SEO Rank It Up Podcast #105 ”Magic with Images”

How images can contribute to your search engine optimization including:

-how to choose compelling images

-how to name your images

-how to boost ranking on google with your metadata

Images can be a powerful way of communicating your message with your target audience. In this episode, you learn how to SEO with images. Content that is lacking in visual media tends to perform not as well as content that is inclusive of visual media. You might think you only need Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to attract organic and free traffic to your website. What you may not know is that image SEO can give your content the extra boost it needs and enable your target audience to find it more efficiently.

Images are enticing, there’s no doubt about that. However, there is a technique you have to be wary of when it comes to choosing the right kind of image for your content. Visual media is becoming a significant aspect of digital marketing so the kind of images you choose for your content will determine how well it is going to do in terms of attracting organic traffic.

If you’re going to put content out there, make sure you attach visual media with all of it. Sometimes seeing words upon words can be a bit too much for the readers and can end up discouraging them from going any further. That is why you need to do your visual research before you add any images. The first piece of advice is to go for royalty-free images. These images can be licensed one time after which businesses and individuals can use the images infinitely without having to renew the license. Unsplash and Pixabay are some of the best sites to get your hands on for royalty-free images.

On the other hand, for topics that have more to do with businesses and services, it is recommended you choose images that will look photogenic and come off as unique. Vector and cartoon images will also work for this type of SEO. Another piece of advice for image SEO is opting for original images to give your content a hint of ingenuity. Make sure the pictures you take are high resolution and resonate with your content.

The image you pick needs to be original and enticing. In addition to this, your audience will spend greater time looking at your content if the visual media consists of faces. It was found out that generally, people spend a lot of time looking at eyes, and the younger the eyes, the more time the viewers spend on that page.

Ideally, you want to opt for images that are compelling and can tell a story to the audience. Aside from being compelling and high resolution, your pictures need to be compressed. That is because if the images are not the right resolution, they will slow down the time your webpage takes to load. Most people don’t wait around that long for a page too long and if they are a first-time visitor, it could increase their chances of not continuing.

Compressing your images is quite important but you cannot compromise on the quality in the process. It is up to you to decide how much resolution your image requires to look good but at the same time, it needs to be a size that would not hinder the loading time. TinyPNG is one website that lets you compress images. However, sometimes the app can make images look too small so you need to ensure the quality of the images is not affected.

Name your picture before you upload it to your website. Before naming your picture, make sure you have noted down the keywords for SEO you want to incorporate in your content.

Moreover, if you are putting out content on a very competitive subject matter, you need to have a lot of images and name them with SEO keywords. Research what the top keywords for SEO are in that particular industry. For instance, if you’re doing digital marketing for a vegan restaurant in Miami, you can name your image by adding the topic name, the name of your actual brand, and then include the name of the picture. You need to have a name for your image before you upload it. It is advised the name be comprised of three pieces. The opener can be an SEO keyword, the second word can be the brand name that needs to be repeated throughout the content, and the third word can be the description. The second piece can also alternate between brand name and topic as well.

When you upload the image, you might come across something called the alt text. The alt text is there for people who have slow computers or for people living with disabilities. Alt text can be a great way of doing SEO. It is a piece of meta-data that Google can see. Now, it is time for you to rename your image with the alt text. Make sure to name your image with keywords that people use to generally look you up. Know that every image contains around six pieces of meta-data and can be a great way of doing SEO. After that, you’ll only be left with the title and caption of the image. Take your time writing a caption that truly resonates with the message behind your brand.

Free tools: https://Unsplash.com

For more go to https://SEOforLeadGen.com and sign up for a demo for your search engine optimization needs!

Today's episode of SEO Rank It Up Podcast was brought to you by Mr. Peabody's Stone Care, for anti-etch, stone repair and restoration!