Optimizing your images for SEO is more important than you – and many people – think, as it helps to speed up your website and eliminates any confusion both users and Google may have when searching for and categorizing images on the web.

But how can you better optimize your images for SEO? We have put together a short guide that will help you with the process.

Top 3 Tips for Image Optimization:

Name your Files Clearly

Google pays very close attention to your files and what they are called, and if the file names are confusing the search engine is going to find them hard to comprehend and make sense of, which is not good for your website’s SEO.

If your images are named “image1.jpg” Google will not know what that stands for, instead rename your image files to compliment the content on the page. For example, if you are writing an article about activities travelers can do when they are in Poland, rename your image “ski-slope-in-poland.jpg” instead.

By renaming your images you are leave more bread crumbs – or clues – for Google to find and follow, helping the search engine to figure out exactly what you are writing about and categorising them as such. Short, concise and relevant image names will do better in all search engine results.

Don’t Forget Alt-Text

Alt-text is an important form of text that many don’t deem necessary or completely forget about, but it is alternative text for images that web browsers use when they cannot render them.

There are many times when emails or a webpage cannot load the images on the page, and the alt-text will explain to viewers what the image is of, and will contribute to whether or not they continue to click through to the homepage of that website.

If the images fail to load and there is no alt-text in their place, users are left guessing what kind of image is meant to be there and it may discourage them to click through.

When filling out the alt-text of your images, use short and descriptive snippets of text, and use a keyword in order to increase your click-through rates and to improve your SEO.

Pay Attention to the Size of your Images and the File Type

Big image files slow down your website and your page load times, affecting how your pages are performing and your user experience – which Google and other search engines recognize and take into consideration as it is an important element in their ranking algorithm.

To stop your page from taking too long to load, reduce the size of your images. You can do this by cropping them or by showing a smaller size image that once clicked on opens a new page with the larger image.

Another aspect to take into consideration is the type of file you are using. The most popular and commonly used image file types are JPEG and PNG files, and the extensions used for your file names should match with the type of file you are using.

Each file type will give you completely different results. For example, JPEG images can be compressed – making them very small in size – but retain their quality, PNG files on the other had support more colors than GIFs and do not deteriorate every time they are saved liked JPEGs, however the file sizes are much larger.

By taking all three of the above aspects into consideration your images will be better optimized for SEO. If you have not started doing any of the aspects above, you can start now! And if you feel like you need some help, contact your local SEO agency in Dubai!