Images can be a quick and easy way to engage your viewing audience. They also have ability to improve what your website is saying according to search engine language. The following is a quick summary of how to insert images and conduct on-page SEO simultaneously to ensure you are implementing the best possible practices.
The Image Itself
The trick is to pick images that are applicable to the content of the page and for the image
to have specific keywords so that you page is optimized around finding images that are related to them.
- Make sure that image is clear and the object of the focus of the image are not cut off or blurry. Ensure that the image you desire to use is going to be big enough, as making an image larger than what it was originally may diminish the quality, and in turn decrease your website’s credibility with users.
- Give it a descriptive file name. You can change the image name from the default name that comes from the camera to something more descriptive of the picture. If it’s a picture of a red ball, name it something like “little-red-ball.jpg.”
Attributes When Placing The Image
Part of what compromises on-page SEO is meta data such as title, rel=”nofollow” and descriptions. Images also have meta attributes that increase visibility and the overall quality of the page.
- Give the image a clear title. This will be generally what the image exactly. The title is the text will show up also when you hover your mouse over that image.
- Give your image smart alt text, with only natural keyword usage. Alt text is read by search engines, therefore having keywords can improve the overall ranking of the page, but too many may come across as “spammy.” The alt text ultimately describes what the image is, and this is especially helpful for search engines- as search engines use this data to determine what the picture is. For example, “little-red-ball.jpg” might have an alt text of: “A little red bouncy ball laid aside a table.”
Images and Content
Again, use an image that is related to your content, and use it well within the content. Have the words wrap around your image or be separated from your image as you see fit. Images on your current web page enhance a user’s experience, and give them more than just text to read. This is your chance to show search engine’s that you are creating valuable content mixed with rich images related to that content, which all together provide an experience catered to the user.