In a previous blog post: How to extend the life of a blog post I provided tips on coming up with new blog post idea based upon older post. One of the Ideas was: to provide specific detailed tips from an older post. I decided to drink the Kool-Aid and write this blog post. The first thing that came to mind was Tips on SEOing an image.
So here go the quick tips:
#1 Find the right image
This is crucial to the process. The first and most important part of finding the right image is making sure that it is a legal image. There are plenty of places to find free images but free can be dangerous so whatever you do make sure that it is truly free and provide credit back if it is requested. The second part to finding the right image is to make sure that it speaks to the message well. It is often the first thing that people will see so you want to make sure that the image is compelling enough that people on Facebook will want to click on it and hear more about what you have to say.
[su_note note_color=”#f1f043″ radius=”8″]Do not feel the need to make the image a literal match. Be creative in your image search. [/su_note]
#2 Rename the image to something that makes sense such as 5 Quick Tips to SEO an Image.jpg. That is what I have named the image for this blog pots.
While this is not an amazing super SEO trick it will still mean more to the search engine spiders than some random inventory number that is often assigned to a stock image or that comes from your digital camera.
#3 Create good Title Tags for the image
An important note here is to make sure that your title tag is relevant to your page or blog post. You will upset potential readers because they will feel mislead and Google will get angry with you as well.
#4 Create good Alt Tags for the image
The purpose of an ALT Tag is describe the image or the purpose of an image. Imagine if the image did not show and text showed in it’s place. That is what you should think about when filling in this section. An image alt title tag is a critical part of SEO. It is important to make sure that all of your images have good alt title tag descriptions. If you have not done this in the past then I highly recommend that you go backwards on your website and blog and do so. You do not want to pull in someone with a piece of SEO that is actually not about the page topic at all.
#5 Create a good description for the image.
If you are using WordPress you will be able to fill out a description for the image. This is a great SEO opportunity. I tend to put here whatever I would put for my meta description for the blog post. This way if someone happens across the image thru a google image search they will see more than just the image.
#6 Bonus tip: Always add a link to the image.
We always put a link to our website or blog page at the end of each and every image description, title tag and alt tag.
[su_note note_color=”#f1f043″ radius=”8″]Do you have any special image tricks that you recommend? Where do you find your images?[/su_note]