Semalt Expert: Image Optimization Tools

1. 23.05.2018 Semalt Expert: Image Optimization Tools Having a professional website is necessary if you have been dreaming of making an impression on your readers. That's why you should use high-quality images on your website to improve the overall look of your ?rm. In this regard, Nik Chaykovskiy, the Semalt Senior Customer Success Manager, reminds that it is necessary to optimize the pictures placed on a site for better indexing by Google, Bing, and Yahoo. How the search engines consider your images? Google, Bing, and Yahoo send out automated data known as spiders to crawl your website. The search engine spiders and bots determine the nature of your web content, but they are not able to see the images. They can only read the text associated with your pictures. With your metadata and the alt text, the search engines will determine the niche and theme of your website. The search engine spiders look at the image alt tags, ?lenames and image captions to evaluate the nature of your images. 1. Image Alt Tags: 1. Image Alt Tags: The image alt tags are accessible to a user whose vision is impaired. 2. Image Filenames: 2. Image Filenames: https://rankexperience.com/articles/article1750.html 1/3

2. 23.05.2018 Your image ?lenames de?ne your picture, such as "birds landscape.jpeg." This ?lename describes that the format of your photo is jpeg. 3. Image Captions: 3. Image Captions: The text which is written underneath your image is named the image caption. It's important to optimize all of the text types to enhance the SEO of your website. Since Google cannot see your pictures, you should use the alt text (or alternative text) to tag the images with the information you may want to share with search engines. The alt tags help Google, Bing, and Yahoo locate your pictures and display them in SERP's. Optimize the Alt Tags: Every time you use a new picture on your website, you will be asked to insert the alt tag. The alt tag describes your picture and should be inserted properly. You should write the alt tags in the image alt description section and use proper keywords to optimize your pictures. Image Filename: When it comes to creating and saving the pictures for your website, you should use the keywords in the ?lename section. For instance, if your image shows some beautiful trees, you can name the ?le as "greenery and birds." Make sure the primary keyword is inserted in the ?lename to distinguish your image from the other pictures in Google. Image Caption: As an additional measure of optimizing the pictures, you should use the keywords above and below your photos. For instance, if you have two photos of a celebrity before and after his marriage, you can write the caption as "John Cena gains some weight after his marriage." Optimizing Links to the Images: If you want to build backlinks, you can optimize them to the images with proper anchor text. For example, if an image shows John Cena, a wrestler who has already been discussed on your website, you can optimize the link to his latest picture. Check the Pictures with Google Images: As the ?nal step, you should check the pictures with Google Images, making sure that they have been indexed properly. For instance, if your website name is www.abc.com, you should type "site:abc.com" in the image search https://rankexperience.com/articles/article1750.html 2/3

3. 23.05.2018 bar. Conclusion: Optimized images play a signi?cant role in your search engine rankings and help you drive more traf?c from the Google Images. If you think that your images are not optimized, you should do that as soon as possible. Elance, Freelancer, ODesk and Fiverr are the best places to look for freelancers to get your job done. Last but not the least, you should use royalty-free pictures. The best resources for such images are Stock Photos, Adobe Stock Images, Getty Images, and Pixabay. https://rankexperience.com/articles/article1750.html 3/3