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How to Optimise Images for SEO Aligned With Best Practices
Here’s All the GOOD Bits:
- Image SEO will impact rankings, site speed, and conversions. Neglect it and you’ll slow down your pages and deter visitors.
- File names matter: use descriptive, keyword-rich names with hyphens.
- Choose your formats wisely: JPEG for complex images, PNG for logos, WebP whenever supported.
- Compress your images to under 100KB using lossy or lossless methods.
- Alt texts will improve accessibility and help search engines understand what’s up on the image.
- Surround your images with relevant captions, titles, and nearby content so Google can understand their context.
- Stay on top of ranking and performance with regular audits and adapting to evolving SEO practices.
We tend to talk extensively about optimising content for search engines and improving visibility, but that’s not really where SEO ends. In fact, it’s far from it. Images play quite a bigger role in SEO than many realise.
If you fail to optimise your images for search results, your page speed will slow, leading to reduced traffic and lost conversions.
Yes, it can become that serious. But worry not! Your SEO wizards from The Good Marketer will explain how to do image SEO like a pro. So that your website works for you from every corner.
But Why Optimise Images?
Here are some stats that help with an SEO image case. About 70% of people will be put off making an online purchase due to slow page loading speed. That. Is. A. Lot. On top of this, Google images account for around 20% of searches. This one may sound low, but then, remember that every minute, there are about 9 million searches on Google.
These numbers highlight how important it is to optimise your images for SEO. Google is also quite smart and loves rewarding fast pages. This only means that poor loading due to a lack of image SEO can become quite a problem—a problem that can arise as early as the moment your visitor arrives at your site’s home page.
Improve your images as part of your SEO strategy, and you’ll improve your site speed and UX engagement.
And it’s so easy to do with some simple best practices.
Naming Images for SEO
Search engines read your file names and use them as clues to understand the image. So instead of uploading your files like “IMG_1234.jpg,” use more descriptive names like “vintage-poasters-living-room.jpg.”
But also don’t be too descriptive. Keep things short and sweet, and sprinkle relevant keywords (but also don’t overstuff). SEO file names are all about the balance you strike.
And do make sure to use hyphens to separate words for better readability.
All in all, think of your file name as the image’s first keyword opportunity.
The Right File Format
There are several file formats that you can consider. Of course, they’re not all created equal. Choose the right one to make a real difference.
- JPEG used to be the most common choice. It’s best for photographs, and the format can maintain good quality while reducing the file size. The latter is important to optimise site speed. So, in most cases, if you’re working with photographs or complex images, JPEG will be your winner.
- Then comes PNG. That one’s ideal for graphics or images containing text. If you want transparency and sharper lines, or your image contains your brand’s logo, opt for PNG.
- WebP/AVIF are modern formats that can give you excellent comparison without visible quality loss, surpassing JPEG. Use WebP whenever possible for best results.
In summary, fall back on WebP whenever you can, trust JPEG for complex SEO pictures, and keep PNG for graphics and when you need transparency. It’s that simple.
How to Compress Images Without Losing Quality
We have the name and formats. Now, let’s consider the size of your images. Large image files will slow down your page load times, and that’s what directly impacts image search optimisation. There are two types of compression you can do:
Lossy compression: This one reduces file size by removing some of the image data. But don’t worry, this is unnoticeable to the human eye.
Lossless compression: This one will keep detail intact, but won’t shrink the file as much.
It really depends on the original size and how much you have to compress it. A good rule of thumb is to aim for an image size under 100KB, so that everything runs smoothly on your site.
You have to find the sweet spot where you shrink your image enough to boost performance while still keeping things sharp and beautiful on screen.
But What About Dimensions?
Yes, do fight the urge to upload an oversized image “just in case”. It will slow things down. Always use the actual display size your design requires and rely on the one solid best practice: think mobile-first. Your visuals have to adapt smoothly to every screen size.
Alt Text For Images
Alt text is a part of image SEO that does double duty. One, it makes your content more accessible for visually impaired people, so they know what’s in the image. Two, it gives search engines a description and valuable context so they understand your image for search results.
To succeed with Alt text, you need to keep things descriptive and natural. For example, a “Mid-century wooden coffee table in a minimalist living room” will work better than a string of forced keywords that hardly make any logical sense.
Sure, you can use relevant terms where they fit, but skip the stuffing overall. Just write alt text with people in mind first, and then let the SEO benefits follow naturally.
Surrounding Content
The thing is, Google can’t really see images, but it can read them in the context of your page. What does that mean? For ultimate website image optimisation, you need to keep your visuals close to relevant texts. Think descriptive captions, titles, etc. You also need to choose images that genuinely support the surrounding content.
What’s best is to surround your image with SEO-optimised copy that uses keywords and provides relevant (and valuable) information to the user. That’s how Google will connect the dots.
Basically, every image you use should feel like an integral part of the story your page is trying to tell.
Image SEO: Your Next Ranking Asset
How does successful image optimisation look? It looks like faster load time, relevant captions and descriptions, and high quality. From then on, SEO perks follow suit with improved rankings, better user experience, engagement, and conversions.
We highly suggest you treat your image optimisation as an ongoing process with regular audits and attention on evolving SEO image best practices. Just like everything SEO, it’s a long-term game that rewards consistency, patience, and care.
That said, as a business owner, keeping track of every detail can be exhausting. But luckily for you, Invaluable advice awaits you from our seasoned experts at The Good Marketer. We’re always here to take the load off your shoulders and put it in trusted hands. Just sit back, relax, and see the rankings spike!