Do You Use Search Engine Friendly Images

byRobert-A

10.9K followers

7 years ago

Imagery For Search Engine Optimization

Hi Folks

It seems from recent question asked, a few members are having problems with their images. How to access them, where to place them for best effect and actually what's the point of having them.

To answer that last query here is what you should be aiming for with your images

Before you undergo any optimization work, you should be quite certain that the images you’re using are the most appropriate. You must always be aware that all the different aspects of your content are there to serve a purpose. Didn't someone once say that a picture is worth a thousand words? That is so true in this case. Why? See Graphic Below.

For example - What are you trying to achieve with your image, and is it falling short of that goal? This is very important for SEO because search engines will always and without exception factor in user experience. Therefore the better your image suits its role, the better the page will perform, and the more search engines will reward you with a better ranking.

Connecting With Your Audience

Below are some points you should be aiming for with your image:

Catches The Eye - This is particularly important for images that appear as thumbnails for content listings for RSS feeds or in image searches. With your image standing out, you can draw them in.

Holding Your Audience's Attention - Once you have a visitors attention, can you keep it long enough for them engage with the rest of your content? An image might be fleetingly eye-catching but lack the depth to avoid someone bouncing upon reaching the page. Holding visitors attention requires quality workmanship.

Establishing Your Content - Someone who has barely looks at a title or headline could well scan the first image to get an idea of the content. Make sure you give a good idea what your content is going to be about with a great first image.

Setting The Mood For Your Audience - For example is your content meant to be funny, sad, or informative? Through not only subject matter but also colour, tone and texture, an image can set the mood for a piece of content, and therefore making it more effective and more memorable.

Provide information. Think of a full-page banner for an event. It’s rarely (if ever) a good idea to overload an image with text, but if you use it sparingly and clearly it can be extremely useful.

Once you know the role of any given image you can decide which of your images are doing what they need to do, and which will need to be replaced. Don’t settle for second best.

It also isn't hard to access quality images. I published a blog some time ago with a list to quite a few sites where you can do this, and they are all free.

Here is the link.

That's all for today folks and I will be publishing another blog on the subject of images soon.

Onwards and upwards to success and have a great day.

Robert Allan