SEO is a fast-moving industry that is always evolving. One Google announcement, a current event or a change in the competitive landscape can alter how you go about your SEO strategy in an instant.

But, we do have best practices that stand the test of time. The way we go about doing those best practices might evolve, but they are still rooted in the fundamentals of good SEO. And, when following these best practices, you can better weather any storms that may come your way.

Here are seven SEO best practices you can’t ignore if you want to compete in the organic search results.

1. Create the Right Type of Content
2. Meet or Beat the Top-Ranked Content
3. Create a Good User Experience
4. Optimize Your Images
5. Silo Your Website
6. Focus on Link Earning Not Link Building
7. Manage Duplicate Content

FAQ: How does duplicate content impact search rankings and what types of duplicate content should be managed? 

1. Create the Right Type of Content

Every search query/keyword has a different intent behind it — what the search engine user is trying to do. Google knows this and serves up different types of content to meet those needs.

There will always be the blue links, which lead to webpages. But often, there are other types of content as well, like video, images and much more. This is what we call engagement objects – SERP features that engage and ultimately make money for Google.

An engagement object is a SERP feature shown on a search engine results page (SERP) that falls outside of the traditional organic search results (i.e., the blue links).

Searchmetrics keeps track of the most common SERP features that show up throughout the year with its SERP Features Monitor.

So, how do you create and optimize the right type of content to match the search query? Through what we call a whole-SERP SEO strategy.

A whole-SERP SEO strategy analyzes the features that show up most in the search results for target keywords and then optimizes for them.

The first step is to take the keywords you want to rank for, then analyze the content in the search results that is showing up for them. Is it mostly blue links? Are there videos? Images? What else?

This will help you set the content strategy for the type of content you are going to create. A whole-SERP SEO strategy gives you a roadmap for the type of content you need in your SEO program.

This strategy can also help combat the phenomenon of “zero clicks.” A zero-click search result happens when Google is able to answer a search query or facilitate an action right within the search results page.

2. Meet or Beat the Top-Ranked Content

Knowing what type of content to create is the first step. How you create and optimize the content for search engines and users is the next step.

SEO is a game of being the least imperfect. I say least imperfect because no one is going to optimize a piece of content precisely to Google’s algorithms. So, all content in the search results is imperfect when it comes to optimizing.

That said, the goal is to be least imperfect compared to your competition. All SEO programs should work to beat the competition, not the algorithm.

Here, you want to understand what makes the top-ranked content for your keyword tick. Start analyzing the top results for each keyword. Of course, you could do this manually, but SEO tools are going to save you a lot of time and effort here.

For example, you could use an SEO tool like our Multi-Page Information tool (free version) and see the on-page SEO factors of multiple competitors.

Or, if you are using a WordPress site, you can use our WordPress SEO plugin to get real-time data on the top-ranked pages for your keywords.

That means customized SEO data for your content versus following best practices that are typically generic.

It also means knowing how many words to include in your meta tags and your body content, plus the readability score — all based on the top-ranked content.

These types of tools will help you understand how to optimize the content you are creating. But you should also look closer at the nature of the top-ranked content as well before you start writing.

Google values experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) as outlined in its Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines. A component of E-E-A-T is to have shared attributes in the information you are sharing with the top-ranked or highest-quality webpages on the topic.

In other words, Google says in its Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines:

Very high quality MC should be highly satisfying for people visiting the page. Very high quality MC shows evidence of a high level of effort, originality, talent, or skill. For informational pages, very high quality MC must be accurate, clearly communicated, and consistent with well-established expert consensus when it exists. Very high quality MC represents some of the most outstanding content on a topic or type that’s available online. The standards for Highest quality MC may be very different depending on the purpose, topic, and type of website.

I discussed what this means practically in The Complete Guide to the Basics of Google’s E-E-A-T.

For instance, say you have content that states that blueberries can cure cancer. Even if you feel you have the authority to make this claim, when competing against YMYL content, you will not be considered an expert for a query about cancer because the claim is not supported elsewhere.

And don’t forget: Once you have created a great piece of content, don’t skimp on the headline. A good headline can get you more clicks and drive more traffic than a lackluster one.

Much of the advice and tools I’ve discussed so far apply to getting data for and optimizing standard web pages (the blue links). If you are up against videos, for example, you will also need to examine them closely and think about your YouTube SEO efforts.

3. Create a Good User Experience

Once a person reaches your website from the organic search results, will they have a good experience?

You should care about user experience because you want to make sure you get the most out of the traffic that you send to your website. If all those efforts lead to a bad webpage and the user quickly leaves, then you have wasted your time and money.

Google wants to make sure websites are providing a good user experience, too. So Google has developed ranking signals to ensure only the websites that provide the best experience will compete on Page 1 of the search results.

One thing that Google may look at is when a large percentage of users from the search results go to your webpage and then immediately click back to the search results. This could be an indication of a poor user experience and may impact your future rankings.

Then you have the page experience algorithm update, which hit in 2021 and combines pre-existing ranking signals such as:

• Mobile-friendliness
• HTTPS (secure websites)
• Non-intrusive interstitials

… with new rankings signals that include what Google calls “core web vitals.” Core web vitals look at things like:

• Page load performance
• Responsiveness
• Visual stability

There is much to do in this area to optimize a website for user experience. You can download our e-book: Google’s Page Experience Update: A Complete Guide, to learn more about how to get your website up to speed.

4. Optimize Your Images

You need to optimize all your content assets so that they have the opportunity to rank. That includes images.

Visual search and Google Images have been a focal point for Google for some time. More and more images are showing up in response to search queries. seoClarity reports that in 2021, more than 55% of keywords result in image results.

Google wants to rank great images, but it also wants to ensure those images are within the context of great content, too. I wrote about this in an earlier article on how to improve image search ranking:

We’ve all had the experience of finding an image and clicking through to a not-so-great webpage. To prevent this, the Google Images algorithm now considers not only the image but also the website where it’s embedded.

Images attached to great content can now do better in Google Images. Specifically, the image-ranking algorithm weighs these factors (besides the image itself):

Authority: The authority of the webpage itself is now a signal for ranking an image.

Context: The ranking algorithm takes into account the context of the search. Google uses the example of an image search for “DIY shelving.” Results should return images within sites related to DIY projects … so the searcher can find other helpful information beyond just a picture.

Freshness: Google prioritizes fresher content. So ranking images will likely come from a site (a site in general, but we believe the actual webpage in question) that’s been updated recently. This is probably a minor signal.

Position on page: Top-ranked images will likely be central to the webpage they’re part of. For example, a product page for a particular shoe should rank above a category page for shoes.

Of course, there are all sorts of optimization techniques you can do to improve image ranking. Read more here for 17 important ways you can optimize your images for search, which includes:

1. Tracking image traffic
2. Creating high-quality, original content
3. Using relevant images
4. Having a proper file format
5. Optimizing your images
6. Always creating Alt text
7. Making use of the image title
8. Creating an image caption
9. Using a descriptive file name
10. Implementing structured data
11. Considering image placement on the page
12. Analyzing the content around the image
13. Being careful with embedded text
14. Creating page metadata
15. Ensuring fast load time
16. Making sure images are accessible
17. Creating an image sitemap

5. Silo Your Website

Creating and optimizing quality content is really important. But just as important is how you organize all the content on your website.

Google has indicated more than once that it not only looks at the quality of a webpage but also the site as a whole when ranking content.

In its Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide, Google says:

Although Google’s search results are provided at a page level, Google also likes to have a sense of what role a page plays in the bigger picture of the site.

In its Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines, Google says it looks at the website as a whole to determine if the website is an authority on topics.

So what does this mean? When someone searches for something on Google, one of the ways that the search engine can determine the most relevant webpage for a search is to analyze not only the webpage but also the overall website.

Google may be looking to see if a website has enough supporting content for the keywords/search terms on the website overall. Enough, clearly organized, information-rich content helps create relevance for a search.

We call this SEO siloing. SEO siloing is a way to organize your website content based on the way people search for your site’s topics. Its goal is to make a site relevant for a search query so that it has a better chance of ranking.

The goal of SEO siloing is to build a library of content around primary and long-tail keywords on your website and then connect them via your internal linking structure.

Google advocates for what SEO siloing does. In its Search Engine Starter Guide, Google says:

Make it as easy as possible for users to go from general content to the more specific content they want on your site. Add navigation pages when it makes sense and effectively work these into your internal link structure. Make sure all of the pages on your site are reachable through links, and that they don’t require an internal “search” functionality to be found. Link to related pages, where appropriate, to allow users to discover similar content.

There is a lot that goes into SEO siloing, and I recommend reading these articles:

• 5 Times When SEO Siloing Can Make or Break Your Search Engine Rankings
• A Jam-Packed Guide on Internal Linking for SEO

6. Focus on Link Earning Not Link Building

Link building is not a numbers game anymore. Search engines want to see that a website has quality, relevant links.

Google’s John Mueller confirmed this in a video, stating that:

“We try to understand what is relevant for a website, how much should we weigh these individual links, and the total number of links doesn’t matter at all. Because you could go off and create millions of links across millions of websites if you wanted to, and we could just ignore them all.”

You can view that video clip here:

We have seen client websites with fewer but more quality inbound links outperform their competition. So, what does “link earning” look like?

• Avoiding all those known spammy link-building tactics, mass email requests for links, purchasing links, participating in link farms, etc.
• Understanding the “gray areas” of what could be considered link spam, such as paid guest posting.
• Creating quality content that earns relevant links.
• Getting creative with how you earn links and being diligent about how you maintain them.

You can learn more about how to create a good link-earning SEO program in our e-book, “The New Link Building Manifesto: How To Earn Links That Count.” In it, you’ll find a roadmap for earning quality, relevant links, including 50 ways to earn links safely and effectively.

7. Manage Duplicate Content

Duplicate content can impact your rankings. And, depending on what type of duplicate content you have on your website, it can even trigger a manual action by Google if it’s considered spam.

There are two types of duplicate content:

1. Duplicate content involving webpages on your site only
2. Duplicate content involving webpages on your site and other sites

When you have duplicate content involving your website and other sites, Google may flag this as spam (for example, if your site is scraping or copying content from another).

The good news is that most websites are only dealing with non-spammy duplicate content on their own websites. This is when you have content (two or more webpages) that is the same or similar.

This can impact your rankings. When Google is presented with two of your webpages that appear to be too similar, the search engine will choose the page it believes is the most relevant and filter the other page or pages out of the results.

Google’s Mueller explains in a video:

“With that kind of duplicate content it’s not so much that there’s a negative score associated with it. It’s more that, if we find exactly the same information on multiple pages on the web, and someone searches specifically for that piece of information, then we’ll try to find the best matching page.

So if you have the same content on multiple pages then we won’t show all of these pages. We’ll try to pick one of them and show that. So it’s not that there’s any negative signal associated with that. In a lot of cases that’s kind of normal that you have some amount of shared content across some of the pages.”

You can watch that video clip here:

So, what to do? We’ve found that the most common types of duplicate content are the following:

• Two site versions
• Separate mobile site
• Trailing slashes on URLs
• CMS problems
• Meta information duplication
• Similar content
• Boilerplate content
• Parameterized pages
• Product descriptions
• Content syndication

And of those common types, we tend to see duplicate meta information as a top culprit. So, it’s important to always create unique meta tags.

If you’re on a WordPress site, you can use our WordPress SEO plugin to help monitor and detect duplicate content issues in your meta tags.

For more on how to address the common types of duplicate content on your website, see Understanding Duplicate Content and How to Avoid It.

Closing Thoughts

These SEO best practices are not the end of your SEO work, but they are the beginning of creating a winning SEO strategy that will respond to any curve ball that comes your way.

Schedule a free 1:1 consultation to learn more about how you can boost your SEO profile and maximize your visibility online. 

FAQ: How does duplicate content impact search rankings, and what types of duplicate content should be managed?

Duplicate content has long been a cause for website owners and digital marketing professionals who worry that duplicated material could negatively affect search rankings. Search engines struggle to provide users with relevant and original information that meets user search queries if duplicates appear within results pages.

When search engines encounter duplicate content, they face a dilemma. Search engines must determine which version is more relevant and worthy of being given priority in ranking. They may punish pages that contain duplicate content by downranking them or penalizing their rankings accordingly. This can adversely affect website visibility and organic traffic, making it crucial for webmasters to address duplicate content issues.

Website owners should be aware of and manage several types of duplicate content. The first type is identical content found on multiple pages within the same website. This can occur when a website generates multiple URLs for the same content, leading to duplicate versions. Search engines might struggle to decide which URL to prioritize, potentially diluting the page’s ranking potential.

Another type of duplicate content is syndicated or copied content from other websites. While syndication can be a legitimate practice, ensuring that the content is properly attributed and adds value to the website is essential. Otherwise, search engines may consider it duplicate and penalize the website for duplicate content.

Product descriptions and e-commerce websites often face challenges with duplicate content. Similar products may have identical or nearly identical descriptions, leading to duplicate content issues. It is advisable to provide unique, compelling descriptions for each product to avoid these problems and improve search rankings.

Finally, duplicate content can also arise from printer-friendly versions, mobile versions, or session IDs appended to URLs. These variations in URLs can confuse search engines and result in duplicated content. Implementing canonical tags and managing URL parameters can help resolve these issues and ensure search engines understand the preferred version of the content.

To manage duplicate content effectively, website owners should take proactive steps. Conducting regular content audits to identify and address duplicate content is essential. Utilizing tools such as site crawlers and duplicate content checkers can aid in this process by scanning the website for duplicate instances and providing recommendations for improvement.

Once identified, duplicate content issues can be resolved through various means. One approach is consolidating duplicate pages by redirecting or consolidating the content under a single URL. Implementing 301 redirects or rel=canonical tags can help guide search engines to the preferred version of the content and consolidate ranking signals.

For e-commerce websites, ensuring unique product descriptions and optimizing metadata can go a long way in avoiding duplicate content penalties. Additionally, monitoring syndicated content and implementing proper attribution can help maintain a healthy balance between original and duplicate content.

Regularly monitoring website performance, traffic patterns and search engine rankings is crucial for detecting any potential duplicate content issues. Prompt action and continuous improvement will help maintain strong search rankings and enhance the overall user experience.

Duplicate content can significantly impact search rankings by confusing search engines and diluting ranking potential. Various types of duplicate content, such as identical pages within a website, syndicated content and product descriptions, should be managed effectively.

Step-by-Step Procedure:

1. Conduct a comprehensive content audit to identify instances of duplicate content on your website.
2. Use site crawlers or duplicate content checkers to scan the website and identify duplicate content.
3. Prioritize resolving duplicate content issues on the website’s pages before addressing external sources.
4. For identical content found on multiple pages within the same website, determine the primary URL and implement 301 redirects from the secondary URLs.
5. Ensure that all syndicated or copied content from other websites is properly attributed and adds value to your website.
6. Review product descriptions on e-commerce websites and make them unique and compelling for each product.
7. Regularly monitor the website for printer-friendly versions, mobile versions, or session IDs appended to URLs, and implement canonical tags to indicate the preferred version of the content.
8. Manage URL parameters to eliminate duplicate content issues caused by session IDs or tracking parameters.
9. Utilize tools such as site crawlers and duplicate content checkers to scan the website for new instances of duplicate content periodically.
10. Review the recommendations provided by the tools and implement necessary changes to address duplicate content.
11. Consolidate duplicate pages by redirecting or consolidating the content under a single URL.
12. Implement 301 redirects from duplicate pages to the preferred version to guide search engines and consolidate ranking signals.
13. Ensure that each product on e-commerce websites has a unique description and optimized metadata.
14. Monitor syndicated content and verify that proper attribution is in place to differentiate it from duplicate content.
15. Continuously monitor website performance, traffic patterns and search engine rankings to identify any new duplicate content issues.
16. Take prompt action to resolve duplicate content problems as they arise.
17. Regularly review and update your content strategy to avoid unintentional creation of duplicate content.
18. Provide a seamless user experience by eliminating duplicate content, which can confuse and frustrate visitors.
19. Stay updated with search engine guidelines and best practices to address duplicate content effectively.
20. Continuously improve your website’s content and ensure it remains unique, relevant and valuable to users.

The post 7 SEO Best Practices You Can’t Ignore if You Want to Rank in the Organic Search Results appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

If you can optimize it, you should. And images are no exception.

The images on your website represent another way to drive organic search traffic. Image SEO can be just as important as optimizing your webpage text.

That’s because visual search is booming. Just look at the growth of image-centered platforms like Pinterest and Instagram. Especially on mobile devices, people want to look for information visually.

Search engines recognize this visual search trend. Latest statistics show that about 28% of regular Google search results contain images, up from 19% only two years ago. People run transactional and informational types of searches more and more frequently in Google Images search.

It’s no wonder the search engine continues to invest in new features to improve the Google Images user experience.

TL;DR: Google Images represents another path outside of regular web search for your audience to find your site and discover your content. Developments in Google’s image-ranking algorithms put more emphasis on quality and relevance. We provide a list of ways to optimize images for a website and drive traffic from image SEO.

How to SEO Images: Table of Contents

First, we’ll explain the latest news about ranking in Google Images:

• Where images can now appear in Google
• Updates to the ranking algorithm
• Improved features and visibility
• AI-Powered results in Google Images

Then we’ll dive into how to SEO images in 17 steps:

1. Track your image-based traffic
2. Create high-quality, original content
3. Use relevant images
4. Have a proper file format
5. Optimize your images
6. Always create alt text
7. Make use of the image title
8. Create an image caption
9. Use a descriptive file name
10. Implement structured data
11. Consider image placement on the page
12. Analyze the content around the image
13. Be careful with embedded text
14. Create page metadata
15. Ensure fast load time
16. Make sure images are accessible
17. Create an image sitemap
18. FAQ: How can I effectively optimize images for better search engine visibility and user engagement?

What’s New with Google Images

As I said, image search keeps evolving. So I’ll start with an overview of the latest developments and opportunities in Google Images search.

Where Images Can Now Appear in Google

Once you have images indexed in Google, they might show up in three different search environments:

1. Google Images search: People use this vertical engine specifically for visual searching, and it’s our primary focus.
2. Google Web search: The traditional SERP includes images whenever they seem relevant to the user’s query (which is often).
3. Google Discover: Large images (1200px wide or more) may surface in Discover as a preview of content to explore. This platform is new since I originally wrote this post. (And here’s what an image needs to qualify for this additional visibility.)

By the way, if you have images you do not want to appear in Google search, you can block them in your robots.txt.

Updates to the Ranking Algorithm

Google wants “to rank results that have both great images and great content on the page” (per this post).

We’ve all had the experience of finding an image and clicking through to a not-so-great webpage. To prevent this, the Google Images algorithm now considers not only the image but also the website where it’s embedded.

Images attached to great content can now do better in Google Images. Specifically, the image-ranking algorithm weighs these factors (in addition to the image itself):

• Authority: The authority of the webpage itself is now a signal for ranking an image.
• Context: The ranking algorithm takes into account the context of the search. Google uses the example of an image search for “DIY shelving.” Results should return images within sites related to DIY projects … so the searcher can find other helpful information beyond just a picture.
• Freshness: Google prioritizes fresher content. So ranking images will likely come from a site (a site in general, but we believe the actual webpage in question) that’s been updated recently. This is probably a minor signal.
• Position on page: Top-ranked images will likely be central to the webpage they’re part of. For example, a product page for a particular shoe should rank above a category page for shoes.

Improved Features and Visibility

Google Images results pages also have some new features:

• Captions: Image results now show more context. Captions include the website, title of the page where the picture is published, and even licensing information (more on how to do that in a bit).
• Quick facts: Extra information may appear below an image caption. These quick facts come from Google’s Knowledge Graph and could be a brief excerpt from Wikipedia or another source.
• Related searches: Google provides related search terms within the image search results as you scroll through them. Buttons at the top help users narrow their search, but “Related searches” links can also appear as you scroll down the SERP:

AI-Powered Results in Google Images

One futuristic feature that Google has already rolled out is its AI-powered Google Lens technology. It lets users identify objects of interest within images as they look through image search results. For now, the Lens feature works only from image search in mobile browsers, not in the Google app.

Using AI technology, Lens analyzes a picture and detects what’s in it. If you click an identified object, Lens brings up other relevant image results. Many of these link to product pages so you can continue your search or buy the item you’re interested in. On a mobile device screen, you can also outline any part of an image, even if it’s not preselected by Lens, to trigger related results and dive deeper into what’s in an image.

To show this in action, I searched for [diy fire pit], chose one of the results, and pressed the Lens icon (see the first image below). Lens automatically detected furniture items in the picture and offered related results (second screenshot). But I wanted the firepit, so I manually selected it to reveal a new set of image results (third shot):

All of this new AI technology encourages more image-based searches. It also increases the population of search results.

If Google can understand what’s inside, even non-optimized images, they might rank. So your images potentially have much more competition.

And … image SEO becomes even more important. It’s time to optimize your images so that they can stand out.

How to Optimize Images for SEO

How do you ensure you can get your share of visibility in Google Images?

First of all, Googlebot needs to be able to crawl, index, and understand what your images are about. Only then can they rank.

The latest updates to Google Images tell us that relevance and quality are more important than ever. That means providing the search engine with as much context as possible.

Here are 17 important steps to SEO images …

1. Track Your Image-based Traffic

You might be surprised to know how many visitors you already get through Google Images search.

You can track organic search traffic from Google Images using the Search Console Performance report.

How to track your Google Images search traffic:

1. Log in to Google Search Console for your website.
2. Under Performance, click Search Results.
3. Change the search type at the top to Image. This filters the data so you can keep an eye on your traffic from image search.

Alternatively, in Google Analytics you can use the Referral report. Google Images search traffic is broken out from other search traffic. The line with the Source/Medium “Google organic / images” is where you’ll find that data.

Take a baseline and watch your search traffic grow as you apply SEO to your images.

2. Create High-Quality, Original Content

Search engines want to reward high-quality pages. This applies to the information on the webpage that your image is hosted on, and to the image itself.

In its image best practices help file, Google discourages “pages where neither the images or the text are original content.”

So whenever possible, take your own photos and make your own graphics.

What if you have to use stock photos? There are a lot of ways to modify stock images to make them unique. You can add filters, crop them, overlay text, combine images, and much more.

Also remember that when you do use images from elsewhere, you must honor copyrights, license fees and/or trademark laws.

Google now includes metadata support for crediting images to the proper author and rights holder.

The image can even display a “Licensable” badge on the thumbnail in Google Images:

3. Use Relevant Images

Choose or create images that are helpful to the overall theme of the page. That might be an infographic, a diagram, an appropriate photograph, or something else.

Remember that search engines would rather rank a picture if it’s on a webpage that will satisfy the searcher’s intent with more relevant content.

4. Have a Proper File Format

Basic to image SEO, you need to use a file format that search engines can index. Beyond that, the file format you choose affects the quality and download speed. Both are important when optimizing images.

The three most common image formats used on the web are:

• PNG (Portable Network Graphics) is good for screenshots and images with graphics or text. For complex images, beware that PNGs may create larger files than the other formats. The PNG format uses lossless compression, which means the quality is preserved.
• JPEG, for “Joint Photographic Experts Group,” is good for most photographs. JPEGs create smaller files by using lossy compression, which means there will be a loss of image quality every time you save this file format.
• GIF (Graphical Interchange Format) is used to create animations. GIFs use lossless compression, which means the quality remains the same.

Other image file types that are becoming popular include:

• SVG. This is a scalable vector format. As opposed to the raster types mentioned above, vector graphics can be extremely small files that don’t lose quality no matter how much they’re enlarged. Vector images use specific commands or programs to construct the image from the ground up, so they are easier to scale and faster to load than raster images, which use bitmaps as a method of storing the information.

  

  SVG isn’t right for photos or complex images, but it works well for simple graphics with geometric shapes, such as a logo.

Now, next-generation image formats exist. These formats have better compression, are higher quality, load faster, and take less cellular data:

• JPEG 2000
• JPEG-XR
• WebP

WebP has been gaining attention lately. It’s possible to convert existing JPEG and PNG files to WebP. There are even WordPress plugins that can do this on the fly, making all your images lighter weight.

From the Google Developers FAQ page on WebP:

WebP is a method of lossy and lossless compression that can be used on a large variety of photographic, translucent and graphical images found on the web. The degree of lossy compression is adjustable so a user can choose the trade-off between file size and image quality. WebP typically achieves an average of 30% more compression than JPEG and JPEG 2000, without loss of image quality …

5. Optimize Your Image File Size

There’s no single best way to optimize images. For each one, you need to find the optimal balance between minimum file size and maximum quality. Here are must-dos:

• Resize and crop images to be no larger (in dimensions) than they’ll be displayed. With raster-style images (the most common type on the web), you might need to save several versions at various resolutions to work for different uses.
• Choose the most efficient file format per image (see my last point). It’s OK to mix different types of images on the same webpage.
• Use compression to reduce file size. When saving a JPEG, for example, slide the quality bar down as far as you can without losing visual quality. With an SVG file, Google suggests you minify it by running it through a tool like svgo.
• Consider replacing a picture with a different technology altogether. CSS effects can produce shadows, gradients, and more. Web fonts let you show text in beautiful typefaces, which actually improves your page’s usability and crawlability compared to an image.

I suggest you bookmark Google’s image optimization guide for more technical how-tos.

6. Always Create Alt Attributes

Accessibility for all users is important. That’s why adding alt attributes to images is part of our always up-to-date SEO checklist.

Alt text describes what the image is about to the visually impaired who use screen readers. It also can give search engines valuable information about the image’s contents.

Only when appropriate, use a relevant keyword you’re targeting to describe the image.

Remember that with linked images, search engines treat the alt attribute text as the link anchor text. For example, if you have a question mark icon linking users to your help system, include alt=”Help” in your image tag.

7. Make Use of the Image Title

There’s an optional title attribute that you can give to each image. Some tests have shown that Google does index image titles.

8. Create an Image Caption

Add a little extra context by describing the image in a caption. You can also give the image source here, if appropriate.

9. Use a Descriptive File Name

How should you name your images? This is an often overlooked step when optimizing images. But the file name does help search engines understand what’s in an image, so it matters for image SEO.

When you save your image file, accurately describe the photo in a few words or less. For example, ugly-christmas-sweater is a better file name than IMG01534.

In a webinar with Google’s Gary Illyes at Search Engine Journal, he pointed out that it’s just not feasible for large sites to have accurate file names for all their images (Pinterest, for example). Illyes said this was more of a nice to have than a requirement for ranking.

But more recently, John Mueller said the URL and file name do matter:

Use a good URL structure for your image files. Google uses the URL path as well as the file name to help it understand your images.

Also, if you move or rename an image file, set up a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new one.

10. Implement Structured Data

Google Images supports structured data markup for a product, video and recipe. If you specify any of these types in your content, Google Images results will show this right on your image previews.

When you add structured data to your webpage’s HTML, your image results can be richer. Extra bits of information can show along with the image. And that can encourage more clicks and visitors to your site.

What about licensable images? Google now supports structured data for an image’s licensing information. Adding this gives credit to the license holder and also makes it easy for users to learn how to license the image.

11. Consider Image Placement on the Page

In its image best practices page (linked to earlier), Google says that “when it makes sense, consider placing the most important image near the top of the page.”

But in the SEJ webinar, Illyes said that you can put an image “pretty much anywhere on the page” and it can be picked up and shown in Google Images if it’s relevant to the query.

12. Analyze the Content around the Image

Consider the body text around the image. Does it give context to what the reader is looking at?

In the SEJ webinar, Illyes called the content around the image (on the page or in a caption) “critical” to understanding the image.

A$: The big one for me is to get the accessibility right with the alt text, then build around that with good captions and other related text near the image, Then add in a good file name and the image title. #SEOChat

— Paul Thompson (@thompsonpaul) October 11, 2018

13. Be Careful with Embedded Text

In that new video on image SEO embedded above, Google’s John Mueller cautions against embedding important text in an image. For example, don’t put a menu item or page heading in an image; put that text on the page instead.

Not all users and search engines can parse text in an image, and translation apps can’t read it. So it’s better that your navigation, headings, and other important words you want indexed be on-page text.

This is not to say you can’t ever overlay text on a photo (memes, anyone?).

Can Google read text in images? In a word, yes. Google uses optical character recognition (OCR) to read text in images, such as in Google Photos and Google Lens. We’ve tested this repeatedly with Google Search and confirmed that words in images do get indexed. However, OCR may not be 100% accurate. For effective image SEO, you still need to include descriptive text in all the places mentioned in this guide.

14. Optimize Page Metadata

Google shows relevant information about the webpage (where the image appears) in Google Images results.

So when you’re optimizing images, don’t skip the page’s metadata, including title and meta description. They give the user and search engine more context — just like in the regular search results.

There’s no guarantee that Google will use your metadata word for word. But they’re definitely part of its information processing. Google’s image best practices says:

Google Images automatically generates a title and snippet to best explain each result and how it relates to the user query. This helps users decide whether or not to click on a result.

We use a few different sources for this information, including descriptive information in the title, and meta tags for each page.

15. Ensure Fast Load Time

Performance is a huge consideration for image SEO, especially with Google’s Page Experience update around the corner.

Large images can drag down page load time. Here are tips to avoid that:

• Keep image files as small as possible (see Optimize Your Image File Size above).
• Make images responsive. Basically, that means they automatically change size to fit the user’s device. You can read more about responsive images here and in the “responsive images” section of the image best practices page.
• Consider lazy loading, which Google recommends as a way to combat slowness.
• Specify how much space the image is going to take up. Knowing this enables a browser to load the surrounding page content while the image file is being requested. There are several ways to do this, including: with a
  <div> container; in the CSS code; or with height and width attributes in the <img> tag.*

*TIP: Not specifying height and width attributes for images is problematic for another reason, too. It’s the most common cause of cumulative layout shift (CLS), or the unwanted movement of content parts as a page loads. CLS is one of the core web vitals that can impact your page experience and potentially hurt your rankings.

16. Make Sure Images Are Discoverable

Make sure that search engines can access the images on your site. When they can’t, the robots.txt file is often to blame.

Google Search Console’s “Inspect URL” feature can help you test this. You can also use Google’s mobile-friendly test tool to discover how your pages, including images, work for mobile.

Also, images have their own URLs that can be indexed. So to preserve existing image rankings, be sure to use a proper 301 redirect if you ever need to change an image URL.

17. Create an Image Sitemap

As an optional step, you can create an image sitemap that lists the image files on your website. This can help Google discover them.

You can create a separate XML sitemap for images or include them in your regular sitemap file. (Learn more about this in our creating a sitemap tutorial.)

In the webinar at SEJ, Gary Illyes said that image sitemaps “help enormously” with the image discovery process.

I recommend including only original images, and not all site images, in your sitemap. Listing images from any external source may be a waste of the search engine’s processing budget. Google will find them on your pages anyhow. Taking crawl time, as if they have changed, is not needed.

If an image is unique to your site and revised or new, then include it in your image sitemap. If it was already crawled and not altered, a recrawl is simply wasting time.

Summary

The changes to Google Images are positive for users and for SEOs. Google has once again elevated the standards for websites to create quality content.

Image SEO will evolve — but many of the basics still hold true. The goal is to create the best experience for users visiting your site.

• Present original, useful content with high-quality, relevant images.
• Make a fast website that doesn’t make users wait for pages to load.
• Optimize your images so that search engines can index them properly.

Apply the techniques in this article to optimize images. You may get a leg up on the competition and more eyeballs on your webpages.

(Learn more about how to optimize multimedia content. Check out our search engine optimization guide for more best practices.)

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FAQ: How can I effectively optimize images for better search engine visibility and user engagement?

Image optimization is pivotal in today’s digital landscape, influencing search engine rankings and user experience. When executed effectively, it can significantly boost the visibility of your content in search results and captivate your audience. Let’s explore some key insights into how you can master image optimization for optimal search engine visibility and user engagement.

Understanding Image Optimization

Image optimization involves a series of techniques to reduce images’ file size without compromising their quality. This is crucial because larger image files can slow down website loading times, leading to a poor user experience and potentially affecting your search engine rankings. Compression, resizing, and format selection are the cornerstones of effective image optimization. By striking the right balance between file size and visual quality, you ensure your images load quickly and appear sharp across devices.

Strategic Use of Descriptive File Names and Alt Text

When search engines index your content, they rely on textual cues to understand its context. This is where descriptive file names and alt text come into play. Instead of generic names like “image123.jpg,” use meaningful names that reflect the image’s content. Additionally, craft concise yet informative alt text that accurately describes the image. This not only aids accessibility for visually impaired users but also provides search engines with valuable information to index your images effectively.

Leveraging Image Sitemaps

Search engines use sitemaps better to understand the structure of your website and its content. Similarly, image sitemaps specifically provide search engines with metadata about the images on your site. Creating and submitting an image sitemap ensures that search engines accurately crawl and index your images. This can improve image search rankings and increase visibility in relevant search queries.

Page Load Speed and Responsive Design

User engagement is closely tied to page load speed and responsive design. Mobile users constitute a significant portion of online traffic, and images that are not optimized for various screen sizes can deter engagement. By employing responsive design principles and optimizing images for mobile devices, you create a seamless browsing experience. Faster load times and a responsive layout contribute to lower bounce rates and higher user satisfaction.

A/B Testing and Continuous Improvement

The landscape of search engine algorithms and user preferences is ever-evolving. Consider conducting A/B tests with different image formats, sizes, and placements to stay ahead. Analyze metrics like bounce rates, time spent on a page, and conversion rates to gauge the impact of image optimization changes. Continuous improvement based on data-driven insights will help you refine your image optimization strategies over time.

Mastering image optimization is an art that combines technical prowess with a deep understanding of user behavior and search engine algorithms. By optimizing images for fast loading, providing descriptive metadata, embracing responsive design, and iteratively refining your approach, you can enhance both search engine visibility and user engagement. Stay attuned to industry trends and algorithm updates to ensure your image optimization strategies remain effective in the dynamic digital landscape.

Step-by-Step Procedure: How to Effectively Optimize Images for Search Engine Visibility and User Engagement

1. Choose an Appropriate Format: Select appropriate image file formats like JPEG or PNG that correspond with the image type and level of detail, such as JPEG and PNG.
2. Compress Images: Use tools like Adobe Photoshop, TinyPNG, or Squoosh to compress images while maintaining quality.
3. Resize Images: Adjust dimensions to fit various screen sizes without distorting the image’s aspect ratio.
4. Use Descriptive File Names: Rename image files with descriptive, relevant keywords instead of generic names.
5. Craft Informative Alt Text: Write concise and accurate alt text that describes the image’s content and purpose.
6. Prioritize Accessibility: Ensure that alt text is meaningful for visually impaired users who rely on screen readers.
7. Create Image Sitemaps: Generate an XML image sitemap and submit it to search engines using Google Search Console.
8. Implement Responsive Design: Design web pages to be responsive across devices, optimizing image display.
9. Optimize for Mobile: Resize and compress images for mobile devices to improve loading speed and user experience.
10. Test Different Formats: Conduct A/B tests with different image formats to determine the most effective for your audience.
11. Analyze User Engagement: Monitor metrics like bounce rates, time on page, and conversions after implementing changes.
12. Monitor Algorithm Updates: Stay informed about search engine algorithm changes that could impact image optimization.
13. Iterate and Refine: Continuously improve your image optimization strategy based on performance data.
14. Monitor Loading Speed: Regularly assess page loading speed and make necessary adjustments.
15. Utilize Lazy Loading: Implement lazy loading to defer off-screen images, enhancing initial page load speed.
16. Use Content Delivery Networks (CDNs): Distribute images through CDNs to improve loading times across geographies.
17. Minimize Plugins and Scripts: Reduce the use of unnecessary plugins and scripts that could slow down your website.
18. Leverage Browser Caching: Configure browser caching to store images and improve load times for returning visitors.
19. Regularly Audit Images: Remove or update outdated images to keep your content fresh and relevant.
20. Stay Updated: Stay current with industry best practices and evolving search engine trends to maintain effective image optimization strategies.

By following these steps, you can strategically optimize images to enhance search engine visibility and user engagement, creating a seamless online experience that resonates with your audience.

The post How to Improve Google Image Search Ranking appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

• Page experience: images, videos, and other multimedia content
• Image optimization
• Video optimization
• Audio optimization
• FAQ: What are the key elements to consider when optimizing images for SEO? 

Page Experience: Images, Videos, and Other Multimedia Content

In the Step 10 lesson, you learned why having engaging images, videos, and other rich media objects on your webpages matters for search engine ranking. And let’s face it — without them, ​plain text content is boring! SEO optimization of these elements is crucial for human visitors as well as search engines.

Non-text elements such as images, videos, audio, and other types of rich media help engage and retain a visitor’s interest. They also raise the quality of your webpage. Search engines are getting better at reading these non-text engagement objects, but it’s the job of SEO to clearly communicate what the content is about.

This lesson focuses on the most frequently used and SEO-significant types of rich media and how to optimize them …

Image Optimization Best Practices for SEO

Content with images performs better than plain text content. Yet, a website’s ​images are an area of optimization that businesses frequently ignore.

Check for these essential elements when optimizing images for search:

• Image selection: Choose an image that relates to the subject matter of your content. Beyond being relevant, an image that’s original (such as a photo you stage and shoot yourself) has more value from an SEO and branding perspective since it will be unique.
• Honor copyrights: If you do use stock photos, make sure to pay any required license fees and give proper attribution. (SEO Tip: You can search for royalty-free or “creative commons” images, but be careful since each individual image may have its own usage requirements.) Images with trademarks or logos can also be tricky; check the owner’s legal requirements to make sure your user is permissible.
• File format: Save the image in a format search engines can index. With most image editors, you can save the file as a PNG, JPEG or GIF.
• Name: Describe the picture using the appropriate keyword(s) within the file name.

• A​lt text: Include brief text describing the image in an alt attribute (in the HTML image tag). This text can be read by both search engines and people (especially the visually impaired, who use screen-reader software to “read” a page).
  SEO Tip: With linked images, search engines treat the alt attribute as the link anchor text.
• Text support: Give the image context by describing it in a caption and in the surrounding text, including the keywords you used in the file name and ​alt attribute.
• Size: File size matters on the web. Keeping image file sizes small helps your pages load quickly, which is vital particularly for a good mobile user experience.
  SEO Tips: Make the browser’s job of displaying your images easier. Resize each image before uploading it to your website, and specify height and width attributes in the image tag.
• Sitemap: (Optional) Create an image XML Sitemap that lists all your images, and then submit it to the search engines for increased visibility within image search. (See Step 9 for more on creating XML Sitemaps.)

See our in-depth image SEO guide for more recommendations.

Image Types: The Choice is Yours

There are many types of images to choose from. A photo grabs a reader’s attention well, especially if it contains people’s faces. Beyond photographs, consider diagrams, artwork, illustrations, charts, graphs, logos, screenshots, memes — basically, any visual rich media element that communicates your subject matter and engages your user.

Another type of image that’s particularly popular (and gets reshared a lot) is the infographic. Infographics are relatively easy to build — you can find data through research (citing your sources, of course), and then put it together using one of the many free infographic tools available online. As a segue to our next section on video optimization, here’s an example infographic we made using Piktochart:

Video Optimization Best Practices for SEO

As the “Why Use Video?” infographic above explains, video is a key factor in SEO. Bruce Clay considers it to be the most important engagement element to have in your multimedia content arsenal. In fact, Google has a vested interest in video since it owns YouTube, which has become the second most popular search engine on the web.

Making videos doesn’t require a huge investment in equipment and software, or even a lot of tech savvy anymore. Some simple low-end options include smartphone videos, screen-capture videos, and live video conferences, ​in which multiple participants ​have a conversation from remote locations, filmed with their laptop mics and cameras, and automatically turned into a video.

Whether your videos are recorded with your webcam or high-end productions, you’ll need to follow some SEO tips to help your videos rank better in search:

• Format: Save your video in a format search engines can read, such as MPG, MPEG, MOV, M4V and WMV among several others.
• Hosting: Use YouTube (or a similar video hosting site, like Vimeo) to host your video and then embed it on your site. This enables the video to be found in YouTube searches, as well as web and video searches in Google, Bing, etc.
• Branding: Make your brand name or website URL visible if you host the video on a third-party site like YouTube. For instance, upload it to your brand’s YouTube channel and show your brand name in the video (a subtle reference near the end works well).
• Tags: Place keywords in the video’s file name, description and keyword tags.
• Surrounding text: Optimize text around the embedded video with relevant keywords. Describe what the video is about so readers know what to expect and search engines can make sense of your video.
• Transcript: Create and upload a transcript, or use YouTube subtitles and captions as a transcript alternative. (SEO tip: Your keyword targets should be mentioned in the video so they’ll naturally appear in the transcript.)
• Sitemap: Create and submit a video XML sitemap to make it easier for search engines to find and index your video content. (See Step 9 for more on creating XML sitemaps.)

Audio and Podcast Optimization for SEO

Audio is a great way to add value to your existing content while enhancing the user experience.

Music sites are not the only ones that can offer quality audio files for visitors to listen to. ​Non-music sites can find ways to enrich the visitor’s experience using audio. (Note: Let the visitor control whether audio plays, rather than starting the sound automatically, as a courtesy.)

A podcast is a digital audio file that can be downloaded or streamed from the web. Widespread internet access in cars and phones has enabled podcasts to surge as a popular way to consume content. Millions of people listen to podcasts every day to learn new skills, get news and entertainment, or hear an audiobook — among many other reasons to listen to podcasts.

Consider hosting a podcast if you have lessons, news recaps, interviews, or some other type of audio content that would be interesting and useful for your audience to digest on a regular basis.

Here are a few tips for incorporating audio files (podcasts, music, or other) as multimedia content on your site:

• Quality: Choose audio files with good sound quality.
• File naming: Optimize audio file names with relevant keywords just as you would for image or video files.
• Relevant text: Similar to the video, you can create and provide a transcript that includes mentions of your keywords. Also, use the text surrounding the podcast/audio file to describe its contents and incorporate keywords.
• Title, description: Make sure each episode of your podcast has its own unique title and description.

SEO GUIDE BONUS

Find out why producing expert, competent content is necessary for your search marketing strategy. Optimizing multimedia elements helps that strategy succeed. Here Bruce Clay speaks to Murray Newlands in an interview for Search Engine Journal.

Next up in the SEO guide, you’ll learn how to organize your website using siloing. Bruce Clay was the first to introduce this key technique, and it alone has helped many brands see rapid, measurable improvements in search engine rankings.

Next Lesson

Need more SEO tips?
See more on Video Optimization or Search Engine Optimization

Related blog posts and articles:

• How to Improve Google Image Search Ranking
• Create an Infographic for Free (Seriously)
• 10 Video SEO Tips to Improve Rank and User Experience
• A 6-Step Guide for Repurposing Content

FAQ: What are the key elements to consider when optimizing images for SEO?

Search engines like Google rely on various factors to rank webpages, and images play a crucial role. To ensure your images contribute positively to your SEO efforts, it’s essential to consider the following key elements:

1. File Format Selection: 

Begin by choosing the right file format. JPEG is ideal for photographs and images with many colors, while PNG is suitable for transparent graphics and images. Selecting the appropriate format can significantly impact loading times and user experience.

2. Image Size and Dimensions: 

Keep image dimensions reasonable. Overly large images can slow down your website, affecting SEO and user satisfaction. Resize images to fit their display dimensions and use responsive design for mobile optimization.

3. Compression Techniques:

Utilize image compression to reduce file sizes without compromising quality. This not only improves website speed but also positively influences your SEO ranking.

4. Descriptive File Names:

Optimize your image filenames by using descriptive, relevant keywords. Avoid generic names like “image123.jpg.” Instead, opt for names that reflect the image’s content, such as “red-velvet-cake.jpg.”

5. Alt Text: 

Alt text is essential for accessibility and SEO. Provide accurate and concise alt text that describes the image’s content, incorporating relevant keywords naturally.

Attention to these elements will enhance your website’s SEO performance and user experience, ultimately increasing search engine ranking. Optimizing images goes beyond SEO; it makes your site more accessible and user-friendly.

Step-by-Step Procedure: Image SEO Optimization

1. Select the Right File Format: Choose JPEG and PNG based on your image’s characteristics.
2. Resize Images: Adjust image dimensions to match their display size and use responsive design.
3. Compress Images: Use compression tools to reduce file sizes while preserving quality.
4. Optimize Filenames: Rename images with descriptive, keyword-rich names.
5. Alt Text: Provide accurate and concise alt text describing image content and incorporating relevant keywords.
6. Implement Image Sitemaps: Create and submit image sitemaps to search engines.
7. Lazy Loading: Implement lazy loading to improve page loading times.
8. CDN Integration: Consider using a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to speed up image delivery.
9. Structured Data: Add structured data markup (schema.org) for images.
10. Monitor Performance: Regularly check website speed and image loading times.
11. Mobile Optimization: Ensure images are optimized for mobile devices.
12. Accessibility Compliance: Verify that images are accessible to all users, including those with disabilities.
13. Keyword Research: Conduct keyword research to identify relevant keywords for image optimization.
14. Competitor Analysis: Analyze competitors’ image SEO strategies.
15. User Experience Testing: Test how images affect user experience on your website.
16. Backlink Building: Secure backlinks to image-rich pages for improved SEO.
17. Regular Updates: Keep images updated and relevant to your content.
18. Analytics Monitoring: Use analytics tools to track image performance and make necessary adjustments.
19. User Engagement: Encourage user engagement with images through social sharing and comments.
20. Adherence to SEO Best Practices: Stay updated with SEO best practices and adapt your image optimization strategy accordingly.

By following this comprehensive procedure, you can optimize your website’s images for SEO effectively, enhancing your search engine rankings and user experience.

The post How to Optimize Images, Videos & Other Media Content for SEO appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..