Do you need to Optimize Photos for Local SEO?

Let us begin with a very old quote. “A well-defined picture can convey what a thousand words cannot.” The person who coined this quote has never known anything about things like the internet, Google, SEO, and all the computer jargon we use today. However, he has hit the nail on the head with his quote. This quote is as much effective today as it was hundreds of years ago when he first coined it.

Coming back to the question, “Do you need to optimize photos for local SEO”, the answer should be a resounding YES. We shall see why it is so with some examples as well.

        Reasons for optimizing photos

Consider the following scenario. You have an image in your DSLR camera that comes with a file name DCMIMAGE01.jpg. How on earth are you going to decipher what this image pertains to unless you open the image? That will take some time, will it not? It would be a better option if you had given the image a name like 2012-Ford-Mustang-LX-Red.jpg. Now, would you be able to decipher the contents of the image without opening the same? Anyone will say, YES, we can.

Let us now look at the technical aspects of SEO optimization as far as images are concerned.

         Improve Image searches

• • • The example shown above should say it all. Optimizing an image will help a lot when you conduct an image search on the internet. Google search engine optimization bots search for images, but you can help matters by optimizing it. This increases the chances of featuring in the local search SEO.

    • It will not take much time for you to optimize your images and add the requisite text. The value addition you give to the images would be tremendous.

    • Your objective is to increase the visibility of your brand. Optimizing your images can increase traffic towards your website thereby automatically improving your traffic.

    Optimize site speed

  • • • Images are definitely bigger in size than your written SEO content. This can affect the site speed, especially when someone tries to access your website. This delay can be frustrating at times forcing people to abandon the search.

      • Optimizing the images can help in increasing the site speed.

   Address Loading issues

  • • • Large size images can make loading your website difficult. However, if your images have alt-tags in it, the reader will be able to get a fair idea about what you are trying to convey.

   How do you optimize your images?

  Now, that you have understood the importance of optimizing images for SEO, let us see how to do it as well.You will find that the process is quite simple.

  • • • • Condense your images: Images occupy greater space. Hence, condensing them is the best SEO strategy.It is natural of you to post high-resolution images as it has a higher degree of clarity. In fact, you will find that people usually do not use the old-fashioned computers today. They access internet from their laptops and mobiles. These devices do not need high resolution images as much as the traditional computers do. Hence, downsizing the image is not going to affect the quality in any way. However, ensure to format the files properly.

           

        • Use titles: Have you ever tried searching for photos on the website. You will find that the file name consists of a long list of letters and numbers that does not make any sense at all. Would it not be better if you gave it a clear title? A good SEO title should be one that includes your basic keywords.

        • Use tags: Including tags for the images ensures that you focus your attention on that particular aspect of the image. This can be of great help in local SEO as you can optimize your photos with relevant alt tags.

           

        • Include a caption: You call this ‘alt description’ in SEO parlance. This is useful especially if your image fails to load properly. Having a caption enables people to understand what the image is all about. Using alt descriptions is an essential aspect of Google local SEO.

       

      • • Alignment should be proper: Aligning your images properly can improve your SEO optimization. Though it is not as important a matter, it is always beneficial to have a proper alignment of the images. Sandwiching it between two paragraphs does not help matters.

       

      • • Know how to handle thumbnails: Most of the ecommerce websites use thumbnails as it helps the user to scan category pages faster. However, using thumbnails can be a double-edged sword as they can affect loading times. This can frustrate the user thereby making him leave the website midway. Hence, reducing the file sizes of thumbnails is one of the most effective search engine optimization tips you can find.

       

      • Use Site-Maps: Web crawlers will not be able to crawl out images that are not in the webpage source code. Hence, it is better to list their location in an image site map.

Advantages of Image optimization

Let us have a brief look at the advantages of image optimization.

• • • Free product promotion: You are able to use these images in photo sharing and social image sharing websites whereby you get a free run as far as product promotion is concerned.

    • Less Competition: Image searches have less competition in SEO circles. Hence, using optimized images is an essential aspect of SEO marketing.

Takeaways

We shall summarize the topic in brief.

• • • Optimizing images help people to focus on them easily.

    • It improves user experience a great deal.

    • People are able to understand images better than content.

    • Optimizing images can give people an idea of what to expect even without opening the image.

    • It is great for SEO.

Final thoughts

You can now see that a good image can help you make your point in a better manner. It does not require one to have any kind of extra knowledge of computers or SEO marketingto understand the importance of optimizing images. Hence, the quote at the start of this article has great significance even in today’s times.