What is image SEO? Making sure any images on a website are ranking for various keyword searches, just like webpages, is image SEO. Making sure searchbots can crawl and have your images indexed is the only way to have users find them via searches. This adds a further layer of trust, authority, and possibly even backlinks, which will improve keyword rankings. Keep in mind to stay relevant to the content and targeted keyword as user intent is always at the forefront of any SEO and marketing campaign for goal conversions.
Overlooking Image SEO Is Like Ignoring Web Traffic
Often users are searching for things on their phones. With Google and Bing both showing images on mobile devices and desktop alike, having an image for your website show up, is another avenue a user could potential find your website. With users, visual cues market better, not using image SEO is allowing competition to be seen more often. Another issue not thought about often is the amount of natural backlinks a good image will bring in to a website. If the image is well crafted, large in size so it can be resized without blurring, it’s more likely to be reshared and often linked back to the source.
Social media is another area that image SEO will shine, when schema is properly setup, and images are crisp and relevant, users often engage with the post much more than a post without an image or a stock image. Humans are pattern recognition machines, after a while those stock images that have been passed around more than a dad joke are not flattering your website or brand. Users see these tired images and pass them up, knowing the content behind it must be stock as well. This can also be true for branded images that never change, stagnant branding is not a market booster, it tells users the brand is dry, possibly automated and trust is lost. When SEO is in play, marketing is just as important as keyword relevancy, since the end result isn’t just web traffic, it’s converting web traffic.
Original Images Will Rank Better
As mentioned above, people tend to recognize the stock images and try to avoid them, unless they want to add them to their website too. The job of SEO and a website in general is to get traffic and in order to do so, not only is ranking important, but originality to stand out. Tired images will convey a tired brand and unless you sell sleeping pills isn’t the road to take. Use originality to convey targeted keywords, and keyword relevancy will follow. Backlinks are more likely to be had when originality is accomplished. Infographics or even just a pictograph or text based image, something that adds further value to your content and thus to your readers.
When users are focused on, web traffic is close behind. It’s the number one rule of a website just like it is for a store to deliver customer service. The content on a website and the way search engines pick that content up, is no different than a physical storefront. You wouldn’t want to use the signs and images on your windows from the store down the street, so why do it online? Stand out, deliver a message that is relevant to the content and be rewarded with increased user traffic.
Is Your Website Properly Optimizing Images For SEO?
If your website needs image optimization, contact SEOByMichael, you’re missing out on potential web traffic and could have further issues that an SEO audit can help with. Let’s get those SEO issues repaired and improve website traffic!
