How to Optimise Images for E-commerce SEO

Importance of Image Optimisation for E-Commerce SEO

Images are an important part of any consumers online buying experience, it provides clear details on what the product looks like, along with size, and other elements. When your images are unoptimised, it can negatively impact the performance of your store, often resulting in slow loading pages and frustrated visitors.

Slow loading product pages can increase your bounce rate, as potential consumers abandon your site and head to one of your competitors, negatively impacting your conversions. 

Optimised images ensures your pages load quickly, engaging and satisfying your visitors. Google, and other search engines, use image data to evaluate your pages quality and relevance. 

How to Optimise Images for E-Commerce SEO

This is a multi-step process. Follow the below steps to get started:

Image Format

The first step is to select the right image format that ensures your product pages can load quickly. When an e-commerce site takes longer than expected when loading, it can result in more than forty five percent of visitors not going ahead and making a purchase. To avoid this, you need to ensure you choose a lightweight and easy image format.

• JPEG – compression can reduce image quality
• GIF – can be effective for animated images

Image Sizing

As with formatting, you need to resize your images, ensuring that they work seamlessly. This means ensuring you choose the right height and width for each image. 

Image File Name

Create a descriptive file name for your image. Ideally, the file name should be short, descriptive, and include your targeted keyword. We recommend you choose a file name that is no more than one hundred characters to reduce the risk of important words of your description being cut off. 

Avoid spaces, rather use dashes, when creating your file name. Spaces tend to complicate search engines, reducing readability. Dashes help search engines understand each term. 

Add Your Images to Your Sitemap

When adding images to your e-commerce site, you will also want to add them to your sitemap, ensuring search engines can find them and index them. 

Image ALT-Tag

Alt-tags are for images that browsers are unable to render correctly, improving your website accessibility. This can enhance your SEO. Use your targeted keywords in your alt-text to improve your ranking in SERPs. Remember to keep your alt text to around twenty five words using clear and concise wording that describes your images.

Unique Images

When uploading images to your product pages, you want to ensure that they are unique. Having a diverse selection of images enhances user experience. Having duplicate images can negatively impact your SEO efforts, resulting in search engine crawlers viewing your product pages as spam. 

Conclusion

Image optimisation is an important part of your E-commerce SEO success. When your images are optimised effectively, it boosts user experience, improves your ranking in SERPs, while improving conversions. Are you ready to take your e-commerce SEO to a new high? Get in touch with Genie Crawl now to find out more, securing your free evaluation and quote.