Image Search within Google - Best SEO Image Practices
Search Engine Optimization For Images
Images are great they make the whole experience of web browsing that much better. The problem is Search Engines can’t read them, neither can mobile devices nor screen readers. So don’t let the picture tell the whole story of the page. The key is to make sure your site is accessible and can be understood by visitors viewing your site with the images turned off. If you do that, the SE’s will properly index your site. Here are 3 simple steps to ensure proper Google Image Indexing:
Best SEO Image Practices
1. Take advantage of alt tags for all of your images. Alt attribute was originally developed to display alternate to the image i.e if the image doesn’t load on the browser the alt text loads explaining what image was supposed to be there. Selecting a good filename for the image is a good SEO practice. Select a name that suits the content of the website. For instance, alt text such as “picture1″ or “image1″ doesn’t provide much information about the image. “Soaring Blue Bird” and “Honeycomb Shades Almond Color” give more details for Google Image Indexing.
2. Don’t overload your alt text. Be descriptive, but don’t stuff it with extra keywords.
3. Look at the image-to-text ratio on your page. How much text do you have? One way of looking at this is to look at your site with images turned off in your browser. What content can you see? Is the intent of your site obvious? Do the pages convey your message effectively?
Taking advantage of Google Image search
Shoppers are now more then every relying on image search to see the things they want to buy. If you have a retail site, make sure that you have images of your products (and that they can be easily identified with alt text, headings, and textual descriptions). Searchers can then find your images and get to your site using Google Image Search.
One thing that can help your images be returned for results in Google Image search is opting in to enhanced image search in webmaster tools. This enables Google to use your images in the Google Image Labeler, which harnesses the power of the community for adding meta-data to your images.
Someone asked me, “What’s the maximum number of images per site that Google accepts for the Image Labeler.” There is no maximum or minimum, Google allows you to opt in no matter how many, or how few, images your site has. You too can practices good Search Engine Optimization for images and start ranking within Google Image Search!