Learn How to Optimise Images for Improved Image Search Results

One area that is often overlooked when promoting a website online is the traffic that can be generated through image searches.  Websites like Google offer searchers the ability to search specifically for images and, depending on the site that is being optimised, putting a little effort into ranking highly in an image search can be less competitive yet still yield excellent boosts in traffic.  This article is going to look at a few simple techniques that can be applied to images in order to help them rank as highly as possible in image searches.


Much like when performing traditional search engine optimisation content is by far the most important element to get right.  It is vital first to make sure that the image and the keyword that you are optimising for are related.  In addition to this search engines have a tendency to rank larger, high quality images higher when compared to small and/or lower quality images.


Once the image and keyword have been chosen the next step is to ensure it is labelled properly.  First, ensure that the filename is appropriate; use the keyword/phrase in the filename rather than meaningless strings of characters.  Search engines much prefer Keyphrase.jpg over DSC013342.jpg.  In addition to this make sure that the image tags are all being used to their full potential.  Both title and alt tags should be used to accurately state what the image is of (ideally by using a keyphrase) in order to both help the image rank higher and to enhance the pages usability for users that might be unable to display images.


Finally it is extremely important when optimising an image to remember that it is equally important to optimise the page that the website is located on as well.  In general the stronger the page that the image is located on the higher the image will be able to rank.  As such it is vital to employ solid SEO to the page; ensure that title/header/meta tags are all correctly used and that the keyword density is effective throughout the text.  In much the same way that search engines lend extra weight to links that are located within the pages text (provided of course that the text and link are appropriately related to one another) so to does the text around an image impact positively or negatively on its rankings.  By providing meaningful and keyword appropriate text alongside the image will help the images ranking in search engines. The content is also important in trying to ensure users look around the whole site.  If someone finds an image and deems the rest of the page to be irrelevant they will most likely bounce straight back out of the site.