Whether writing a blog or an online newspaper, sometimes you will ask yourself: “Does my article need images?” right? The answer is always YES.
Not only that, images are also an important factor to ensure that your content is more accessible, engaging and engaging with users. Therefore, optimizing images is equally important in terms of SEO.
First, they provide search engines with important contextual information.
Second, optimized images will speed up the page load, helping to increase user engagement and rankings on Google engines.
So that's why you should find yourself a detailed step-by-step image SEO guide. I used to be like you and understand what you need, so this is the article for you.
In this content, I will guide you in detail from A - Z How to SEO images on Google and how to optimize images properly.
First, let's learn about the concept of image SEO.
What is image SEO like?
Image SEO is the activity of optimizing SEO in terms of content, quality, size, and image size... as well as putting relevant image information on the website. Image SEO aims to increase the quality of content for users and increase website rankings on search engine results pages (SERPs).
Knowing the concept is not enough, we need to know what its goal is, what benefit does that bring, right?
We have the following core goals of image optimization:
Optimize user experience: users will be satisfied when viewing content, not just bland text. This is also
arguably the most important goal.Let Google see and understand your content better: it helps us to rank higher in Google search results page
(SERP)
Google's criteria for ranking images
In order for images to rank high on Google, you will have to meet the following criteria:
The previous image must be optimized for SEO standards
Images in the article must represent and complement the content of the article and match the user's query when searching.
There is a high traffic to the photo
18 Techniques to optimize images for WordPress
After understanding the concept and criteria for image ranking, where should we start? Below are 18 techniques to optimize images for WordPress that GTV has compiled.
#first. Find Keyword Optimized Images with Google Image SEO Tool
The first and most important note you should always keep in mind: Image Keyword Research.
However, almost EVERYONE skips this step. This is a huge mistake. Why can I 100% claim keywords are important for Image SEO!? Take a look at the following figures:
Google Images accounts for 21% of all searches, not just on Google but across the entire World Wide Web.
Find keywords with Google's image optimization tool
What this means: If you master the art of identifying search terms for images, you will not only benefit MUCH from search engine traffic, but will also stay ahead of all the important competitors.
Common mistakes made when choosing keywords to optimize images
Is this what you envision and maybe how you are doing:
First: Spend hours on website search data to determine keyword lists for pages or posts.
Then – 30 seconds to randomly select keywords from the list (ignoring image search stats) before adding those keywords to the ALT tag.
Finally – Wait, hope the keywords get Google image searches and get a small amount of image search traffic.
It's a step you take if you remember the keyword research process or you probably won't do anything.
That's why from now on, I want you to think differently about choosing keywords for image SEO. Instead of just choosing the main content keywords… You will see the image as a piece of content independent of the target search term.
Next, we come to the main part: How to choose SEO keywords Fast and accurate images. Note: The following content will be very important and informative, so please focus and take a paper, write down notes!
How to choose the correct image optimization keywords
The easiest and fastest way is to use a keyword research tool. For me, Ahrefs is the top choice, this is also my recommendation to you.
In the Ahref tool, there are many uses and options for you to apply:
Find and select the correct keywords on Ahrefs
To find related keywords using Ahrefs, start with the keyword “seed”.
Example: I enter the keyword “social media”. Here is what I get:
Example of keyword “Social media” and returned results
Ahrefs recommendations into topic categories. Meaning, you can easily determine the most relevant category. All you need to do next is choose a relevant keyword (with high search volume) and you're done.
#2. Increase CTR (and Ranking) with featured images
Currently, just doing a few simple searches with the target keyword right on Google, you will get a lot of suitable images.
However, if your website also uses those generic images, then you have become the killer of your EAT ranking.
Not only that… When using the same stock of images but hundreds of other websites… guess what? You will be competing with all those websites in Google image search.
Why do you need to optimize image CTR?
Thanks to innovations in Google's algorithm, images that gain higher engagement (number of scrolls and clicks) will be moved up the rankings. While images with low engagement will be moved down. In other words: To rank high in Google Images search – Your images must stand out!
The key to creating “striking” images that get more attention and clicks is this: Identify what visual assets rank for, then create a completely different product.
The process consists of 3 simple steps:
1. Check the search results for the target keyword.
2. Take note of all important information.
3. Do the opposite.
Example from Seosherpa
They conducted image optimization for the keyword “seo experiments” and found that all the illustrations are diagrams.
Optimize images for the keyword “seo experiments”
In the end, the image optimization they chose was to create a completely different image. Specifically, the illustration is adjusted with a light background:
As a result, their images stand out and rank high in search results.
#3. JPG, PNG or GIF: Get the right image file type
Did you know: Most people often choose the wrong image file extension (file extension), resulting in poor quality or large file size, or worst of all, both.
But these mistakes you will never make… Because you can completely decide to choose the right file type for the image. Here's how to choose the best image file format for you:
Best Formats for WordPress Image Optimization
Specifically:
GIF – Good for Short Animation (short animation). Also OK for Flat images without Gradient. However, it won't be as good for small images, screenshots or gradients as the browser's top bar.
PNG – Good for screenshots of apps and gradients. It keeps the text looking neat, but can be problematic for the file size.
JPEG – Good for photos of people, places, or things. Not good for screenshots of apps and websites or text.
Once you have selected the appropriate file type for the image. Open the image in the editing software, click export, save, you're done!
#4. Resize images to the “optimal” ratio (and Bloat the Slash page)
The page you're viewing currently has a content area width of 640px.
Mean:
The largest image size ever displayed is 640 pixels wide. If I upload an image wider than 1px, it's a waste. If the image is larger than necessary, it will increase the page size and slow down the website.
More:
In addition to loading larger images, my CMS will need to format and edit the images to fit the size of the page…
Edit and format images to fit the page size
Back to the main point: Instead of just loading the image, let the website's CMS reformat it – Reformat the image before you upload it. And there are many tools available to help you edit images outside of WordPress.
Here are some suggestions I would like to give you:
Pixlr – Free online tool that works well for small formats.
Preview – Standard on all Macs and has everything you need for basic image editing.
ImageOptim – Free tool for Mac with “save for web” feature.
RIOT – Free Image Optimizer for Windows.
Photoshop – This is what I use. I like it because of the “save for web” option, which keeps the file size low without sacrificing quality.
Each of these tools allows you to resize the image to the desired pixel size without much loss of image quality.
Time for us, move on to step #5!
#5. SEO Image Optimization Filename: 7 Useful Tips
The next important issue you have to accept is this: Google's ability to recognize objects is still limited.
Google believes this is a dog, but it's a wolf
When I tested some images using Google Cloud Vision (the technology that powers image recognition in Google Search), here's what I learned:
Google got it wrong so many times.
For better image recognition, Google still needs help. That's why I recommend using descriptive filenames for images. When the default filename is like DSC_14560.JPG the search engine returns nothing!
Therefore, you need to provide a complete filename that describes the subject of the image, indicating exactly what the image is about. Based on that, Google tools will know how to rank images for what.
How to properly name image SEO files
When deciding on a filename, follow these three steps:
1. Description of the image.
2. Include the target keyword (refer to step #1).
3. 1-5 words long.
Once the filename has been selected, use “file > save as” on a PC or the “Command > i” function on a Mac to rename the file. Then click on SAVE and done.
Bonus: 4 Advanced Image Optimization Tips for WordPress
Use hyphens to separate words in your filenames. Dashes are preferred by Google over underscores.
Remove stop words like; at, the, i, and, we because they are largely ignored by the search engines.
Put the keyword at the beginning of the filename. If you are targeting the keyword “SEO Content”, then “seo-content-la-gi.jpg” is much better than “tim-hieu-seo-content.jpg”
Be careful not to stuff the filename with keywords. The filename should actually describe what's in the image.
Now that the image renaming is done, let's move on to step #6.
#6. Reduce image file size to optimize loading speed
The final step before uploading an image is to reduce the size of the file – the lighter the file, the better. Lighter images mean faster website loading, faster loading website means higher rankings.
To reduce image size, compress the image file. You can understand: Removes all unnecessary redundancies from the file while maintaining optimal image quality.
Example: See these two images:
Example of two images with the same size and same file type
Both images have the same size, same file type (.jpg), but one is 86% lighter than the other. That's because the image on the right is already compressed.
Of course, to perform the image compression process, I will guide you through the simplest, most effective method. Here are some tools you can absolutely apply:
ImageOptim – Google's recommended tool.
JPEG Optimizer
Optimizilla
Kraken.io
Compressnow
Cut
Out of all these tools, in my opinion imageOptim works the best. ImageOptim is best at compressing JPEG and PNG compared to other tools.
ImageOptim Image Compression Tool
Slide ImageOptim sets PNG down to 40% for maximum compression
#7. Optimize ALT Text (ALT Tag) images
Before going into the details of how to optimize images with ALT text, I want you to understand the basics below.
What is ALT text: Image ALT text, also known as “ALT tag”, “ALT description” and “ALT attribute”. However, you can simply understand ALT text as the alt text that appears in place of the image when the image fails to load on the screen.
Also, when the Google robot "views" an image, almost all it can see is the filename. So when you add alt text to your code… You're giving search engines more information to understand what's displayed on the image file. This is how ALT text looks in HTML code.
Example: image ALT text: <img src = “kangaroo.jpg” alt = ”
Image ALT text best practices
1. Start by asking yourself, what information would be helpful to people who cannot view the images?
2. With the answer, end this sentence “This is (n) an image, screenshot, photograph or drawing of __________. “
3. Remove all linking words from the resulting sentence and use the last part as the ALT text.
4. Be sure to describe specific results.
Good tips on optimizing images with alt
BONUS – If you have an e-commerce website, I recommend taking advantage of the functionality in the ALT tag. Buyers of the right time often search in Google images using the product ID.
5. Include the target keyword in the ALT text at the top of the tag.
6. Keep ALT text less than 125 characters – Screen readers stop reading ALT text in this range – Google can too.
But wait! What if you have already uploaded your images to your website? What you will do? Use the WordPress image file renaming plugin to update your website's image filenames within WordPress.
With just a few clicks, you can save your images with an image-optimized “image SEO friendly” filename.
Image SEO File Rename Plugin
#8. Leverage image title attributes and captions to rank higher
These are two important (but often overlooked) elements of image SEO. I know they're important because Google announced in their Image Best Practices guide:
“Google extracts information about the subject matter of the image from the content of the page, including captions and image titles. Wherever possible, make sure images are placed near relevant text and on pages that are relevant to the image subject matter.”
Pandemic:
“Google extracts information about the image subject matter from the page content, including image captions and titles. At all times, make sure images are placed near relevant text and on pages relevant to the visual theme. ”
So, obviously, if you're not using the Title and Caption attributes, or aren't using them correctly, you're missing out on an opportunity to attract readers and search engines. .
Optimize Image Title Tag
For image titles, use a concise, descriptive, catchy title that complements the ALT text.
For example: If your ALT text is “Jumping kangaroo” then your title could be as simple as “Skippy kangaroo”
Correct image captions
While the title should provide a relevant description of the image. But if the caption is too simple a picture-in-picture description, it will become useless in SEO.
Instead, describe the details of the photo that are not obvious, such as:
Location.
Time of day or year.
Or, a specific event is taking place.
This gives readers (and Google engines) more context about the image and potentially helps it rank for more keywords. In addition, to increase the ability to rank, add some LSI keywords to the caption.
For example, put into practice:
If you have a photo of a sunset, the wrong caption for the photo will be “sunset” – this will not add ANY additional information that would benefit readers or search engines.
In contrast, the right way to caption your sunset photos might be: Moonrise and Sunset, February 2019, Houses of Parliament, London, UK.
Writing captions with context is one way to optimize images
Checklist 6 factors to optimize Image Title and Caption
Image title:
Concise, engaging and descriptive images.
Unlike ALT text.
Contains the target keyword (or a close variant).
Image caption:
The detailed description of the photo is not clear.
One to two sentences long.
Include LSI keywords.
Optimal elements Title and Caption images
#9. Optimizing the display page
At this point, you have optimized the file and tag the image already.
Now, we come to a more advanced image optimization step that is Content Around image optimization. The steps you need to take are as follows:
Step 1. Update the Page Title to include the target keywords.
Step 2. Modify the URL of the page to include the target keyword (or close keyword variations). Note, you should create short URLs and contain desired SEO keywords.
Optimize images, keywords suitable for the displayed page
Step 3. Images are presented around related content. The important thing here is the context.
If your web image is “blue-banana.png”. And, your file is sandwiched between two paragraphs about blue banana…
The image is surrounded by related content
Of course now Google can be sure that “blue-banana.png” is indeed an image of Blue bananas. Tips to give Google context, take advantage of:
Semantic SEO (Semantic SEO)
Semantic SEO is the process of adding “meaning” to content. In other words, the process of using relevant keywords that support the “context” of the main keyword.
Here's how to do it:
First, put your target keyword in Google Images. Google will give you words and phrases that are closely related to that topic.
Second, enter the same keyword into a regular Google search. And scroll down to the “Searches related to…” section.
Add some of those terms to the Content Around your image.
#ten. Create Sitemap and indexed images
Sitemaps help your content get indexed quickly and help become more in-depth when found. If you have a lot of images on your site, an Image Sitemap can ensure more images show up in image search results.
You can create stand-alone image sitemaps. Or, follow my instructions as follows: Make sure the images are in your XML Sitemaps. Specially. If you use the WordPress plugin and Yoast SEO, the images will automatically be added to the XML Sitemaps.
Here is a basic XML Sitemaps:
And here is an example with additional images:
You will see that the <image: image> and <image: loc> tags have been added.
Adding these other tags helps you provide more information to search engines.
My recommendation: Just install the Yoast SEO plugin and go!
#11. Use SVG format for clearer images, lighter websites
SVG is used for simple logos, icons, text and images. The entire contents of Scalable Vector Graphics are text only.
Example: W3Schools. On the left side is the content of the file, and on the right side is the rendered version of the text, where you can see what it looks like. That's exactly how the user will see the SVG file. If you try to change the color or size, the quality of the image will not be damaged, it will be preserved.
SVG is another way to create a better website
Using SVG files is another way to create better websites. You can still have PNG and JPEG on your website.
Standard website SEO knowledge today! Refer to GTV SEO's professional SEO courses for detailed knowledge and regular updates.
#twelfth. EXIF data optimization
When it comes to EXIF data, there are two things I recommend you do:
Rule 1: Remove ALL unnecessary EXIF data (for lighter images and faster loading).
Article 2: Tagging images with relevant EXIF data is useful for SEO.
But first…
What is EXIF data?
Here's what Wikipedia says:
The Interchangeable Image File Format is a standard that specifies formats for image, sound, and auxiliary tags used by digital cameras, scanners, and other systems that process image files. and the sound is recorded by a digital camera”.
In other words…
They are tags used to embed information about an image in its file.
How to Optimize EXIF Data for WordPress Image Optimization
First, upload your image to exifer.net:
Optimizing EXIF Data for images
Then clean up the image of all EXIF data by ticking this box:
Clean EXIF Data
Next, search for the GPS location you want to tag your images for:
Search GPS location to tag
Fill in the Owner Name and Image Description fields.
Don't forget your keywords. Then click on Go.Exifing and done.
#13. Optimize Responsive Images (Tips to save load time)
In other words: This is the process of optimizing images to suit different screen sizes for users.
I'll help you better understand how Responsive Images work with a quick example:
User A views your website from the Desktop, so your website needs to provide a large image version.
User B views your website from a Tablet, so your website needs to provide a medium sized version of the image.
When user C views your website from a mobile device, of course your website should provide a small sized version of the image.
If you complete this process well, you will score high with consumers.
Responsive Images
And it looks like this:
<img src = “image.jpg” srcset = “image.jpg 200w, image-medium.jpg 400w, images-large.jpg 600w”>
If you are not a programmer. Do not worried! WordPress will automatically generate the srcset for you (starting from WordPress 4.4).
For each image uploaded to WordPress, it generates the following versions:
Thumbnail: Square crop (150px x 150px).
Medium: Resized so that the longest side is 300 pixels wide or high.
Medium-large: Resized to 768 pixels wide.
Large: Resized so that the longest side has a width or height of 1024 pixels.
Full: Original image.
All you need to think about is: Optimize the image by resizing the image to the largest size it will be displayed.
#14. Using Lazy Loading
You can see when using a lot of images in each post and loading all of them together, the post will EVERYWHERE display.
That's why you should use Lazy Loading. Lazy Loading is where the browser directs the loading of images (or any other object like video, embedded video, etc.) until they need to be displayed on the screen.
All other images are adjusted and loaded only as they are needed – i.e. when you scroll down that part of the page.
Using Lazy Loading improves loading time
Lazy Loading will greatly improve your page load time. However, one problem…
If not implemented properly, images can be hidden from search engines. Thankfully, Google has a helpful guide that explains how to load properly. All of the methods they suggest involve the use of Javascript – which means you'll need some ninja web development skills.
#15. Browser Cache: How To Use It To Improve Image SEO
If you've done SEO, I'm sure you've already debated this: Does Social Impact SEO Rankings?
Here's the truth: Social "signals" are NOT a ranking factor. At least not a DIRECT ranking factor.
As follows:
Google cannot see everything that goes on inside social networking sites. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and others cannot access Google Bots.
As a result, a few factors that Google may see (likes, shares, etc.) are incomplete signals and are mostly ignored. Although social signals do not affect search rankings. Does that mean social is bad for SEO?
The answer is: Absolutely not!
When content is shared on social media, you increase the potential for links and build audience for your brand. Both of these are essential in SEO. To do this, you can refer to the following instructions:
Step 1. You need to add social share buttons at the top and side of the post, like this:
Step 2. You can create and show share buttons on all photos
Bonus: Tools that support image optimization like Sumo's Image Sharer
Tool to support image optimization – Image Sharer by Sumo
However, when users share your image, Image Sharer will provide an extra link back to your content, thereby indirectly driving traffic to your website!
Share images on Image Sharer
#16. Use Content Delivery Network (CDN) to speed up image load times
This is super hack Image SEO.
When you use a CDN, images will load faster. In fact, Woorkup's test proved that a page using a CDN will load 2 times faster than a page without a CDN.
Here is the page load time without the CDN:
Use CND to speed up image loading time
612 milliseconds. Not too bad! And here is the page with Content Delivery Network enabled
Image with CND enabled page
378 milliseconds. Much faster, right! Just adding a CDN reduced load times by 56.64%. =)))
How CDNs work:
Instead of serving your images from a central server, a CDN stores a cached version of your image in multiple geographic locations, known as Points of Presence (or POP for short):
Because your content is served from POPs close to the user (and not on a server thousands of miles away)… It loads lightning fast!
How CND works when optimizing images
There are many CDNs you can take advantage of:
Cloudflare – (free tier available)
KeyCDN
Amazon CloudFront – (free tier available)
Google Cloud CDN – (free trial available)
And, many hosting providers like WP Engine have a CDN built in. But, be aware…
When using a CDN, the image of your page does not “stay” on your website. Meaning image URLs used to look like this:
Now looks like this:
This is bad for SEO, because: If people embed your images on their website, they will link back to the CDN location, not your domain. Which means you miss out on valuable links and traffic.
Therefore, I recommend setting up a CNAME record.
#17. Using Open Graph and Twitter Cards to Show Rich Snippets and Maximize Social Sharing (3 Step Recipe)
When it comes to Open Graph tags and Twitter tags I've always had one goal in mind: Optimize conversion rates for social media visibility. When done right, these “tags” transform like social media snippets into incredibly compelling click-through rate magnets.
To maximize CTR using the og:image tag, you just need to do 3 easy steps:
Step 1: Choose an image that will stand out in the news feed. Images that use bright colors and/or have people perform exceptionally well.
Using Open Graph to Display Rich Snippets
Caption – Make sure to match your image to the page (or post) to minimize bounce rate and maximize conversions.
Step 2: Resize the image to: 1200px wide x 628px high.
Resize the image to make sure it fits the page
Locate the image in the Open Graph code.
<! – Open chart data ->
<meta property=”og:title” content=”Title Here” />
<meta property=”og:type” content=”article” />
<meta property=”og:url” content=”http://www .example.com/” />
<meta property = ”og:image” content = ” http://example.com/image.jpg ” />
<meta property = ”og: description ”Content =” Description here ”/>
If you are using the Yoast SEO plugin or the social media meta tag, this code is automatically generated when you complete the required fields:
Open Graph code automatically generated after completing fields
Bonus: Open Graph and Twitter Card Tips
Tailor unused headline ideas for your Open Graph and Twitter Cards tags.
Network-based image and description editing. Display images and text that appeal to the unique interests of each online audience.
While Twitter is assumed to be the default for the Open Graph tag if there is no Twitter Card markup on the page, you will get better controlled results if you use both types of markup on the page. In other words, take advantage of both fields for all social media sites in your chosen plugin settings.
#18. Using Schema Markup
In addition to creating images. Until recently, almost your image did NOT make a splash on Google Image search right!? But then maybe you were introduced to this by Google and you came across it.
Image Badges
Optimizing WordPress images – Schema Markup
Image Badges show up in the bottom left corner of image thumbnails when users search on the Google app for Android and on the mobile web.
In other words: This Image Badges is shown to the vast majority of searchers because mobile search queries are more than 60:40 desktop queries according to Statista.
Google's purpose with Image Badges is to categorize content for searchers:
Image Badges categorize content for searchers
And, help them find what they want. Imagine this for a bit:
Joan wants to bake cupcakes, but she doesn't know what kind.
However, finding an image with the formula can be challenging for her. A search for Joan's pictures led her to a page with only pictures of pies, another search led her to a website for pies, everything about pies but no recipe… You can see Joan's frustration.
But, you can help Joan (and others like her) by adding schema markup to the pages of your website so these badges show up.
Currently, Google supports four types of image markup: Products, recipes, videos, and GIFs.
You just need to add the appropriate schema markup to the page.
Recipe markup on recipe pages.
Product markup on product pages.
Video markup on pages with videos.
Summary
For good image SEO , you will have to go through many steps. In the context of Google's image recognition getting better and better, you should… Make sure to optimize images and all other related factors to provide a good user experience as well as SEO.
Please note the following points when inserting images into posts:
Use relevant images corresponding to the content
Name the image file appropriately
Make sure the image size corresponds to the image size when displayed
Use srcset if possible
Reduce file size for faster downloads
Add captions when needed to make it easier to scan pages
Use alt text for images instead of title text
Add structured data to the images on your website
Add OpenGraph and Twitter Card tags for images
Do not align the image to the left. Please align to the right or center
Using images in XML sitemap
Besides SEO and UX (user experience) factors, optimizing images for your website also helps increase conversions for your business. Therefore, pay more attention to image SEO (image optimization) – An important factor that a lot of people are currently missing.
Good luck!
Maybe you are interested:
What is standard SEO web design? Criteria for checking website standard SEO
Google SEO Guide : Detailed SEO Learning Path for Beginners!
What is Google Pagespeed Insights? How to score on Google Page Speed
Reference source:
“Image SEO: Optimizing images for search engines” – Yoast
https://yoast.com/image-seo/“11 Important Image SEO Tips You Need to Know” – Search Engine Journal
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/on-page-seo/image-optimization/“Image SEO: 12 Actionable Tips (for More Organic Traffic)” – Ahrefs
https://ahrefs.com/blog/image-seo/
#gtvseo #gtv_seo #seo_hinh_anh
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