Optimizing Images for SE Traffic – Is it Worth it?

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.