Remember when content was king? Just a few years ago content marketing was the new concept in the world of digital marketing, but now it is more important than ever to consider images and videos. Content has taken a increasingly back seat to imagery and videos as business owners are using more photography and videos to explain what they have to offer. While content still reaps big rewards when it comes to SEO photography and videos are just as important to consider when it comes to SEO. The internet has become a very fun and visual place, and with all the great imagery to choose from why shouldn’t it be. Thats where visual search becomes important and you need to properly optimize images for Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Here are some guidelines that we put into place for clients that are using more visuals and managing their websites in-house, uploading videos and replacing imagery.
1. Name Your Image With The Right Title
First, you should never upload photos to your website with the standard camera-applied filename, like DSC_9764.jpg! This tells Google nothing at all. If your using an image from a stock house or taking your own photos take the time to change the name of that image to fit your business and your message or the product your selling. For example, if you want to upload a shot of automobile name the car. When it comes to SEO, it’s important to use acceptable keywords to help your site rank. Creating descriptive, keyword-rich file names is absolutely crucial for image optimization. Search engines not only crawl the text on your webpage, but they also search for keywords within your image. Describe your images in plain English, just like you do for image file names, make it short and sweet and make sure nothing is misspelled.
2. Choose The Right Photo To Communicate Your Message
Choosing the right shot is key to help Google and “the user” understand your business. You should choose a high quality photo meaning – use stock photography. If you want to take your own photos don’t use your phone as the quality is poor. Use a quality digital camera for high resolution pictures or better yet hire a professional photographer. You want your imagery sharp can crisp to help support your message.
3. Make Sure You Save Your Photos Correctly.
Make sure you use the right file format when saving your photo. JPEG’s are the most common, however PNG files are sometimes better for detailed photos. Make sure the size of your photo is small, saving it as a JPEG or PNG file will compress your image. Compressing your photos will mean faster loading times and better search rankings for your website. You don’t want a website that loads slow due to increased imagery or videos because you can bet the user will lose patience and leave your site. No one wants to sit there waiting for a page to load. Users want it fast, interesting and to find what they are looking for quick.
4. The Same Rules Apply For Videos
Using videos on your website can be a great way to grab attention of viewers. Videos has become increasingly popular and will only continue to grow. Compressing videos like your imagery is a must. Videos that are to large is a big issue as limited bandwidth and poor internet connections can lead to videos pausing and buffering. Large videos are bad for overall page load times and provide a negative user experience thus losing the visitors.
Videos you get from colleagues or editing studios can often be in the wrong format and can cause problems. Make sure whoever is taking the video or editing the video knows where the video will end up and make sure they save it in the correct file format.
Wieting Design | SEO Fairfield County CT
Wieting Design is a full-service, graphic and website design agency based in Fairfield County, CT and serving all of Connecticut (CT). We are committed to sharing our experience and expertise in website design, graphic design, social media marketing, search engine marketing (SEO), and video production to help build powerful tools and campaigns that work for your Connecticut business. Whether your objective is to grow your reputation, create client loyalty, drive traffic to your website or set up a marketing strategy, we will adapt our approach to get you the results you need with the services we provide.
