Optimising web page images
Another useful technique for improving website SEO
In another of our back-to-basics website SEO articles we will take a quick look at optimising images and how this can make a small but useful improvement to your ranking position in the search engines.
Whenever an image is embedded in a web pages, attributes can be added in the website code to convey additional information – namely the alt text and image title.
We will also take a quick look at image file names and whether they also help our SEO.
Image alt text
‘alt’ stands for alternative text and appears on a web page when the image it is associated with fails to load in a web browser. The intention here is that a user can still understand what was meant to be conveyed even when the image fails to show. Another important reason why alt text came into being was to assist the visually impaired who use tools called screen readers to interact with web pages. The screen reader will pick up alt text and enable the user to understand the page even though they can’t see it well.
Here’s an example:
In this case the image will load but had it not, the alt text would display and describe a white flag with a red cross flying on a white flag pole in a blue sky i.e. a good description of the image itself. You can test this by changing your browser settings so that images are not shown.
How is alt text useful for SEO?
We can also think of alt text as being the keywords that show behind an image. It is unwise to “stuff” lots of keywords into an alt tag but there is some benefit to adding a suitably descriptive, short sentence aligned with your keyword objectives. Whilst the overall benefit from this in the standard search results is probably small, it can make a big difference in the image search results and consequently provide more search engine traffic. With SEO, any small opportunity should be taken as the cumulative benefits can really help.
The Image Title
Another useful image attribute is the ‘title’ tag. This is primarily designed to assist human interaction with a web page but may also have a small benefit for SEO in that it assists Google to understand what an image is about. Where a title tag is applied, when a user mouses over the image, a ‘tool-tip’ appears showing the image description. Some browsers behave slightly differently when interpreting alt tags and image titles so expect some variations. Mouse over the flag above to see an image title attribute in action.
The image file name
The worth of the image file name has long been debated by SEO practitioners and its absolute value is unclear. However, experience suggests that a suitable image file name can assist, particularly with image search results. Given that it’s not an onerous task to do this and considering that our job is to seek any search result advantages however slight, then using descriptive image file names makes good sense.
Summary
Website images should be optimised for two key reasons, the first is to enhance user interaction, particularly for the visually impaired, the second is to glean as much search engine optimisation benefit as possible. If you are interested in this or other website optimsation opportunities, please give the Dental Media team a call on 01332 672548.