Image Optimisation for SEO
Images play a crucial role in enhancing user experience and engaging website visitors and image optimisation for SEO is an important piece of the puzzle to a thriving website. Contrary to popular belief, simply adding images to your website isn’t enough. In fact, dumping images into your site that are too large or poor quality can actually hinder your site’s performance. Therefore optimising images is essential for improving your site’s SEO rankings and creating a consistent and cohesive brand experience.
This guide will walk you through the best practices for image optimisation for SEO. Ensuring that your visuals not only look great but also help boost your search engine rankings. But first, let’s take a closer look at the importance of image optimisation for SEO.
The Importance of Image Optimisation for SEO
Optimised images contribute to faster load times for your website, which is a key ranking factor for search engines like Google. Additionally, properly optimised images improve user experience by making your site more accessible and engaging. By implementing image optimisation techniques, you can enhance your website’s visibility and attract more organic traffic.
Image Optimisation Techniques
Let’s look at the most common image optimisation techniques that you can apply to your media without the help of a website developer. These are steps that can be carried out before uploading images to your media library or when applying them within your website’s admin dashboard.
1. Adding Image Alt Text
Alt text, or alternative text, is a brief description of an image that helps search engines understand the content of the image. It also improves web accessibility by providing a text alternative for visually impaired users who rely on screen readers.
Best Practices for Alt Text
Some best practices we follow for adding image alt text to improve image SEO include the following techniques. Firstly, write descriptive and concise text that accurately represents the image. Include relevant keywords, referencing the keywords being targeted for SEO for that page. Also, use natural language and avoid overly technical terms. Finally, keep it short, ideally under 125 characters.
Examples:
Good Alt Text: “Brown Leather Handbag with Gold Hardwear”
Bad Alt Text: “Bag” or “image123.jpg”
How to Add Alt Text for WordPress
We’ve provided examples below of how to enter image alt text for WordPress websites.
- Upload your image to the media library.
- Select the image and fill in the “Alt Text” field on the right-hand side.
- Save your changes.
How to Add Alt Text for Magento
We’ve also provided examples below of how to enter image alt text for Magento websites.
- Log in to your Magento admin panel.
- Navigate to “Catalog” > “Products”
- Select the product you want to edit.
- Scroll to the “Images and Videos” section.
- Hover over the image and click the pencil icon to edit.
- Enter your alt text in the “Alt Text” field.
- Save your changes
How to Add Alt Text for Shopify
Finally, we’ve provided examples below of how to enter image alt text for Shopify websites.
- Go to the “Products” section and select a product.
- In the “Images” section, click on the image you want to edit.
- Enter the title in the “Title” field and save.
These are all examples of how to add alt text when carrying out image optimisation for SEO. Next, let’s take a look at the importance of renaming files before uploading when considering SEO image optimisation techniques.
2. Renaming Files Before Upload
Search engines use image file names to understand the content of an image. Using descriptive and keyword-rich file names can improve your SEO.
Best Practices for Renaming Image Files
These are the top three best practices when it comes to renaming image files. Firstly, use relevant keywords related to the image content. Avoid spaces and special characters; use hyphens to separate words. And lastly, keep the file name concise and relevant.
Examples:
Good File Name: “Our Digital Marketing Team”
Bad File Name: “IMG_1234.jpg”
How to Rename Files
- Before uploading an image, right-click on the file and select “Rename.”
- Enter a descriptive, keyword-rich file name.
- Save the changes and then upload the image to your website
Alternatively, you can update the file name in your media library, however, it’s best to rename it before uploading.
3. Resizing Images for Website Speed
Large images can slow down your website, negatively affecting user experience and SEO. Resizing images to the maximum displayed size ensures faster load times and better performance. We’ve written a separate post providing some examples of free online software to support you with image resizing for web use.
Best Practices for Resizing Images
Some best practices to be considered when resizing images involve firstly, determining the maximum dimensions that your images will be displayed on your website. Using tools like Adobe Photoshop, GIMP, or online services like TinyPNG to resize your images. As well as saving images in appropriate formats (JPEG for photographs, PNG for graphics with transparent backgrounds).
How to Resize Images on Adobe Photoshop
- Open your image in Photoshop.
- Go to Image > Image Size.
- Enter the desired dimensions and click “OK.”
- Save the resized image.
How to Resize Images Using Free Online Tools
There are many free image-resizing tools out there on the web. For this example we’ve used the example of the free image editing tool called TingPNG.
- Upload your image to TinyPNG.
- The tool will automatically compress and resize your image.
- Download the optimised image and upload it to your website.
We have now covered how to add image alt text, rename files before upload and resize images to improve website speed. These are all important factors when working to improve image optimisation for SEO. For more information on how to improve your website speed, navigate to our blog for the full guide.
4. Knowing the Right Image Size Before Upload
When uploading images it’s important to consider several factors to ensure they display correctly and efficiently. Here are some guidelines on how to determine the appropriate dimensions for your images. Ultimately, the best dimensions for your images depend on your theme, the design of your site, and the specific use case for each image. By following these guidelines and checking your theme’s recommendations, you can ensure your images are well-suited for your WordPress, Magento or Shopify website.
Step-by-Step Guide:
- Navigate to the page of your website where you want to upload or replace an image.
- Right-click on the image area where you want to determine the dimensions.
- Select “Inspect” or “Inspect Element” from the context menu. This will open the browser’s developer tools.
- In the developer tools panel, you will see the HTML structure of the webpage.
- Hover over different elements in the HTML code until the corresponding part of the webpage is highlighted.
- Find the <img> tag for the image. It usually looks like this: <img src=”image-url.jpg” alt=”description”.
- Once you have located the <img> tag, hover over it and the area where the image will be uploaded will be highlighted on the page with the correct dimensions showing in px (pixels)
- Based on the dimensions you observed, you can now resize your image to match these dimensions. Ensure that the aspect ratio is maintained if necessary.
- Upload your new resized image to your site’s media library.
By following these steps, you can ensure that your images are uploaded at the optimal dimensions for your website. While maintaining both visual quality and performance.
Image Optimisation for SEO Success
Optimising images for SEO is a crucial step in ensuring your website performs well in search engine rankings and provides an excellent user experience. By adding descriptive alt text, using informative image titles, renaming files appropriately, and resizing images for speed, you can significantly enhance your website’s SEO.
For further assistance with website design, SEO or digital marketing, contact our digital agency by submitting your requirements.
Implement these practices today and watch your website’s performance soar!