Optimizing Images for SE Traffic - Is it Worth it?
Posted on January 31, 2007 by
Adie 
SEO 
18 Comments
When it comes to search engine marketing the only thing in most webmaster’s minds is ranking well on the conventional search engines. How many think about the possible benefits of ranking high for image searches? It’s something that has been written on countless times yet I still have a hard time finding webmasters who actually do it.
I’m not going to lead you to believe that ranking well for image searches is better or even close to ranking well for conventional searches because it’s not. However, if you have the opportunity to rank well for image searches, why not? It may not bring as much traffic as ranking well for conventional searching but in SEO every little bit counts.
The How To
Optimizing an image for search engines is extremely similar to optimizing a web page file for search engines. The two things you have to concentrate on are file name and the alt attribute. The first thing you need to do is find the keywords you want to target (just like in Building a Niche Minisite). Next you name your image with your keywords in mind just as you would do with your web page file. For example if your keyword is “rob zombie” you will want to name your image something like “rob_zomie.jpg”. Rocket science right?
The second thing you need to look at is the alt attribute. For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, the alt attribute is the little text that appears next to your cursor when you hover over an image. Many webmasters leave this out of their site completely, not to mention optimizing it for search engines. When optimizing your images for search engines you will want to include a short, concise description of the image but always with your keywords in mind. Avoid stuffing as many keywords into your alt as you can; just focus on the most important ones. Keeping with the same example as above, if your keyword is “rob zombie” you will want to include the text “Rob Zombie” in your alt attribute.
The Proof is in the Pudding
This is extremely simple. So simple in fact that it’s got to be nearly impossible for it to actually work and get your images to the top image searches on Google, wouldn’t you think? It’s entirely possible.
I made a Rob Zombie minisite last summer (which I’ve since sold). Since “rob zombie” is a competative keyword I didn’t do too great in the conventional search engine; however, before I realized it I had 2 out of the top 4 Rob Zombie images in Google’s image search for the term “rob zombie”.
The irony of it is that I got these images from Google’s image search, yet I was able to outrank them within a couple of weeks with no more work than what I listed above.
Is it Worth it?
So now you know how to optimize images for search engines, and you have proof that it works and is fairly easy to do. But is it worth it? Having images at the top of image search results means that the vast majority of your visitors will be interested in that image and that image alone. Whether it’s for posting up in a forum, on their Myspace page, or just to show to a friend, most of your image search traffic will be from people who want access to a specific image one time. This traffic obviously won’t convert into ad clicks or CPA leads. However, a small percent of it will actually stick around to see the site. That’s what you’re hoping for.
Overall optimizing for image search is something that I believe every webmaster should do, but a small percent actually practice. Yes it will eat up a little of your bandwidth, but it will also generate traffic that otherwise would never see your site. That’s what SEO is all about.
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Interesting post. I will definately try it. Nothing to lose since I don’t post too many pictures. I’m not so sure that the turn over of people who look at the image will actually go to the site because all they want is the image (at least from my experience searchig for images).
Good post!
Good piece of advice. I have been implementing this into my sites for a while now, although I am not sure the extent to which it has brought me extra traffic.
Is there a way to track traffic from image searches?
I use my basic AWStates - it tells me who got to my site via Google image search.
Jane, you’re right image search traffic will generate a very low % of users visiting your actual site. But those few visitors are free, so why not get their attention? :)
Great article. This is something that I have known about but never really messed with. I think it would be in my best interest to though.
Just a note: the alt-attribute is not meant to be a tooltip (it’s a behavior of internet explorer to use it this way, safari and firefox don’t show a tooltip). If you want a correct tooltip please use the title-attribute of the image.
The alt-attribute’s use is to show an alternative text, if the browser can not show the image.
Good post Matt. My site will be moderately image intensive and I’ve been researching naming conventions. Thanks for the info.
Arne - good call. In any case whether the alt text appears when you hover over the image or not is irrelevant as long as the search engines read it.
Matt,
You’re right. Visitors are visitors regardless the number or where they come from, if they come then it’s only going to benefit the site.
A post titled “Feeling Sandboxed? How You Can Get 53% More Searches with One Tweak” was recently posted at Pearsonified, it addresses the same topic as this post and includes more detailed advice for those looking into it.
Allen.H
Good link Allen.
It’s a hassle to make sure all your images have the necessary attributes, but if at the end of the day you get a few more visitors from it, then it’s worth the trouble.
I notice that you include the alt attribute over all your links. This is a good feature as it makes your site look more organized.
[...] Eli has posted up an article on Blue Hat SEO on how to deal with pesky hotlinkers. This is a great solution to the problem inherent in optimizing your images for SEO traffic. [...]
But image viewrs sometime wont notice your site they just save the image and get away
That’s absolutely true Ajith. But the point of SEO is to get the visitors there (especially targeted visitors) and hope that a fraction of them stick.
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