5 image optimization tips for your website 

If you're like most people, images are probably the first thing you notice when you visit a website. And that's not surprising; recent studies show people are visual learners, and images can help us better understand and retain information.  

But did you know that images can also be a powerful tool for boosting your website's Search Engine Optimization (SEO)? Google assesses 200 factors when deciding which website to rank for a specific search query. SEO image optimization is one of them!  

Optimizing your images for SEO can increase your website's visibility, traffic, and engagement. And when it comes to image optimization, you must keep a few key things in mind.  

In this blog, let’s see the different ways of optimizing images - 

How to Optimize Images for SEO? 

Pick the Right Image Format 

There are different image formats—vectors, JPEGs, raster, PNG, and GIFs. Using the wrong one can cause your images to look blurry and even impact whether users can see the images. 

The most popular image file types are JPEG and PNG. Visible on any device, they both preserve the color quality of your images well; however, there can be some data loss during compression with JPEGs as opposed to PNG. 

Tip: Steer clear of GIFs unless necessary — they slow down the site. 

Compress Your Images 

Large images can take a long time to load, which can frustrate users and cause them to leave the site. Additionally, large images can negatively impact a website's ranking on search engines.  

Optimizing your images to ensure that your website loads quickly and ranks well on search engines is essential. Image optimization involves reducing the file size of an image without reducing its quality.  

Optimize Image File Name and Title 

This one’s probably the most neglected image optimization tip. Most people upload images on the site under a random file name. However, search engines consider the text associated with an image when determining how to rank a page. 

If you're running a website, you want to do everything possible to optimize it for search engines. Part of that process is ensuring that your image file names and titles are optimized. That might sound technical, but it can significantly impact your website ranking.  

Use Alt Tags 

There’s no alternative to using alt tags if you want your images to be indexed by search engine spiders. While viewers may see and understand the image, spiders need clues. 

Moreover, Google appreciates an all-accessible website. An alt tag provides image context to visually impaired users too. 

Use Schema Markup 

Schema markup is a code that helps search engines better understand your data. It formats your data into different structures so Google can understand if it’s a list, a recipe, an image, etc. 

For images, there are three kinds of schema markups -  

• Layout image 
• logo 
• photo

Image optimization for SEO helps you make the most of images. It's not just about having great content - you need relevant images on your site to help drive people in the right direction. 

We know that making these kinds of technical changes can be overwhelming. So if it's too much, contact Iron Marketers - our website optimization experts are pros at SEO image optimization! Get in touch with us today to discuss your project and see how we can help you!