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Search engine spiders are very sophisticated and complex. However, even with all their advanced algorithms, they lack one very basic function: the ability to read images.
If your website is image-heavy, a search engine may have difficulty determining the topic of your content. In addition, some people browse the internet without images because it speeds up load times or because their web browser doesn’t support them.
Unless you tell a search engine exactly what an image is, it will simply read the file name, which usually provides little (if any) SEO value to the content of your pages. While images themselves are not search-engine friendly, they are an integral part of user-friendly design. Vibrant pictures invite visitors to stay longer and browse more pages.
Search optimized images
As a general rule, text carries far greater weight than images. However, if you choose to use images, make sure to include the ALT image tag. This tag is contained within the IMG tag, and the correct syntax is as follows:
<IMG SRC="image-name.jpg" ALT="brief image description">
Text contained within the ALT image tag appears whenever the image can not be displayed or when the mouse hovers over the image. In addition, name the image file with an appropriate keyword or keywords.
1967-Ford-Mustang.jpg is preferred over 1967FordMustang.jpg because search spiders interpret dashes (-) as a space. Avoid using the same keywords in the ALT tag, and be sure to:
- Keep image file names and ALT tags unique to avoid spam penalties.
- Create a separate image folder on your server for images.
- Manage image file size, and keep them as small as possible.
- Use images that are original and unique, and are high quality.
- Enable image search with Google Webmaster Tools.
