Boost Your Search Rankings with Image Optimisation
A website without pictures is pretty boring.
Images play a really important role on your website – they are useful to tell a story, break up paragraphs of text and just generally make your site more visually appealing and engaging.
But, they can also slow down your site’s loading time which can negatively impact your site’s search engine ranking if they are not optimised properly.
Luckily, there are some really easy and effective ways to optimise your images to improve your websites performance.
Choose the Right Image Format
Choosing the right image format is crucial for optimising images for SEO.
The most commonly used image formats are JPEG, PNG, and GIF. Each format has its advantages and disadvantages, and you should choose the format that best suits your needs.
- JPEG is the most common format used for photographs as it can compress large files without losing quality.
- PNG is a great option for images that require transparency or have text as it can maintain crisp lines and edges
- GIF is best for animated images as it supports animation
Choosing the right image format for each image on your website can help reduce the file size, improve loading times, and enhance the overall user experience
Compress Images
Large images can slow down your website’s loading time, which can negatively impact your search engine ranking. When you compress your images, you are reducing their file size without sacrificing quality, making them easier and faster to load
You can do this in a few different ways. If you have a WordPress website, you can do this with plugins such as ShortPixel, but if not, you can use free online software like TinyPNG.
Compressing your images can improve your website’s performance, user experience, and search engine ranking
Use Descriptive File Names
Images can rank on search engines, so when you upload an image, give it a relevant and descriptive file name that accurately reflects the content of the image. This can help search engines understand the context of the image.
Instead of using a generic file name like “IMG0001.jpg,” you should use a descriptive file name like purple-womens-running-shoes.jpg
Optimise Alt Tags
Alt tags are descriptions of images that are read by search engines and assistive technologies, such as screen readers.
You should always include alt tags for all of your images, unless they are purely decorative, and the alt tags should be descriptive and relevant to the content of the web page they appear on.
This helps search engines understand the context of the image, and can help users who may have difficulties viewing images, such as those with visual impairments or slow internet connections,
Including relevant keywords in your alt tags can also help improve your website’s ranking.
Use Responsive Images
Responsive images can help reduce your websites loading times as they adapt to different screen sizes and resolutions, so you can relax knowing they look great on any device your visitor is using to visit your website, creating a positive user experience for them.
Optimising images for SEO is an important step in helping your content rank higher on search engine results pages.
It can help to improve user experience and engagement with your website and also helps to boost your overall SEO strategy.
By following the above advice, you will be well-equipped to ensure that all of your images are correctly optimised for SEO.
This includes ensuring they are descriptive, properly compressed and stored in the correct file format.
