How do you optimise for best image search?

When optimising your images for image search, you can enjoy a host of benefits:

• Increase dwell time
• Improve accessibility
• Improve user experience (UX)

How Do You Optimise for Image Search?

Image SEO is very important to your website performance, offering you great benefits, helping to improve your ranking in SERPs. In order to ensure your images are optimised for success, you should:

Select the Correct Image File Type

The first step to image SEO is to ensure your images are the right file type, or image format. This ensures your images are displayed properly and are clearly visible, without blurring. The file type you select is important, as you need to ensure the format you select is one that Google crawlers can index accurately.

Image formats that Google indexes, includes:

• JPEGs – compatible with most devices offering a spectrum of colours
• WebP – reduces the size of images while maintaining clarity and quality
• PNG – universally compatible, though is a larger file size than JPEGs
• SVG – best for logos, animations, and diagrams
• BMP – ideal for high quality images
• GIFs – look good, but can slow down your website, negatively impacting user experience

Resizing Your Images

The image size and file size are two different things. Image size is how big the image is, this is measured in pixels, while the file size is the amount of storage space it takes, measured in KB. Large image sizes can slow down your web page loading times, due to the browser having to load the full image.

High resolution images are also known to slow down your website speed. While the images may look amazing, perfect for printing, when it comes to uploading them, you need to sacrifice quality to speed up your site to boost user experience.

The standard resolution for images on the internet is 72 pixels per inch (PPI). Pixels are the individual dots making up the image that is displayed on your computer screen. PPI is how many dots appear within an inch of your screen space.

Compress Your Images

When you compress your images, you reduce the image file size, making them suitable for websites, without compromising on page load times and storage. The image file size will directly impact the page loading times of your website, meaning larger files will leave users having to wait for the image to load before interacting with it. This can increase bounce rates, negatively impacting your SEO efforts.

Add Descriptive Alt Text

Alt text, or alternative text, is essential in helping Google understand the content of your images. Alt text is also used by screen readers, describing images to users that are visually impaired, improving user experience (UX). In addition to this, in the event the image cannot be displayed, the alt text is displayed by browsers.

Ensure your alt text is descriptive, using your targeted keywords. This provides valuable context for search engines, while aligning your images to your users search queries.

Conclusion

Do not underestimate the importance of optimising for image search. Optimised images not only appear in SERPs, but they also appear in image searches. When done properly, you increase your chances of appearing in Googles Image Pack, increasing website traffic.