Are your images optimized for SEO?

A SEO strategy is defined as a set of actions to be taken with the sole objective of improving the visibility of a website in the results generated by search engines. Among the actions to be applied, there are simple ones and more complicated ones. Too often, simple actions are overlooked by SEOs. Image optimization is one of the actions that is too often neglected.

Some sites can generate up to 5% of their traffic through searches made on Google Images. In addition, the keywords contained in the name of the file and the alternative texts (alt) have a direct influence on the overall SEO of the pages of a site. According to a survey conducted by SEOMOZ.org in 2009, the words that make up the file name and the alternative text (alt) are among the 15 most important points of an on-site SEO strategy. Also, ATLs have been shown to have much greater “SEO power” than originally anticipated.  

For some time now, Google has allowed users to see site-related images displayed in search results. It may seem trivial, but an image can strongly encourage the user to click on your link. Google displays up to 6 images per site. In this case, you will be advantaged if Google presents 6 images relating to your site! The user's eye will be drawn to the title of the site that contains the most images. The principle is the same as for the Yellow Pages: the reader will tend to be interested in the advertiser who displays the largest ad!

Let's go back to the results generated on Google Images. It is essential that the images of your products, your portfolio and your achievements are indexed in Google Images! Imagine a user looking for a cell phone, but not sure of the model name. He will search in Google hoping to compare the images. Obviously, there is a good chance that he will click on the image that will have enlightened him.

Here is a top 5 actions to take to optimize your images:

1. Complete the ALT attribute with relevant keywords. The ALT attribute describes the image.
2. Complete the TITLE attribute with a clear sentence. The TITLE attribute informs the user.
3. Compose file names with 3 or 4 keywords. For example, telephone-cellular-lg.jpg
4. Complete the ,width and height attributes so that Google can better personalize user searches. For example, a user looking for a wallpaper image will ask Google to show them large images or images of a specific size.
5. Use http://images.google.com/images?q=site:your-website.com to identify images from your site that are included in Google Images. An important image is not there? Revise the 4 points above!