Tag Archives: Search Engine Optimization

How to Optimize Images For SEO

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How to optimize images for SEO

How to optimize images for SEO

Images are an essential component of any website or blog. Not only do they help break up text and make your content more visually appealing, but they’re also important factors that Google looks at to determine a website’s SEO ranking.

In fact, the more relevant and optimized your images are, the better your website will perform in the search results. When appropriately configured, images improve your website’s SEO in a number of ways, including:

  • Help Google understand your website.
  • Help improve your website’s click-through rate.
  • Help enhance the time people spend on your website.

So, instead of asking, “why should I optimize my images for SEO?” a better question would be, “how can I optimize my images for SEO?”

This article will walk through effective optimization techniques to help your images rank higher in the search results and maximize their impact. By the end of this article, you should understand proper image strategies and how to use them to improve your website’s overall performance.

Let’s get started!

Basic Image Optimization Techniques

First, let’s talk about some basic image optimization techniques that you can use to improve your website’s SEO.

1.    Choose the Right File Name

The first step in arranging your pictures for SEO is to give them descriptive, keyword-rich file names. Doing so will help Google understand the image and index it accordingly.

For example, if you download a dog’s picture, you should name it “brown-dog.jpg” instead of leaving the file name to the default name and number such as “IMG1234.jpg”.

Integrating an informative file name will aid in the discovery process of the viewers. Ultimately, this will increase organic traffic to your site.

So, how do you choose the correct file name for your images?

Here are a few tips to remember:

  • Include your target keywords but avoid stuffing. For instance, if your brand provides services for “new landscape design” and “landscape remodeling,” don’t name the picture as “landscape-design-new-remodel.” Instead, use a different keyword in the file name of each picture to enhance visibility.
  • Use dashes (-) to separate the words in the file name rather than underscores (_).
  • Keep things short and sweet. Longer names are more likely to be shortened in the search results, making them less effective. Ideally, you should use 5 – 6 words in your file name.

2.    Choose the Right Dimensions

The second step in optimizing your images is to ensure that they’re the right size. This means choosing the appropriate width and height for your photos.

If your images are too large, they’ll slow down your website and hurt your SEO. On the other hand, if they’re too small, they will fail to grab attention and won’t help drive traffic.

So, how do you choose the correct dimensions for your images?

Here are a few tips:

  • Use pictures that are at least 1200px wide. This will ensure that your pictures are high-quality and look good on retina displays.
  • Choose dimensions that are in proportion to one another. For example, if you’re using an image with a landscape orientation (horizontal), you want the width to be significantly larger than the height.
  • If you’re using an image with portrait orientation (vertical), you want the height to be significantly larger than the width.

3.    Choose High-Quality Images

Quality is a key factor when it comes to the selection of pictures. A high-quality and relevant picture impacts SEO, user experience, and conversions positively.

People love looking at visuals that boast superior quality. When visitors see a low-quality image, they perceive the business as inadequate. This can lead them to click away from your website and look for a competitor.

Remember, what works for users works with the Google algorithm too. Algorithms are designed to mimic user behavior, so it only makes sense that high-quality images would be favored.

But the things: Not every business can afford to hire a professional photographer for their product images. And not every company has the time or resources to create original visuals.

In that case, the best alternative is to invest in stock photos. There are many high-quality, affordable options for businesses of all sizes.  42% of marketers have said stock photos are the most frequently used visuals in marketing campaigns. They are available in various categories/niches and have the availability to transform your branding favorably. You can also get an istock promo code for fantastic discounts on istock images.

Advanced Image Optimization Techniques

Once you have chosen the proper file name and dimensions for your images, there are a few advanced techniques that you can use to further boost SEO.

Some of these techniques include:

1.    Use SEO-friendly Image Alt Text

Image alt text or alt tag is a short description that you can add to your images. It’s crucial for SEO because it tells the search engine what your image is about. This can help your photo appear in relevant search results and improve your SEO.

Using relevant alt text can improve a user’s experience on your website. Suppose a webpage fails to display on a user’s screen due to a slow internet connection. In this case, the alt text will appear in the place of the media file to describe the picture.

A visually impaired individual who uses screen readers also benefits from alt tags as they are read aloud to them for better explanation.

Alt-text allows you to add the main keyword to your photos, which can help them rank higher in search results. However, Google emphasizes that you shouldn’t stuff keywords into alt text.

Instead, write descriptions that are relevant and easy to understand.

See how Google differentiates between good and bad image alt text:

When writing your alt text, focus on creating short and accurate descriptions that clearly convey what your image is about.

1.    Devise a Sitemap

Google says: a sitemap is “a database where you give information about the pages, videos, and other files on your site.”

 Sitemaps are essential for SEO because they help the search engine understand your website’s structure and index its contents precisely.

A sitemap for images is similar to the one you create for the pages of your website. Start by gathering all of your image URLs. Several tools are available to help you generate a sitemap for your photos.

Make sure that you keep your sitemap up to date and send it to Google Search Console whenever you add new images or make any changes to your site.

If you don’t create a sitemap, Google may not be able to properly index your images or interpret their relevance. This can negatively impact your SEO and make it harder for users to find your pictures.

2.    Make Images Mobile-Friendly

We live in a mobile-first world, and your website should reflect that. Images are no exception. If they aren’t correctly sized or formatted for mobile devices, they can lag during loading or appear distorted. This will eventually frustrate the users.

If you are using WordPress, it auto-generates a mobile-friendly version of your images. If you aren’t using WordPress, you can use a tool like Mobile-Friendly Test to test the mobile-friendliness of your website.

Final Thoughts

To conclude, images are an integral part of your website’s content. They can significantly improve user experience and help you rank higher in search engine results.

You can’t neglect image optimization if you want your site to perform well in today’s highly competitive digital landscape.

Following the tips above can help you create and optimize high-quality images to improve your SEO and help you achieve your business goals.

Content writing advice: Do not cram too many keywords when writing web pages and blog posts

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I have observed that many clients want to incorporate as many keywords as possible when they are sending web page or blog post specs.

Even when I tell them that I will focus just on a couple of keywords and not more, they send me LSI keywords.

Using LSI keywords is not an excuse to use more keywords; LSI keywords are alternative keywords for the main keywords. But they think that LSI keywords can also be used to incorporate a greater number of keywords.

Although sometimes it is possible to use lots of keywords in a web page or a blog post contextually, in most of the cases, they end up diluting the main topic.

Want to improve your search engine rankings through strategic use of keywords?

Do not use highly competitive keywords – use longtail keywords comprising at least 3-4 words.

Use keywords such that they help you write about the main chosen topic with greater clarity and focus.

The more divergent keywords you use, the more you dilute the SEO power of your content. This adversely affects your search engine rankings.

 

Continuous scrolling on Google may improve the click-through rate

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Google is rolling out continuous scrolling on mobile search

Google is rolling out continuous scrolling on mobile search.

Google is introducing continuous scrolling on mobile search. What does that mean?

When you search something on Google, look at the first page where it lists around 10 links with descriptions. After that people need to click or tap on the next page.

But the SEO track record of the second page is not very good. Search results appearing on the Google’s second page get less than 1% CTR. A major chunk of clicks are consumed by the links appearing on the first page.

In fact, appearing among the top results is so important that the first link that appears in the search results gets 25% clicks (source).

Consequently, whoever wants to improve his or her search engine rankings, wants to appear on the first page because not many people go to the second page.

Nonetheless, Google has discovered that when people are searching on the mobile phone, the check out up to 4 pages.

Besides, it doesn’t make any sense to make people click the next page when they can simply scroll through all the listings. Let them scroll as much as they want, I would say, even on the desktop. There is no UI logic of dividing the search results among different pages.

There may have been a psychological reason a few years ago when people were mostly using the search engine on their desktops, but on mobile phones, people don’t mind scrolling.

The continuous scrolling feature will definitely improve the CTR of many web pages and blog posts.

If people are abandoning the current search because they wouldn’t go to the second page, even on desktop, they may keep on scrolling until they find something click-worthy.

 

Does your website’s content affect your SEO?

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Note: someone asked this question on Quora but when I tried to post it there, it generated an error. After that, I couldn’t find the question. Since I have already prepared an answer, I’m publishing it here.

To genuinely understand the answer to this question, you first need to understand what Google indexes and ranks? It’s content.

Now, since there may be thousands of web pages, blog posts and social media updates offerings similar type of content, Google uses an algorithm to decide which content it has indexed to rank higher than the other content it has indexed.

Now, Google cannot solely depend on its algorithm because software can always be tricked into believing something that does not exist. That’s why, people were always “hacking” their way into higher search engine rankings. Google also analyzes how people interact with and react to your content. This is called human validation. If humans don’t appreciate your content well or don’t react to it positively, you can forget about getting higher search engine rankings.

So yes, a website’s content definitely affects SEO because one, after analyzing your content, the Google algorithm should be able to make out what the content is about and for which keywords and key phrases it should be ranked in what manner, and two, it should be able to gauge how people are reacting to your content.

What does interacting and reacting mean here? Right now your content (a particular web page or a particular blog post) may be ranking on the fifth page and by some fluke, search engine users reach the fifth place and click your link. If your bounce rate is low – that is, people go to your link and spend some time reading it because it contains useful information – Google takes it as a positive attribute. It thinks that since people are spending more time on the link, the link must be useful and hence, it deserves higher search engine rankings. Your ranking improves a few notches. Conversely, after clicking the link when people immediately come back to Google and explore other links, your rankings go down.

Therefore, to improve your SEO with your website’s content, make sure that the Google crawler can rank your content easily, the algorithm can make sense of your content, and your content is appreciated by your visitors. All these attributes affect your SEO.

How to achieve on-page optimization with content writing

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On-page optimization with content writing

On-page optimization with content writing.

Search engine optimization has two parts:

  1. On-page optimization
  2. Off-page optimization

Off-page optimization is not directly under your control. It is a long-term process. You publish lots of content. People find your content. If they like it, they engage with your content by linking to it, referring to it on social media websites and mobile apps or finding your content useful enough to spend some good amount of time on your website.

On-page optimization on the other hand is completely in your control. Aside from efficient source code, you can write content that is search engine optimized.

A recent Moz blog post shares a few tips on how you can optimize your content for on-page optimization.

Here is how you can use content writing to achieve on-page optimization:

Format content that is easier to read when writing content

When people visit your website or the page you are subjecting to on-page optimization, they should be able to read it as easily as possible. The same holds true for the search engine crawlers. They should be able to read your content without much fuss.

This means making your content writing scannable. Here are a few things you can do.

Use the H2 tags

I have written on this topic multiple times. You should organize your content under different headings and subheadings. The above Moz author says that you should use your keywords – sometimes even the exact keywords you are trying to target – in the headings and subheadings.

Use headings after every 300 words. In this case, by headings I mean text between <H2> and </H2>.

Between headings, also use the <H3> tags as subheadings. This way, merely by looking at the text between headings and subheadings, your readers should be able to make out what your web page is about.

Use shorter sentences and paragraphs

Everybody finds reading shorter sentences easy. Communicate one idea in one sentence. Of course, when you are feeling like writing a long sentence, do that, but most of the sentences should be short. In grammar lingo, such sentences are called “simple sentences”. Avoid using compound or complex sentences.

Use shorter paragraphs. Ideally, don’t use more than two sentences in a paragraph. I tend to use more than two sentences, but I do that when my sentences are very short.

Use the main keyword within the first 100 words of the write-up

This tip isn’t included in the above link, but this can be useful. What does your keyword represent? It represents the core proposition of your web page.

Sometimes the search engine crawler cannot crawl your entire web page. By the time it reaches the body content, it goes to another link or completely leaves your website.

Hence, enable it to come across your main keyword (that represents the core topic of your web page) as early as possible so that even if it leaves your web page in a hurry, it processes the keyword.

Use bulleted lists

Bulleted lists are easy to read. They don’t even need to be complete sentences. You can just use phrases or even one-word expressions in the bulleted lists. Use your primary and secondary keywords in the bulleted lists. Use your hyperlinks.

Optimize your content for featured snippets

Featured snippets are the highlighted pieces of content that appear on search result pages when you search for something, and the answer is well defined. Here are some benefits of writing your content that is featured snippets-friendly:

  • You occupy “position zero”, even above paid links.
  • Getting featured in the snippets section is the ultimate search engine optimization fete, bringing you lots of traffic.
  • It increases your brand authority.
  • It brings you more back links increasing search engine rankings of other links on your website.

You may like to read: Is there a definitive way of ranking in Google’s featured snippets?

Featured snippets can appear in two forms: paragraph form and bullet form.

How can you optimize for featured snippets? By providing the exact answer being asked in a question, and in a manner that it’s easier to understand by Google’s ranking algorithm.

Although there is no definitive way of appearing in Google’s featured snippets, mention a question and then present an answer. Mention a problem, and then present a solution.

Something like:

Guide to using content writing improve on-page optimization?

  1. Divide your content between headings and subheadings.
  2. Use your keywords in headings and subheadings.
  3. Use bulleted lists to organize main points.
  4. Use your keywords within the first 100 words of your web page copy.
  5. Write short sentences that are easier to read.
  6. Write short paragraphs that are easier to read even on mobile phones.
  7. Optimize your text for featured snippets.
  8. Write text focusing on search intent.

The above is the format preferred by the featured snippets section.

Add an FAQs section

Although, you cannot add an FAQs section on every page, wherever you can, do so. For example, if I’m writing this blog post, it doesn’t make sense to add an FAQs section needlessly. But if I have a web page describing my content writing services, it is a perfect candidate for an FAQs section.

Why is an FAQs section search engine friendly? It delivers exactly what Google wants. It presents content in the form of questions and answers.

In the questions of your FAQs section, write the questions as if they are being asked by search engine users.

Take for instance the following question and its subsequent answer:

Can content writing improve on-page optimization?

Yes, content writing can improve on-page optimization if you format your content in such a manner that it’s easy to read both for your human visitors as well as search engine crawlers. Format your text so that it is easier to scan it. Use important tags such as <H2>, <H3> and <LI>. Hyperlink to your existing web pages.

And so on. You can provide a comprehensive answer. Google loves such question-answer types of web pages.

A good thing about on-page optimization is that it is completely in your hand. My personal experience has been that if you solely focus on on-page optimization, the off-page optimization part begins to manifest automatically.

Focus on quality content. Format it well. Use the right tags. Be persistent. Write and publish content on relevant topics. The rest gets taken care of on its own.