How Does Image Optimization Help In SEO?

Why Image Search Is So Important?

Image Optimization is one of the best ways to get good organic traffic to your website. According to MOZ, image search would represent 27% of all queries. While searching for anything you might have seen an image in SERP of Google. Also, many people use Google Image search to get the perfect matched answer for their queries.

According to Moz, after Google’s text search Google Image search is the second highest used search engine for any queries in the US. So, to optimize images properly you should have to do a few things.

Proper Description For Image:-

While uploading images to your blog post or to any other platform you have to give alt attributes for images. Search engines cannot read images in order to rank at the top of SERP. In that time alt tag helps in understanding the image. And also it helps in user experience. For example, if your image is not loading properly at that time the alt text will show, reading which user can understand all about the image without seeing the image. 

Image file names also play a big role while uploading any image. It’s a better practice to give a relevant and perfect file name for the image, which will definitely help in SEO. If you search for any image in Google you can see the website name and Title of the post below the image. So it’s better to use relevant images. 

Image Format And Size Matters:-

Page loading speed is one of the most important parameters when it comes to ranking in SERP. If the loading speed of your website is fast then there is a better opportunity of ranking on top of SERP. Because if a website is taking more time to load then that will kill the user experience. Which will lead to an increase in the bounce rate of your website? If the size of the image is less, that means if the image is lightweight then there is a better chance of ranking on top. 

If you ask about format then JPEGs are more SEO friendly than PNGs. So, while using any image if it is JPEG format then it’s better. When it comes to size if the size is less than 100Kb then its best. While uploading an image if you select the progressive JPGs format, the image will progressively display while loading the page. Image size is the most important factor when it is about Image Optimization

Google tools like PageSpeed Insights and Lighthouse recommend more specific formats for images to upload like JPEG 2000, JPEG XR. You can compress your images to reduce their size.

When it comes to dimension it’s recommended to use an image size which is less than the largest desktop screen size. If you use a bigger image then there is a chance the image will not show properly. Most important thing is that you have to make the image responsive with the help of CSS. The image has to be responsive in all the screens like desktop, mobile, tablets. If you are using WordPress then there are many plugins, which will help you in compressing the images.

Proper Loading Of Images:-

Even if you are using the perfect size images, sometimes because of the network speed your image may not load properly. In these types of situations, you should try to use Lazy Loading. If you will use Lazy Loading then the images and videos will only load properly when it will appear on the screen. If you are not using Lazy Loading then the time of webpage loading the entire page will load including the images and videos you use. 

Image Performance Report:-

You can check your image performance in Google Search Console. If you are just copying the images from the internet and using them on your website, then it will show as an error. You can check all the errors in the Coverage section of the Search Console. You can fix the issues that occurred because of images you can replace them and resubmit them. 

You can also see the performance of all the images you have uploaded on the website. Go to the performance of Search Console and then go to Search Type and select Image. You will see the performance of images. 

How Images Will Get You Back-links And Traffic?

If you are good at creating images and infographics, you can get hell lot of traffic to your website for free. And also if you use your images correctly then there is a chance of getting good back-links to your website. For these, you have to do Image Optimization properly. If you use your images and infographics in all the different image sharing platforms like Pinterest you can get good traffic. 

While doing content marketing for your blog post, you should create good images or infographics. You can share your article using good infographics on Pinterest, which will drive lots of traffic to your website. You can create different images and can pin differently to the same blog. 

You can search your image on the internet, who all are using your created image or infographics. After finding them you can ask them for a backlink to your website, which will definitely help you get some good backlinks. You can ask all the websites who are using your images for backlinks. 

How To Create Unique Images?

There are many free tools in the market with the help of them you can create good, attractive images. The most used free tool is Canva, you can use Canva to create different types of images and infographics, cover pictures and many more. But currently, Adobe Spark is becoming more and more popular, you can get much free stock image in Spark.  You can create new images and do proper Image Optimization for better results.

Never ever use other images, because they may claim their images and also may sue for using their images. If the original owner of the image will see you using their image without informing them they can sue you under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

The most important thing, add your images to your sitemap. If you add your images to your sitemap then Google will easily crawl your images and will index them. Once your images are indexed you can get good traffic.

Conclusion:-

Images are very helpful in SEO, and to generate good traffic also. So, focus more on proper image optimization in 2020. Let me know if you have any other ideas. Please feel free to leave us with your valuable feedback.