{"id":461,"date":"2020-08-03T09:36:58","date_gmt":"2020-08-03T09:36:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.digitalhound.co.uk\/blog\/?p=461"},"modified":"2023-07-25T14:07:24","modified_gmt":"2023-07-25T14:07:24","slug":"image-search-rankings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.digitalhound.co.uk\/blog\/seo\/image-search-rankings\/","title":{"rendered":"Image Search Rankings – How to rank images in Google…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Image Search Rankings or image SEO what is that all about and why on earth would I want to do that anyway?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ever heard the saying that “a picture is worth a thousand words”<\/strong>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, enter the commercial world… <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where the latest consumer research tells us that images are 1 of the Top 3 most engaging forms of content online!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, it does make sense to have those images on your website ranking well on Google – Agreed?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, how to rank your images? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The image search rankings tips listed below should help you to significantly improve your image search rankings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, let’s get started with these 6 essential ingredients…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IMAGE SEARCH RANKINGS – HOW TO RANK IMAGES IN GOOGLE<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Image
This is the image description<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Let’s breakdown each of these elements individually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. QUALITY<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Using high quality images will naturally produce:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Higher engagement<\/strong> – The better the quality, users will be more likely to save, share with friends and family and return for more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Better user experience<\/strong> – Research also shows that site visitors tend to stick around for longer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Higher quality traffic<\/strong> – With site visitors less likely to bounce off your site, length of stay usually means better conversion ratios.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TIP: Make sure to optimise your images so that they load faster as ‘page speed’ is an important ranking factor.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are a couple of free tools that you can use to compress your images so that they load faster. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

C<\/a>ompressjpg.com<\/a> & Compressor.io<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. IMAGE PLACEMENT<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Relevancy<\/strong> – Images should be relevant for the pages that they are placed on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Above the fold<\/strong> – Placing your images where users can see them without scrolling does affect bounce rates and ultimately rankings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visibility<\/strong> – Images should be placed near relevant text to improve search indexation and visibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Image text<\/strong> – Although Google does have optical character recognition (OCR) from a crawl budget standpoint, it is advisable to avoid embedding text in images.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. IMAGE DESCRIPTION<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Titles<\/strong> – When adding images to your pages make sure that the page titles are relevant and include meta tags.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Image alt text<\/strong> – Include your primary keywords here but avoid repeating them over & over again. Instead use LSI driven or contextual keywords.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Context around images<\/strong> – Images should be placed where there is appropriate context surrounding them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Add structured data<\/strong> – Adding image mark-up data is an important step that will help with better indexation and higher rankings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. CAPTIONS<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Descriptive<\/strong> – Captions that are well described are better ranked while also being helpful to those that are visually impaired. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around images<\/strong> – Place your captions above and\/or directly below images for better search context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Use semantic mark-up<\/strong> – Using the (<figcaption><\/code><\/a>) element to provide more information about the image.
Example = <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"lions
lions Johannesburg safari<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

5. IMAGE FILE NAMES<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Relevancy<\/strong> – Change non-descriptive file names to more relevant descriptive names.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keywords<\/strong> – Select and use your primary keyword as the file name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Example<\/strong> = Instead of naming your image [001.jpg] – use something more accurate [NintendoWii.jpg]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn more about image search rankings from Google’s very own, John Mueller below: <\/p>\n\n\n\n