Using Images to Boost Organic SEO

Images as content delivers higher organic SEO results and this trend continues to increase.  In 2020, 27.3% or google inquiries returned images in results (Google Stats). Creating a content strategy without specific plans for using images is detrimental to your organic SEO goals. Simply posting pictures on your website or inserting photos within written content is not enough.  To maximize impact on your organic SEO rankings, your images need to be optimized.

As a general guide, using 3-5 images for each page on your website and using 2-3 images for blogs or emails is a good rule of thumb.  

Here are some tips to get the best results from your images:

• Use the correct format by converting all images to .png or .jpeg. These formats are the most widely used online. Once you’ve converted the image, make sure to compress it so the image doesn’t slow down your website or other content.

• Ideally, use unique images, not stock photos. Google recognizes stock photos and will not rank them as high as unique images. Any images that represent your service or product are beneficial.  By using unique photos you will create an emotional connection with your audience. 

• Give your photo a unique name before uploading it to your site.  Using a descriptive key word will help your organic SEO.

Google parses the HTML of your pages to index images, but does not index CSS images. (Google Images SEO Best Practices | Google Search Central

• Good: <img src=”puppy.jpg” alt=”A golden retriever puppy” />
• Bad: <div style=”background-image:url(puppy.jpg)”>A golden retriever puppy</div>

• Use alt-text to accurately describe what the picture portrays.  When search engines have trouble uploading an image the alt-text shows in the search results.

To learn everything about Google images best practices go to their help page  Images Best Practices.

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