Graphics can generate a ton of traffic from image based search engines such as Google images.Images also improve virality and engagement of your content.
But what is the message that you want an image to portray and how is this being told to your audience? Is each image meant to stand alone or are they to be grouped as part of a visual sales pitch or an explanatory process?
Answering these all important questions needs to be done before you begin to search for online stock images, hire a photographer or begin snapping away yourself. Relevance is key to any graphical representation whether you are selling products in an online store or are a service based industry.
1. Image Search Engines
Uploading graphics to your website is a relatively simple process, optimizing images for your website isn’t just a way to make your photos look better it’s also a critical part of improving your search engine traffic.
Adding titles and descriptions to your site’s pictures will enable Google Image Search to find your visuals, thereby making your site appear in both image and regular search engine result pages.
2. The Image
The images that you use can make or break your brand. Its human nature to judge things initially by their appearance, so making your product leap out of the screen is essential.
Top notch photographs will install confidence. Products should always be shot on a neutral background, preferably white, with a generous amount of natural light and a softer table light. This helps reduce shadows and editing at a later stage.
3. Use inspiring file names
Because search engines read file names for SEO purposes, you will need to make sure that your images are labelled accurately. So rather than a file saying “image11”, label it with a description that will help the search engine to categorize your image.
By saving your images with better file names it is an easier way to keep track of your photos and enhance SEO.
4. Titles and Descriptions
Always add a title and a few key words to the image that you are uploading onto your site. Using clever image texts is crucial in helping the search engine understand your site better and will in turn help your SEO ranking. The ideal image text is a perfect balance between the keywords that you use in your website and a truthful description of the content of the image.
5. Choose the Correct File Type
Another important aspect is to test out how an image will look on your website. The most common form of image file formats are .png, .jpeg and .gif. Each of these formats behaves differently and determines how the image uploads and looks. The ideal file format for an image will therefore depend on aspects such as colour, size and density of information.
Most photo editing software now allows you to save images to your desktop at different levels of quality. Saving an image with the highest quality isn’t always your best bet, large images such as backgrounds, don’t necessarily need high definition. These can be saved at a slightly above-average quality in order to reduce the file size and improve your site’s loading speed. Make the image file size as small as possible (without sacrificing quality, of course).
By Harry Price
- The Message Of An Image - July 15, 2015
Never thought about adding text to images for SEO ranking, neat. Awesome article.