SEO isn’t only about optimizing a web page for improved search results position. It also includes ranking images well on image searches. Images can bring a massive amount of traffic and backlinks to your website if you optimize images right. My Tech blog Techlomedia built hundreds of backlinks just because of images. This is the reason I recommend everyone to use the right images and optimize them properly. In this article, I will include several tops for optimizing images of your blog. These tips will not just increase the visibility of your images on search engines but will also bring massive traffic and quality backlinks.
Also see: Best SEO Tools
Image SEO Tips
Here are some important image Set tips you need to know and follow for improving traffic to your website using images.
1. Use relevant and good images
It is really important to use the right images on your blog. You shouldn’t use Google images to search for images for your blog. Images in different image search engines may have copyright issues. So, start looking for images on free royalty-free images websites. Pixabay, Pixels, and Unsplash are a few that I personally use to find relevant images. Now comes to the 2nd part. Use a good image editor like Canva to edit the image as per your blog post’s need. There may be thousands of other bloggers who may be using the same images. So, personalizing images is important. If you don’t get satisfactory results on these free royalty-free image websites, try to capture your own or make your own using image editing software. If you use original images, it increases the chance of getting backlinks. I generally try to make my own images using different elements on Canva. Other publications find these images interesting and use them with a backlink credit.
2. Use proper ALT tag and caption
ALT and caption are important for image SEO. So, always add an image with a descriptive ALT that includes the keywords you wish to rank for. The same goes for captions. In place of adding just the keyword, include a descriptive ALT and caption. Search engines use this data to understand what the image is all about. Avoid doing keyword stuffing here. That won’t help.
3. Compress and resize images
Images are important for a blog post but images also increase the load time. So, you should always use a good image compression tool to reduce the size of images but without compromising the quality. There are serval good image compression tools such as compressjpeg.com. You should also prefer using JPG or JPEG over PNG unless you want to upload transparent images. JPG and JPEG are compressed images format that retains image details but in lesser image size.
There are also a few WordPress plugins that compress images soon after you upload. But I always recommend you compress images and then upload them. Image compression plugins add load on the server and also not recommended for shared web hosting.
Along with compression, you should also resize images. There is no point in uploading an image of 1920 x 1280 pixels resolution in the blog post unless you are uploading high-quality wallpapers for users to download. For example, I always keep the image width less than 900px. That’s enough for the blog post because the container I am using for the content has a max-width of 1000px. If I use an image larger than this width, it will be resized automatically. Larger images lead to a larger page size.
Also see: Ways to improve SEO of your website
4. Customize Image File Names
Cameras add random image names such as “IMG_722019” and “DSC_722019”. You should change it to some meaningful name that also includes keyword. Having a meaningful name helps search engines better understand your images. For example, if you are uploading an image about image SEO, use names like image-seo.jpg or image-search-engine-optimization.jpg.
5. Add Images to Your Sitemap
There should also a sitemap for images on your website. Images sitemap helps Google easily find images of your blog. It helps in faster crawling and indexing your images. If you are using the Yoast SEO plugin, it automatically creates an image sitemap. In case you don’t use WordPress, find other ways to create an image sitemap.
Also see: Best Keyword Research Tools
Wrap Up
Images are really important. Images make your blog post appealing, can bring good traffic from image searches, and help you in getting natural backlinks. This is the reason you should start following these image optimization tips. I personally follow these tips and have learned what works from my personal blogging experience.
Deepanker
I am a tech blogger, traveler, and entrepreneur
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