Visual Tags For SEO

byRobert-A

10.9K followers

Updated 8 years ago

How To Use Alt Tags In Your Wordpress

Hi Folks

I published a blog about this subject last year but of late I've been getting asked about Alt Tags. Are they important is often asked. As is what are they used for and what to put in them?

To all you new members who have asked about these tags this is my reply. You can either act on my tips and advice or not. Its entirely up to you.

Images are needed to take attention away from all of the other distractions competing for a site visitors interest. They are needed to keep people interested and improve SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).

Simply because as far as search engines are concerned, they cannot see images by themselves, nevertheless they still register and interpret them. Images can be a SEO benefit when properly leveraged because they provide further framework to your content and help to rank better for the keywords they are optimised for.

The problem it seems is that most new WA members have no idea of how to take advantage of them properly. A pretty high percentage of SEO problems are related to image search engine optimisation. That feels like a very big red flag people, and its worth exploring further.

Allow me to share 6 optimisation techniques

A Fantastic File Name

This is where image marketing begins. The file name is going to provide search engines with the majority of the information on what the image is about. You have to make certain to describe the picture using the keyword/keyword phrase that you are planning to rank for.

Its best to put keywords as near the front of the file name as is possible. For example if you are using the image of a blue racing car. Since racing car is the term you are trying to rank for, that comes first. You should use the term racing car blue.

With a file name in place, you can move on to ALT and Title text.

Text Message That Gives Framework

People land on a webpage where there should be a picture but it has failed to load. Depending on what caused the failing, whether it was your site or something somewhere else, this situation will often cause issues.

To avoid this on your site, it is necessary to add Alt text with keywords you are planning to get ranked for. You want to ensure that no information or functionality is lost.

As well as the Alt text message, its also wise to be utilising the title text of an image. This space is designated for less important information. Making use of these tags to their fullest is only going to improve your SEO efforts.

Scaling For SEO Achievement

As we all know, speed is an important ranking factor to search engines and especially Google. Site load times, especially on mobile devices, impact the user experience and can, therefore, impact your listing in the Search Engine Results Pages. When adding images to a website, blog, or article, make certain to scale images down to the scale you want to show. If you add a big image to a web page and merely display it as small, it still has to load. If you want people to be able to view large images close up, such as for products, provide the option to increase the size in a new window. Bear this in mind in your Wordpress - make sure you tick the 'Open In New Tab' box.

Shrink File Sizes And Choosing The Proper Formatting

To continue to improve your webpage for speed, you will want to show the images in the smallest data file size possible.

It is also critical that you will be posting the correct file type for every single scenario.

Remember that:

JPEG is superior for eCommerce situations because it provides good quality and small file sizes.

GIFs are best for thumbnails and similarly small images.

PNGs are perfect for ornamental use and come with a very small size.

Choose the best document type for a given purpose to aid in increasing your site's load time as well as user experience.

XML Photo/Image/Attachment Sitemaps

People often ponder on image sitemaps, but Google is quite precise on the situation:

You can use an individual sitemap to list images, or you can also add image information to an existing sitemap. Make use of the method that actually works for you.

Include your images in an XML sitemap because it will help the search engine index your images and increase the quality of your SEO.

Image optimisation is always going to be as big a piece of the SEO puzzle as any other technique. Don't hold the design of your website back by failing to give attention to image optimisation. It may take some extra time, but it will be worth it for the rise in your SERP listings.

Ok folks and what do you think is the single most important part of SEO? Are your images already optimised or have you been neglecting this area?

Answers via a comment below please.

Have a great day.

Robert Allan

Analyze Your Page Speed

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