22 replies to this topic

[ttw]

There is an old post on HR discussing optimize images to have a better chance of 'ranking' in Google Results but that post is now about 3 years old. I'm wondering what may have changed since then

I'm summarizing what I believe to be the most important elements in (hopefully) getting important images, graphs and photos to rank:

• File names should include the keyword phrase(s) the page is optimized for
• Include keywords in the Alt Attributes tag
• Where possible include descriptive text or captions around the image
• Allow engines to index your /images directory
• Images should be optimized for optimal download times

In Google's main index I rarely see images appearing as a search result; so I'm interested in understanding if going through a large site to make these changes is worth the effort. Of course we wouldn't do this for all images - but selected images of such items as illustrations and products.

Thank you

Rosemary

[OldWelshGuy]

That is pretty much still the same today.

[madams]

ttw

I do image search quite often. I find, (in some cases) it helps me get to what I want faster. So IMO its well worth the effort because a number of people do the same.

I find people arrive at my site through image search also.

[Niche]

Optimizing images for image search does work. i actually happened on it accidentally when I noticed I was getting a fair amount of traffic from image search.

Pretty cool. Broadens a website's reach

[jeepster]

Handful of newbie questions:
* Can anyone point me to an idiot's guide/introduction to the alt-tag for images? My web designer's not too sure -- and neither am I.
* I remember reading on here about 2/3 months ago that using alt-tags can improve SERPs? True - or have I got something wrong?
Thanks in advance

[Randy]

You're probably having trouble finding info about alt tags because they're alt attributes of the img tag.

And alt attribute is simply the part that says "This Is My Alt Text" in the html code below.

CODE

<img src="/images/someimage.jpg" height="400px" width="400px" alt="This Is My Alt Text" />

As far as the question of if or when it's helpful for SEO purposes, it's really not all that helpful in my experience if the image is just an image. Where it does become helpful is when the image is actually embedded in a <a href> tag so that the image becomes a link.

When the image is also a link the Alt Text basically becomes the same thing as Anchor Text in a plain old text link. So it does pass this (potential) keyword value on to the target page.

Here's how I use 'em, which is pretty simple and straight forward.

If the image is just an image - I use alt text that describes the image people are seeing on the page. This is advantageous for sight challenged users.

If the image is a link - I use the alt text to describe the page the link leads to briefly, usually including a keyword or two since that's naturally going to happen. This too is a good thing for sight challenged users, not to mention search engines.

[ttw]

[quote name='Randy' date='Oct 4 2009, 08:49 PM' post='303749']
You're probably having trouble finding info about alt tags because they're alt attributes of the img tag.

You know Randy, when I saw that Matt Cutts called them "alt tags", I thought 'what the heck' - if he can do it - so can I!

See for yourself;

Rosemary

[Randy]

Yeah, I'd already seen that Rosemary. And cringed.

Matt should be thankful Chris is a good 10,000 miles or so away. Otherwise he'd probably be marching into Googleplex to throttle poor Matt for spreading the worst kind of misinformation.

[jeepster]

Hi Randy
Thanks very much for your reply.
2 follow up questions:
* I have a page that I'm optimising for the phrase "Tuscany property". It will have about 30 images on it (20 pictures of villas in Tuscany + 10 realtor logos). Presumably I can't simply keyword-stuff the alt tags with "Tuscany property 1", "Tuscany property 2" and "Tuscany property realtor 1", "Tuscany property realtor 2"? Or can I?
* What would your coding look like with <a href> tags? (Basic, I know...but I'm still trying to drag my web designer into the 20th century, never mind the 21st).
Thanks in advance

[Randy]

Do those images link over to another page with more details about each of the properties?

If so, you can certainly make use of alt text to transfer some keyword value to those other pages. I wouldn't just use a cookie cutter method on it though. Tuscany this and Tuscany that is going to get pretty boring pretty quickly if you do.

Image with linking code and alt text.

CODE

<a href="/somepage.html"><img src="/images/someimage.jpg" height="400px" width="400px" alt="This Is My Alt Text" /></a>

[LizardSEO]

Definitely agreed - image optimization has not changed much. Make sure you have a good strong file name, alt tags, and good page content. That is about all you can do for images.

[Arye]

Hi, I have read a few SEO articles emphasizing how much people use Image Search and how much traffic can be generated from it but surely most of this traffic is just people looking for nice images to use in their school presentations, Christmas cards etc.? Unless you own a stock photography website I doubt traffic from Image Search can generate much real business.

Hopefully I'm wrong as my site does remarkably well in Google Image Search compared to its relatively rubbish performance in Google's normal search.

Leao

[Jill]

Hopefully I'm wrong as my site does remarkably well in Google Image Search compared to its relatively rubbish performance in Google's normal search.

Well, are you wrong or not? What do your web analytics tell you? Are image search visitors converting for you?

[FrenchDirectory]

Thanks you ttw, it is very nice to share this . This article is full, I have nothing to add

[SelfMade]

As a 'whipper-snapper' SEO I just use alt tags.

A question for any member of high-rankings..jill would be nice...

Here is the question...

Why do i always rank better on yahoo rather than google?

Its not like I am changing anything SEO wise especially for yahoo or anything??

Google feeds alta vista right? I am ranking slightly better on alta vista than google for the same search terms why is that?



Thanks guys