10 Steps for Image Optimization
Images are important for SEO as well as increasing the usability, attractiveness, and interest of your content for users. Your content has the best chance of succeeding with SEO if you know the principles of image optimization.
Table of Content:
- What is image optimization?
- Image resizing
- Tools for image optimization
- Image plugins for word press
- Speed Test
- How to improve file names for images
- Usage of Alt Tags
- How to Create mobile-friendly images?
- Improve the picture’s title
- Include captions.
- Usage of original photos
- Text matches the photos
- Organized image data
- Use site-maps
What is image optimization?
In order to improve user engagement, photos must be produced and delivered in the best possible format, size, and resolution.
The user experience and website load times both increase when you can minimize the size of photos without sacrificing quality. This may help increase search engine rankings, which in turn raises consumer engagement, conversions, and retention rates.
PRO TIP: Because optimized photos use less server storage, site backups are finished more rapidly.
Here are 10 super easy ways to enhance your photos.
1. Image resizing
The file size is not the same as the image size. Image dimensions are referred to as image size (e.g., 1024 pixels by 680 pixels). The file size is the amount of storage (e.g., 350 kilobytes).
Higher resolution and larger-sized images will significantly slow down the loading of your page. They should be scaled down and sized for the web even though they are effective for printed products.
Save in the proper format.
Every one of PNG, JPEG, and GIF has advantages. For photographs with a lot of colors, I advise using JPEG, and for straightforward images, PNG.
Select the appropriate compression ratio
Both file size and image quality are affected by how well an image is compressed; the smaller the file, the lower the image quality.
To determine which compression rate and file type are best for each image, experiment. A save-for-the-web option is available in several image editing programs, including Adobe Photoshop, that automatically reduces the file size while enhancing image quality.
These programs and plug-ins can be useful even if you don’t use Photoshop:
Tools for optimizing images
- Affinity Photo
- File Optimizer
- JPEG Mini
- Image Optim (Mac only)
- Kraken in (bulk compression)
- Photopea
- Pixlr (JPEG optimization)
- OptiPNG
- Trimage
Image-optimization plugins for WordPress
- ShortPixel
- TinyPNG
- WP Smush
- Yoast SEO
- Image Recycle
- Optimus Image Optimizer
- EWWW Image Optimizer
Speed test
How can you determine whether page load times for your website are quick enough after you’ve optimized your images? Test the speed of your website with one of these tools:
- GTmetrix
- Pingdom
- Pingdom
- Web Page Test
- WebWait
TIP: If the information on your website changes frequently, keep an eye on the load times
2. Improve file names for images
To maximize SEO potential, give the file a name that contains important, detailed keywords. Include the target keywords at the start, and use hyphens to separate them. Avoid using underscores because they prevent search engines from “seeing” the words independently. Both humans and search engines should be able to understand the file names. Rename images with descriptive titles, such as woman-having-a-haircut-in-a-salon.jpg, if the original name for an image of a woman at a hair salon is salon234.jpg.
3. Use alt tags
While viewers might get the visuals, search engine spiders want hints. Search engines can’t accurately index your image content without alt text.
An effective alt tag offers context and benefits people who are blind. The fact that search engines can read the alternative text to determine a page’s ranking is particularly beneficial when a bug stops an image from loading. The alt tag should contain more information than the file name. Aim for 10 to 15 to adequately describe the image.
TIP: To increase visibility, include brand-relevant terms in the alt tags, but avoid overloading the tags with keywords.
4. Create mobile-friendly images
Crawlers primarily examine a site’s mobile version because Google’s algorithm uses mobile-first indexing. As a result, your photographs ought to be compatible with mobile devices. How? The quickest response is to make sure your website’s images and layout are mobile-responsive.
Although some website builders and layouts automatically scale photos, you can customize an image’s size based on the width of a device. Add some customized CSS code to your website to accomplish this. For more information on how to make your photos responsive, see this short guide.
5. Improve the picture’s title
WordPress typically uses the file name to determine the image’s title. Edit it with the required keywords in the same way as file names, if you don’t use WordPress or the title doesn’t describe the image, do so.
Although they are less significant for SEO, image names can help the alt-text by adding more context. Consider including a brief call to action like “purchase now” or “download today” in the image title to increase user interaction.
6. Include captions
Image captions, or the text immediately below photos, could not have an immediate effect on SEO. However, captions are visible and can enhance the website experience in contrast to file names and alt text. Enhancing user experience and engagement metrics can indirectly improve SEO with the addition of captions.
7. Use original photos
Using stock photos is acceptable, but since many other websites probably do the same, they won’t necessarily improve your search rankings. Similar to how original textual content is better for SEO, it makes sense to upload original photos. Using stock photos is acceptable, but since many other websites probably do the same, they won’t necessarily improve your search rankings. Similar to how original textual content is better for SEO, it makes sense to upload original photos.
8. Make sure the text matches the photo
If your language doesn’t provide enough details to explain an image, increase the description to help search engines identify the relevance of your photographs.
9. Include organized image data
Search engines will present your photographs as rich results when you include structured data on your pages. For product photos, videos, and recipe images, Google Images offers structured data. For instance, it adds a badge to an image if it recognizes that it is accompanied by text, such as a recipe.
10. Use site-maps
To inform Google and other search engines about how your site’s material is organized, Google defines a site map as “a file where you can list the web pages of your site.” In other words, it’s a file that includes a map of the material on your website.
Site maps are an important factor in SEO since they inform search engines about the pages and organizational structure of your website. Include them in your site map to make sure that graphics, memes, photos, video thumbnails, and other types of images are seen by search engine crawlers.
Include the title, description, URL, caption, and copyright details for each image entry. Include the title, description, location URL, thumbnail URL, and URL to the raw video file for video entries.
Optimize your image resources
Before you upload any images, keep these strategies in mind if you’re having trouble getting your work seen. By using these picture optimization techniques, you can make your material more appealing to both search engines and human readers.
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