5 Steps To Nail SEO in 2020

Posted by Matt on March 16th, 2020

SEO Images: Optimising Images To Use Online

Anyone who writes articles for online publication, finds themselves wondering whether an article needs SEO images or not. The short answer is, yes.

Bloggers, copywriters, and those who write articles for any type of online publication, find themselves wondering whether an article needs SEO images or not. To keep it simple, the answer should always be a resounding, ‘Yes’, and the image should be optimised for SEO

Images bring any form of article to life and are able to add to a website’s SEO on Google, Yahoo, and other search engines online. If you are working to increase your company’s digital presence, you really should ensure all images are optimised for search engines.

At Big Rock Designs, we believe in providing user-friendly, practical advice to help you and your business in the digital world. In this article, we explain how to truly optimise images for SEO and offer advice on the type of images you can use to provide an enjoyable user experience.

Say ‘Yes’ To SEO Images

Not only are they more visually appealing and illustrate the content you are creating, they can also have keywords applied to them to aid your website or blog’s SEO. Whether you are an independent blogger or writing content for a major online publication, it is vital that you include optimised images.

As a guideline, try to include one image every 300-400 words. This way, you will break up monotonous chunks of text and increase the keyword density on the page by using Alt Text and Title Text.

Not All Images Are Created Equal

When working online, it is recommended to use images that you own for all content that you create. By doing this, you are able to show your personality and your company. Stock images are limited and cannot fully provide this touch for those who view your content.

One other point to consider is you should always choose an image that fits with your campaign or article. This is key as it helps when linking the image’s Alt Text and Title Text to the piece you are creating

Your main or feature image ought to be at the top of the page. This will immediately attract the reader’s attention. This could also be used when considering an appropriate thumbnail for the content. The perfect image and perfect thumbnail will stop people scrolling and draw their attention to your article over anyone else’s.

Images can really help to illustrate a piece of copy. However, make sure to use creative commons images from the sites we have listed.

When You Don’t Own An Image

If you don’t own an image, use Creative Commons images. These are images that are completely free to use within your content. This can mean that you will be able to find images that suit the purpose of your article quicker and easier than taking professional quality shots yourself.

Be Aware – The use of copyrighted images from paid sites can incur fines from the websites who own the image or their licence. When using these images, you have to pay for enhanced licensing. In turn, this will cost more money for you or your business.

Below are a number of examples of Creative Commons image websites:

• Flickr.com,

• Unsplash.com, and,

• Pexels.com.

These websites have thousands of images that should be able to suit your content or campaign. Again, when choosing these images to optimise, consider the 3-4 keywords you will use to describe it for SEO. Your keyword use should be consistent from title tags, heading tags, to image text.

Prepare Images For Online

Choosing an appropriate filename for your image is key. It should reflect page name and include keywords you are choosing to optimise for that page. The use of consistent keywords throughout a piece of online content is good for SEO. Therefore, planning out the use of your keywords is advised.

An example of how to label and optimise an image appropriately would be as follows:

• A client has asked you to write an article on tourist sites in London,

• You have an image of London Bridge at sunset,

• An appropriate image name would me london-bridge-sunset.

• You should also notice that there are no capital letters and spaces have been replaced with hyphens.

This is the accepted file labelling format for optimisation of images online. As you can see, the consideration of content labelling has gone from the article, to the choice of image, and finally to the hyphenated image name. These steps are vital when preparing an image for online use.

Choosing the correct file format is also important. Generally, to ensure your website loads quicker, you will want to use JPEG images. When you consider most people use mobile devices to scroll content, larger files take longer to load and visitors to your content will be disengaged and leave.

If your image is a PNG file, the quality will be excellent. However, the file will be larger and cause a longer load time for your website on devices.

Be Aware – if you compress an image too much, you can lose image quality. This will show up on higher quality displays of laptops and smartphone.

Alt Text can be added to images on some social media platforms to increase SEO exposure.

Adding SEO Images To Online Content

Labelling and ‘providing context’ for the optimised image helps Google to understand what is on the page and to rank it accordingly. Everyone who writes online content wants it to rank well on search engines. An optimised image can help you do that for organic SEO.

Captions are great for user readability. At times, visitors to your site will scan captions 300% more than the body of the text itself. Adding a caption or two to images that you optimise in an article can help readability.

What Is Alt & Title Text

ALT text is descriptive text given to an image to give it context when the picture doesn’t load on a screen. Alt text should also including keywords that is used from the title and heading tags. This format should be used in every image you use online. This helps image SEO as search engines see this information as being important.

When writing the Alt Text, it can be written as a regular sentence, including spaces and capital letters. There is no need for hyphenation.

Image Title text is another form of descriptive text given to an image to give it context when the picture doesn’t load on a screen. In general, this text copies the ALT text. However, it should be separated with hyphens instead of spaces so it can be read by search engines.

When optimising an image for SEO, it should be remembered that it is a process with a number of elements. With search engines, like Google, getting better at recognising features in the images we upload online, it is good practice to ensure the image and all its elements are considered when creating a good user experience as well as developing SEO. As online content creators, it is nonsense to think that we can trick Google. By following best practice, we are able to give our content the best chance to rank well online.

By following the image SEO optimisation guidelines above, you will be able to enhance all of your business’ organic, on-page SEO. It is a case of being consistent with how you approach the use of images and continuing the process throughout the content you create.

If your business needs any online SEO consultation, contact Big Rock Designs today to see how we can help your company in 2020. Our staff have years of experience in assisting clients with their SEO needs and would love to add your business to our long list of success stories.

Blog written by

Scott Gilmore | Big Rock Designs