There are many ways of SEO that you can do to get the best results. One important factor you pay attention to is the visual content displayed on your website. This optimization method is known as Image SEO. You can use this method to make your website more attractive, easy to find, and have full page view speed in no time.
Try to remember when was the last time you uploaded a photo or image to your website? Most likely you often download images from open stock photo sites and then instantly insert them into your website. Is this a good and simple idea in favor of optimization?
Without realizing it, you have added a large content weight to your website which can cause page speed to decrease. In addition, the Google search engine becomes confused, unable to detect the presence of your website image with certainty. Moreover, without writing alternative text or alt text on images.
Most importantly, your website has a good chance of increasing its ranking in the SERPs. Do you feel this is just a waste of time? Before you decide, read on! Get to know the important role of Image SEO more closely.
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What is Image SEO?
The process of optimizing your website images so that it is easy to read and find by search engines or SERPs is called Image SEO. The visibility and rank of your website can be affected to increase as well. Image SEO is related to several main factors such as the type of image or photo, the size of the image resolution, along with the loading time of the website. Optimization by using alternative text (alt-text) is also the main key in this process.
Remember the terms off-page optimization and on-page SEO? Yep! Image SEO is a process that is actually included in the on-page SEO optimization process but is often neglected. In fact, image SEO has a significant effect, even though it looks simple. Many SEO experts warn that you must be careful because an inaccurate image SEO can give bad results for your website or page. You lost the opportunity to get links, SERP index, and organic value traffic.
Benefits of Optimizing Image SEO
The following are the benefits that you can get if you do Image SEO optimization or image optimization with good SEO rules and recommended by Google;
1. Your Website Visibility
Increased visibility of your website can be obtained when the images on your website have been properly optimized and have high relevance. So that it can appear directly and organically on search engines, especially in image search results.
2. Indirect Traffic Website
When users enter the information keywords they are looking for, many forms of search results are displayed by the SERP. If users prefer to click on images to open information, then more visitors will be on your website. Indirect traffic will come by itself.
3. Top Rank General Category Search
There is a possibility that your website cannot be found on the front page when the user enters the URL address. But if you use image elements in the content and pages of your website and optimize them, your website will likely appear in general search results with the keywords used (targeted).
4. Relevance of Search Topic
Provide important alternative tags/text on your website images, so that the relevance of the search topic increases. That way, the chances of getting a satisfactory target rank result are closer.
5. Optimal Performance of Your Website Pages
The more precise the size of the image you upload on the website, the more optimal the performance of your website page will be. This is because not all devices used to access a website have a large bandwidth, which has an influence on the page to be opened or the page loading time.
6. Conversions for E-commerce Websites
Currently, not a few potential customers are looking for their needs in online stores (e-commerce) by browsing product images. Usually, the more attractive and convincing the quality of the product image is, the easier it will be for them to click on the image. You know, it can help you increase your chances of buying conversions, from being just a visitor to being your customer.
Image Optimization Techniques in SEO
Here we describe 8 main tips on image optimization techniques, photos in SEO rules;
1. Determine the Appropriate Image Format
Actually, there are no specific rules that force you to use an image format. It’s free! Yes, it all depends on how you want to set the goal of the image or the image you include on the website page. Here we have suggestions that you can follow.
- Use the “JPEG” format when you want to include images or illustrations with a large resolution because with this format you can get good color and clarity, even though the image file size is relatively small.
- Use the “PNG” format when you want to maintain the clarity of the background transparency of your image.
- Use the “WebP” format when you want to get a fairly good image quality result, but with an even smaller file size compared to JPEG and PNG. You can use the available tools to convert image files.
2. Compress and Resize Image
The average web page composed of images is 21%, which is surveyed by HTTParchive.org. We strongly recommend you to compress/lower the file size of your image before uploading it to the web page. You can do it manually in Photoshop tools or tools like TinyPNG. The goal is to increase the speed of your page loading time. Usually, under 100 KB that’s the ideal file size.
In addition to compressing, of course, you also need to resize, when the dimensions of the image display do not match the dimensions of your website page design. Do not let there be an imbalance in the position that can interfere with the comfort of visitors.
3. Use Unique and Relevant Images and Photos
Currently, most web pages appear to use the same stock photos or images from online sources, both free and paid. For example like Shutterstock. If you also use it on your entire page, it can look unoriginal and even stand out compared to your competitors.
Stock images from online sources that you have optimized as much as possible, will not necessarily have a better potential SEO impact than the original images that you include on the website page. The more original photos, the better the visitor experience of your page, and also you can get a good ranking position. Uploading original photos can also have an influence on users’ decisions to buy your services or products. on relevant searches. It is not recommended that you use your business logo image as the main image.
4. Pay attention to Image Copyrights
You need to pay attention to the copyright of the image or image that you enter on the website page. Moreover, the images you get from online sources. Make sure the images have a clear description when you download them, rather than later you have to be sued legally. Lawsuit fines are very expensive, so it is better to avoid this conflict. In addition, for the original photos that you have, also make sure you have a license or patent so that they cannot be recognized by others
5. Describe the Image File Name Clearly
SEO still has a close relationship with descriptive file names and is rich in keywords. It is important to describe the image file name clearly so that it can help Google or SERP to index your website or blog images more easily and increase your SEO value. Without a proper file name, it’s like you ordered steamed buns without any filling in them. It must have tasted bland.
Usually, your image file name is something like “IMG_711029” or something similar. You can fix it with a description of the name such as “Body Lotion Rose variant 100 ml bottle”. Giving each image file a name you upload will take some time, but don’t let your SEO opportunities slip away
6. Write SEO-friendly Alt Text
The role of Alt Text (alternative text) is almost the same as the image title name discussed earlier. Alt Text is useful for providing a description when an image fails to load when a user opens a page on your website or blog. Whether it’s caused by a poor internet network, unsupported user devices, or other reasons. The alt text that you write should be relevant to the topic or may also contain keywords that match your SEO targets.
7. Make Your Image URL Structure Good
Google understands your images through the URL index trail, so make your image URL structure folder layout well, clear, and logical. There is also an update explaining that they will start ranking relevant images. For example, you are the owner of a website page for an online fashion store from a variety of product brands. We recommend that you create category folders related to your product URL, such as “women’s long dresses”, “men’s trousers”, “shorts”, “summer collections” and other categories.
8. Pay Attention to Headers and Meta Descriptions
Headers, subheaders, and even meta descriptions also have an influence on Google’s image search algorithm. It will usually appear as a snippet of info relevant to the user’s search topic. This process is like when you put a chocolate meses topping on your steamed bun, it can be more appealing to the user to eat it.
Pro Tip: Create a meta description using targeted keywords and clickbait-like phrases. This will give you the potential to increase your click-through rate (CTR) if you are already on the first page.
Hopefully, you can practice these tips when optimizing your website or blog so that you get increased traffic results and ranking positions on the very first search page. Always remember, an image that you upload has 1000 SEO values, what if you upload more than 100 images, how much SEO value will you get after optimization? Let’s get excited about creating content and good luck!