
It's critical to include your site's images in a sitemap, particularly if you run an e-commerce store and want all of your product images indexed. You can either connect the photos to an existing sitemap or build a new one for them. The key concept is that you want to use all of your photos in your sitemaps.
6. Twitter Cards and Open Graph
You will make your site's content more clickable, shareable, and noticeable on social media by incorporating Facebook's Open Graph and Twitter Cards. Facebook has a long list of OG tags that you can use on your site, but I think these are the ones you should concentrate on.
Og:title
Og:URL
Og:image
Og:type
Og:description
You'll want to pay extra attention to the og:image tag, which is the most important Open Graph tag since it takes up the most space in social feeds. Twitter Cards function similarly to Facebook's Open Graph tags.
Check your site's OG tags with these tools:
Twitter Card Validator LinkedIn Post Inspector Facebook Share Debugger
If you add the HTML code for both Open Graph and Twitter Cards to your site, you can be sure that the picture will appear on social media whenever your connection is shared.
Image optimization tips
Now that you've gone through the six image optimization tips for 2021, here are three bonus tips to help you improve your site's image optimization even further.
7. Images that are optimized for mobile use
Because of Google's web-first indexing, it's crucial to consider how the site's photos would appear on mobile devices. One thing you may not realize is that you can make your pages sensitive in the same way you can make your web responsive. Images that are sensitive perform well on devices with a wide range of screen sizes.
8. The file structure of an image
In their revised image guidelines, Google states that they rate images based on the file path and file name.
9. Data that is organized.
You can add organized data to your photos to make them stand out even more. By using structured data in your photos, they can be displayed as rich results, providing users with useful information about your page and potentially driving more targeted traffic to your site.
Structured data can be found in Google Images for the following:
- Product
- Video
- Recipe
Conclusion
To function to its full potential, image SEO needs a few different aspects and elements, and search engines like Google and Bing are only going to get better at recognizing these elements.
The following are some key takeaways for image SEO best practices and tips:
- For crawlability and indexability, create an image sitemap or ensure that your photos are included in your sitemap.
- Select an image file format that is appropriate for your needs.
- To make your page load faster, compress your files.
- Make the best pictures
- Create image file names that are optimized.
- Make sure the alt texts are SEO-friendly and important to the website.
- Make sure your photos, like your website, are mobile-friendly.
- Make use of photos that are both high-quality and meaningful.
- Change the names of your files.
- Add data that is organized.
- Create photos that are mobile-friendly.
- Make a better file layout.
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