As most marketing professionals say, "People buy with their eyes."
Have you ever bought something that didn't really attract you at first? I doubt.
The online domain is no different.
The continuing popularity of Pinterest and Instagram can verify this - presentation has always been the key.
Google may never release search volume data but at a conference in 2010, Google revealed that it has already indexed 10 billion images.
You can just imagine how many more images were added to its catalogue since then.
Thus, whether you're running a website that needs more traffic, an Instagram account that wants additional followers, or a blog post that requires SEO, creating stunning and unique images are always a must.
Regardless of what people tell you, nobody wants to read a 1000-word long article that is just a sea of text
That's simply plain and boring.
The one recommendation in content writing that never falters: Always use images.
Anything visual almost always appeals, when done right. And if you enhance the image further through SEO, you are assured of a much higher traffic.
Just the simple act of adding images to your content spices things up for the reader.
You want to show a recent statistics about social media trends? Make it clearer through a chart.
You need your readers to easily know the process of voter registration? Let them understand it much easier by showing a flow chart.
Images don't only add color and context to what you've written but also creates context for audiences to understand what you're writing.
With images, audience understanding increases, and when that increases, so will relevance and eventual viewership.
Image SEO (search engine optimisation) is improving a picture or visual content so that it will be more likely to appear on Google Images search results or on other search engines.
The top four search engines in 2022 are comprised of Google, bing, Yahoo!, and YANDEX.
As the chart below shows, Google continues to dominate the global market for search engines.
Thus, optimising images increases the chances of more people finding your site.
People are more likely to remember pictures than words.
Recent data proves this:
A good image encourages people to follow a page, like or leave a comment, and purchase an item.
So it's crucial for online creators to know how to find and prepare an appropriate and stunning image.
With the right tools and a dash of creativity, you can bring life to your content.
Let's admit. The easiest and most convenient way to add images is to use stock images.
But is this the optimized way of creating images? Definitely no.
Look at these pictures.
Did you see how those encircled in red are eerily similar with each other?
Surely, you don't want your image of "a smiling man" to be one of these.
As a content creator, your goal is to showcase your creativity.
You wouldn't want to be one of those who produce the same generic photos over and over.
To generate new and unique images, your option is not limited to shooting pictures with a camera.
Remember, online images can be embedded with other graphical elements and texts.
Use designing tools like Canva to create amazingly simple graphic designs that match your content.
There are multiple image formats. But for online contents, images are usually formatted in three file types:
There is a ton of free online tools that convert image file types. So convert PNG to JPEG, or vice versa with ease using these tools.
The truth is there is really no one correct image format to use.
Selecting the right file type all depends on the image and how it is going to be used for the content.
Don't you hate it when a page takes a while to load.
Images have huge impact on loading time - the bigger the image size, the slower for the page to load.
When compressed, images are presented in the smallest sizes possible.
However, make sure that the reduced image size does not compromise the high quality percentage of the image.
With screens nowadays that produce laser-sharp images (e.g., retina displays), a blurred image will definitely not help in increasing the popularity of your content.
Some computers already have built-in tools to compress images.
If your device does not have one, use free converter tools online, like tinypng.com, squoosh, jpegmini, and jpeg.io.
For social media sites, meanwhile, be aware of the following image sizes.
Instagram profile picture size: 110 x 110 pixels.
Instagram post size: 1080 x 1080 pixels.
Instagram Story size: 1080 x 1920 pixels.
IGTV size: 1080 x 1920 pixels.
You can find more information regarding image sizes for other social media sites, like Pinterest and Linkedin here.
You want Google to prioritise your content, right? So make sure that you feed Google with the right information.
Let's have another cute panda bear picture as an example.
When you download this panda picture, depending on your device, the file name can be download-6.jpeg or IMG0008.jpeg.
None of these file names gives Google the correct information that can benefit your content.
However, an image file name that says giant-panda-bear eating.jpeg or cute-panda-bear.jpeg can help Google to understand what you are trying to say.
A descriptive file name optimizes your image by guiding Google in knowing what your content is all about.
As smart as Google can be, it can still be confused if your images are named incorrectly.
Confused Google most likely will ignore your requests.
Pro tip: Google prefers using hyphens over underscores.
Another pro tip: If all pictures will appear in one single article or post, name image files in a series using numbers (e.g., cute-panda-bear-1, cute-panda-bear-2, cute-panda-bear-3, and so on.
Simply put, a sitemap is a file that contains all information about the images, videos, and other files used for a website. Sitemaps also provide the links between these files and visual content.
Using sitemaps is one of the efficient ways you can help Google to explore and read your files.
Search engines crawl sitemaps while indexing images.
The result: greater chances of driving traffic to your site.
To correctly use sitemaps, follow the recommendation from Google.
The steps discussed above detailed the ways to prepare optimised images.
The image you've prepared may be ready for use but don't get too excited yet attaching them to your content.
There are still several ways to further enhance an image either for image SEO or for a social media post.
As what has been previously mentioned, Google is getting much smarter in identifying images but don't rest on Google's laurels yet.
The next steps are all about providing context to the image, such as texts and viewing formats that are relevant to your content. Check these other image optimization tips.
Google relies on descriptive texts to understand better what the image is all about and what the purpose of the said image is to the article or post.
Here's what Google has to say.
Any texts that are related to the image could aid Google in ranking visual candidates for the image search results.
Therefore, don't be frugal with words.
Use rich and in-depth descriptions relevant to the image.
Make sure that descriptions and captions are placed near the image so Google can easily decipher that the image and texts are closely related.
Structured data helps Google, as well as other search engines, to increase the value of an image; thereby, ranking it higher on image search results.
This is how structured data is used by Google to deliver richer results for an image.
Essentially, Google depends on structured data to get the right information about the image.
Google doesn't necessarily base image rankings on structured data but it could help in providing more information about the object that the image pertains to.
As an example, structured data that are of schema markup can signal Google that the image is a product. So what's Google's next move?
Google will then attach a price tag to the image.
See how Google easily understands information about the image when structured data is provided?
That is why it's crucial to never forget to use structured data for image optimization.
The inevitable truth is that people are increasingly favoring mobile devices with smaller screens.
Hence, presenting images on mobile devices should be carefully considered.
Mobile friendliness of images primarily depend on how the images are properly displayed on smartphones or tablets.
This is where the concept of responsive images come in.
Responsive images refer to techniques used so that images are better loaded and presented according to the device size, screen size, screen orientation, and others.
Pro tip: Attach srcset to the image so an image can be rendered appropriately per screen size.
Also known as alt tag, alt text or alternative text is attached to an image to provide descriptive texts about the image.
Alt text is especially useful when the image cannot be properly displayed to the user, such as when the person is visually impaired.
Again, Google doesn't say that the addition of alt texts automatically increases the ranking of an image on search engine results.
Rather, alt text adds more value to the image because some users might find it useful.
However, not all images need to have alt texts attached. Use your own discernment in determining whether an image would need an alt text or not.
For example, if the image is only there as a supplementary picture to add creative design to the article, an alt text is most likely not needed.
On the other hand, an infographic that displays processes and statistics would surely require a rich description through alt texts.
Google provides detailed guide about the use of alt texts in this link.
Images abound social media. Hence, it is crucial that images on this platform are also optimized for social media users' consumption.
Open Graph is an internet protocol that enables the content creator to preview how a social media post would appear.
Do you wonder how we're able to preview a Facebook or Twitter link just by hovering on an image?
Open Graph makes this possible because the user would be able to select preview title, image, and other elements relevant to a social media post.
Yoast SEO has plugins for Open Graph which can be used for both Twitter and Facebook.
Social media platforms typically require larger image sizes so be sure that the images to be used for Open Graph are bigger than the usual.
Creating images for online content is much more than taking beautiful pictures on a camera or designing a unique graphic design.
As a content creator, whether as a blog article writer, social media influencer, or webpage administrator, images should be optimized by preparing and rendering them according to the context and desired purpose.
Ultimately, the goal is either:
to drive traffic to your social media sites or webpages to garner more views and engagement, and
increase the value of the image so Google will find suitable reasons to rank it high on Google Images search results.
Did you learn a lot from these tips? Or do you think that we miss something out?
Comment below if you find this article useful or if you want to add more to the list of tips.
You can also check out the links below to learn additional knowledge about SEO content writing.