Use Image SEO Optimization to improve your Search Rankings in Google

Google image search is a search service provided by Google that allow users to use images to search the web for any topic of their interest. i.e. education, food, movies, etc. If you use images in your website, it will not only make your website look visually attractive and appealing to your readers or visitors but it is also a great source to drive more traffic to your website.

Image Optimization Best-Practices to rank high on Google –

1. Alt Text – Use image Alt text to help Google understand what the image is all about. Alt text gives basic idea to search engines about all the images you used in your website. It gives a description of the image to display if the image is not available or there is an error in displaying any image. Always use your main keyword in alt text.

Example  :

<img src=”football.jpg” alt=”Football” />

2. Image File Name – After uploading any image, choose best descriptive name for your image file. Better if you choose your keyword for file name. It will help in boosting your SEO efforts.

Example :

If you have image of soft-toys, use its file name as soft-toys.jpg instead of img472655.jpg. Also make sure to use hyphen to separate two words. Do not use underscore.

3. File Size – Web page load time is one of the most important factors in SEO. So, make sure to make the image file size as small as possible without sacrificing the quality of images.  Also specifying image dimension that helps to remove non-replaceable elements.  In order to do that in <img> elements, use height and width tags specifications.

4. Captions – Use image caption as they are also an important content on your website.  Also, using image caption will help you in reducing your website bounce-rate.

Example :

If your target keyword were “Online Wines” you would consider using those terms in the photo. Assuming the photo is of pair of red wines bottles, the caption might read:
Order a pair Of Red Wine Now!

5.  Add Title to your image – Adding good title for images help search engines understand what the image content is about. Try to keep image title short and catchy.

6.  Upload the images to your Google profile Google Place business page and popular image sharing sites to improve your business listing in major Search Engines.

7.  Add the image into Flickr account , and link back to your website from it – You can add the image into Flickr account , and link back to your website from it. Flickr is one of the best image sharing site. It helps you build links and signal about your company site.

Many SEO Companies now focus much on image SEO Optimization in their SEO Services task list.