Seo 101: Get Started With Simple Optimizations

Sep 19, 2017 Akshat Goyal is the founder of Ghaas, a growth marketing agency focused on helping startups and young companies achieve long term, sustainable growth, fast. With more than six years of experience in growth marketing, he loves dabbling with product, technology and working on challenging problems. Get your social accounts connected to HubSpot as soon as possible so you can start collected all of that great data! First steps for using website tools If you’re creating any piece of content for your website ( landing page, blog post, or website page if you're using the CMS), this is where you go.

It’s no secret that if you want to drive organic search traffic to your website, your SEO game needs to be on point. However, many people overlook one very critical resource for raking in all of that sweet, sweet organic traffic: Google image search. And in order to get that traffic, you need to know about image optimization.

Users who are searching for images on Google image search will often click on those images, which takes them to the website on which the image is hosted, which translates into organic traffic. So how much potential does Google image search have to drive traffic to your website? Data suggests that on websites with well optimized images the resulting traffic from Google image search can translate into 20% to 60% of all Google traffic. That’s huge!

Resulting traffic from Google image search can be ~20% to 60% of traffic for well-optimized imgs. Click To Tweet

So how can you optimize images to rank well in Google image search and drive traffic to your website? Here’s everything you need to know:

Image Optimization Step One: Choose The Right Image

Choose Compelling, Relevant Images

Just like when you’re writing content to bring in SEO traffic, the best way to optimize images in a blog post is to make sure that the images that you choose are relevant and compelling. Your images should let the reader know that they’re in the right place and should be appealing enough to make them want to stick around for a while and check out the rest of your content.

When visitors spend more time on your page and click on links and images, all of that sends signals to Google that lets the search engine know that people enjoy your content — which will help to improve your rankings in Google search and in Google image search, as well.

One important thing to note about the images you choose is that, though there are several guides to image optimization floating around the Internet that say that unique images rank better in Google image search than, say, stock images, there is actually no evidence that this is actually the case. While duplicate content can cause your rankings to suffer, Google doesn’t penalize duplicate images the way it penalizes duplicate text.

However, this doesn’t mean that you are totally off the hook when it comes to duplicate images. Google might not directly penalize your duplicate images, but if your images are too generic or are overused, your readers are unlikely to stick around as long. Your best bet for optimizing images on your posts is to choose images that will appeal to your readers — and in many cases, unique images do the best job of this.

Seo 101: Get Started With Simple Optimizations At Home

If your images are too generic or are overused, your readers are unlikely to stick around as long. Click To Tweet

Make Sure Your Images Are Properly Sourced

Believe it or not, where you get your image is ultimately even more important than the image that you end up choosing. You need to be sure that the images that you are using have been legally sourced or you could be slapped with an $8,000 lawsuit for copyright infringement. Inadvertently using an image that you don’t have permission to use might seem like an innocent mistake, but the repercussions can be huge — and chances are good that you are going to get caught eventually.

Google image search has a reverse search feature that makes it easy for people to enter a particular image and find the other places that image appears on the web. This isn’t just a great tool for catching catfish, it also provides a way for people to check and see if images that they own are being used elsewhere on the Internet. So if you don’t catch your mistake before you post the image on your website, someone else probably will — and that person has grounds for a lawsuit. Yikes.

So where are the best places to source images? Here are some of our favorites:

Bigstock: This is a great go-to option for stock photos. Their collection is enormous, so you’re likely to find an image that will work for you. The prices are also pretty reasonable, with each image cost somewhere between a few cents and a few dollars, depending on what plan you’re signed up for.

Twenty20: If you’re using stock photos all the time like we are, you’ll quickly run into two problems. First of all, stock photos can sometimes be way too “stock photo-y”, which makes them less engaging to your readers. And secondly, there is a very real problem with diversity in the stock photo world — in that there is not nearly enough of it. Twenty20 addresses both of these issues with gorgeous, high-quality images that represent people of all backgrounds, body types, ethnicities, and orientations in ways that feel genuine and human.

However, there are a couple of drawbacks. Twenty20 doesn’t have nearly the number of images that some of the bigger stock photo sites have, so you might not always find what you’re looking for. Also, while photos on sites like Bigstock will run you a couple of bucks at most, Twenty20 costs about five times that for an image. If you use photos from Twenty20, you’ll want to use them strategically.

Unsplash: Unsplash has some of the most gorgeous stock photos that we’ve ever seen — and the best part is that they are all 100% free to anyone, even for commercial use. However, their limited library and the fact that the artistic nature of their images doesn’t make them a great fit for every project keeps this from being a resource that you can rely on as your one and only.

Seo 101: Get Started With Simple Optimizations

In reality, if you’re using stock images a lot, you’ll probably settle on some combination of stock photo sites for sourcing your images — that’s certainly been our strategy. Just make sure that before you make a final decision that you check the “terms and services” for the image service that you use so that you can be absolutely certain you’ve got permission to use the images on the website you are sourcing them for. Not all licenses are the same, and some stock photo sites have restrictions about what kinds of businesses and products you can represent with their images — so be sure to double check.

If You’re a Brick and Mortar Business, Remember Local Image SEO

Local SEO also benefits from great image SEO. Including beautiful photos of your business location, staff photos that show off your business culture and professional-quality product photos — all optimized with keywords, alt text and optimized file names — will help your company appeal to local customers searching for products and services like yours. You should also include these photos in your Google My Business listing.

Image Optimization Step Two: Uploading Your Image

Use Keywords in Your Image Name

A+ image optimization starts with the name that you give to your images. The keywords that you identify in the keyword research stage of creating your content should be included in the image names. Whenever possible, these keywords should be worked into your images names from the start.

Seo 101: get started with simple optimizations worksheet

Seo 101: Get Started With Simple Optimizations Worksheet

Download the Ultimate SEO Keyword Research Starter Kit — It’s Free!

If you need help getting started with keyword research for SEO, or even if you just want to polish up your skills, click the button below to get your free copy of our Keyword Research Starter Kit with three complete guides to keyword research and our keyword research template.

Use Hyphens Instead of Underscores to Name Images

Many people aren’t aware of this fact, but there is a difference in how Google treats hyphens as opposed to underscores when reading text, alt-text, file names, and even URLs — and if you choose the wrong one it could negatively impact your image SEO. This is because when Google sees words that are separated by hyphens, it assumes the words are separate words. However, when Google comes across words separated by underscores, it assumes that the words are all one word.

Google treats hyphens & underscores differently when reading text, alt-text, and URLs Click To Tweet

For examples, Google would read “image-optimization” as “image optimization”, however, it would read “image_optimization” as “imageoptimization.” Obviously, using underscores in this situation could negatively affect your image SEO, especially if “image optimization” is the keyword that you’re hoping to rank for. Though many people love a good underscore, when it comes to optimizing your images for google image search, it’s best to play it safe and stick to hyphens.

Pay Attention to the Image Size

One of the ranking factors that Google uses in its ranking algorithm is page speed, which is basically how long it takes for any particular page on your website to load. Google’s algorithm is all about providing the best experience for Google users, so pages with longer load times are penalized. This applies to images as well. The larger an image is, the longer it will take to load which could negatively impact your image SEO.

Now, this is where image optimization becomes a little bit of a balancing act. For the reason listed above, you want your images to be high-resolution, eye-catching, and well integrated into your copy — which means that in most situations a small image just isn’t going to cut it. However, if your images are too large, all of your other image optimization could be thwarted by a longer load time.

Your best option when it comes to image optimization is to use images that are exactly the size that you need, but not any bigger than that. Many platforms will allow you to upload images of almost any size and will then squeeze larger images down to fit in the space provided.

So before you upload a picture, make sure it’s the right size. For most page layouts, images that are somewhere between 600 and 800 pixels wide should be about right. We recommend ImageKit.io as a real-time imageoptimization and resizing tool which works with all your existing images as well as new images. ImageKit.io provides many features such as URL based resizing, automatic best image format selection, responsive website images and super-fast delivery.

Use Keywords in Your Alt Text

Your image alt text is basically an accessibility tag. Its function is to provide information about the photo in cases where the image isn’t actually being displayed. This can happen when the image fails to load, and also is the case with screen reading tools that blind people use to surf the web. When you’re thinking about using alt text for image optimization, you want to think of it as a way to give information to people about the image that you’ve posted — because that’s its primary purpose.

However, alt text is also a great place to include keywords to optimize images for Google image search, as well. If you’ve followed the above advice and you’ve chosen images that are relevant to your topic, then working those keywords into the alt text in a way that still accurately describes the pictures shouldn’t be too much of a stretch.

SEO experts: stick to 5 or 6 words in your image alt text for the best results. Click To Tweet

Also, make sure that your alt text is concise. This is not the place to write a novel, so save all of that extra copy for the text of your post. When you’re optimizing images for Google image search, most SEO experts recommend sticking to 5 or 6 words and under 120 characters in your alt text for the best results.

Image Optimization Step 3: Integrating Your Image Into Your Copy

Write Great Content Using SEO Best Practices

Nothing in the world of SEO happens in a vacuum, and that includes image optimization. Google is constantly getting signals back from users who visit your site that tells the search engine about the quality and relevance of your page. That means that no matter how good of a job you do in optimizing images for Google image search, if your content and site specs aren’t on point all of your hard work will be for nothing. (If you need to brush up, you can check out our comprehensive guide How to Write Blogs Posts That Convert — And Bring in SEO Traffic for some pointers.)

Place Your Images Strategically

Images can do more for your post than just convey information and make your content more visually compelling — images can also make your post more readable as well. Think about it: when you’re surfing the web and you come across a giant wall of unbroken text, how likely are you to stick around? If you’re like most people, you’ll bounce out of there without even skimming the content.

Images can help improve your page’s appeal as well as decrease your bounce rate by breaking up text to make it more readable — so make sure that you are placing them accordingly. A good rule of thumb is that as someone is scrolling through your post, they should never reach a point where there is only text and no pictures on the page. You can usually accomplish this by posting at least one image per 500 words.

Post at least 1 image every 500 words for optimal scrolling pleasure. Click To Tweet

Seo 101: Get Started With Simple Optimizations Examples

Things That Might Improve Your Image Optimization

The true inner workings of the Google algorithm are largely a mystery, even to the most advanced SEO experts. Sometimes Google will make a statement and confirm that certain ranking factors are indeed part of the algorithm, but for the most part we’re left to figure it out through trial and error and data analysis.

Everything that we’ve listed above we can say with confidence will help you better optimize your images for Google image search — either because Google has explicitly said so, or because the empirical evidence proving its impact is overwhelming. However, there are some other things that have been speculated to help image optimization, but there just isn’t enough evidence to say for certain whether they do or not.

Keyword Optimized Title Tags

We’ve already discussed the enormous importance of alt text when it comes to optimizing your image for Google image search. However, what about title tags? Don’t know what we’re talking about? Let’s look at an html image tag:
<img src=”image.jpg” alt=”image description goes here” title=”image tooltip goes here”/>

The title tag comes after the alt text in an image tag, and instead of describing the image as is the case with the alt text, this is where the text for the tooltip goes should you choose to use one. The tooltip is basically extra set of text that will appear when you hover over the image. This can be used to add additional information or even a call to action — or it can be left blank entirely.

Using keywords here might help you with your image optimization, or it might not. There really isn’t any great evidence for that pointing one way or another. That’s why the best move is probably to use title tags when they make sense and will help improve the experience for the reader, but otherwise you’re probably fine skipping them.

Using Keywords in Image Metadata

Unlike alt text, which is added to an image after it’s been uploaded for use, metadata is information about the image that is carried with the image itself. The metadata can contain information about things like who created the image, a description of the image, and even copyright information. This seems like a pretty good place to include some keywords, however, does Google include metadata in its ranking factors?

The short and frustrating answer is that the best answer that anyone at Google has given on this topic is that Google“can read” and “reserves the right” to use metadata as a ranking factor. That’s not exactly satisfying, however, at this point it’s all that we have to go on. Which is why, as with title tags, if it makes sense to use metadata then go ahead, but it’s probably not necessary — at least for now.

Learn More About SEO Best Practices

We hope this guide has given you a better sense of how to optimize images for Google image search. If you’re looking for more resources to help you get the most out of your SEO strategy, get a free copy of our Keyword Research Starter Kit, including three comprehensive guides to keyword research and a keyword research template.

For even more SEO tips, check out our free webinar on fixing 9 common SEO mistakes. It gives you a taste of what we offer in our SEO 101 Training Series: a comprehensive online course that turns you into your company’s SEO go-to. See our SEO syllabus and contact us to sign up!

If you have any other tips you’d like to add, please let us know in the comments below or tweet us @ContentFac.

Check out our SEO Starter Guide
If you're in a hurry, here's the one-page version.

What is an SEO?

SEO is an acronym for 'search engine optimization' or 'search engine optimizer.' Deciding to hire an SEO is a big decision that can potentially improve your site and save time, but you can also risk damage to your site and reputation. Make sure to research the potential advantages as well as the damage that an irresponsible SEO can do to your site. Many SEOs and other agencies and consultants provide useful services for website owners, including:

Seo 101: Get Started With Simple Optimizations For Dummies

  • Review of your site content or structure
  • Technical advice on website development: for example, hosting, redirects, error pages, use of JavaScript
  • Content development
  • Management of online business development campaigns
  • Keyword research
  • SEO training
  • Expertise in specific markets and geographies.

Advertising with Google won't have any effect on your site's presence in our search results. Google never accepts money to include or rank sites in our search results, and it costs nothing to appear in our organic search results. Free resources such as Search Console, the official Google Search Central blog, and our discussion forum can provide you with a great deal of information about how to optimize your site for organic search.

Getting started

If you run a small local business, you can probably do much of the work yourself. Here are some good resources:

  • Check out our 30-minute video series on building an online presence for your business.
  • The SEO starter guide describes much of what your SEO will do for you. Although you don't need to know this guide well yourself if you're hiring a professional to do the work for you, it is useful to be familiar with these techniques, so that you can be aware if an SEO wants to use a technique that is not recommended or, worse, strongly discouraged.

Remember that it will take time for you to see results: typically from four months to a year from the time you begin making changes until you start to see the benefits.

If you think that you still need extra help from a professional, continue reading about how to choose an SEO.

Choosing an SEO

If you're thinking about hiring an SEO, the earlier the better. A great time to hire is when you're considering a site redesign, or planning to launch a new site. That way, you and your SEO can ensure that your site is designed to be search engine-friendly from the bottom up. However, a good SEO can also help improve an existing site.

  1. Be committed to implementing the recommended changes. Making the changes recommended by an SEO takes time and effort; if you aren't going to take the time to make these changes, it's not worthwhile hiring a professional.
  2. Interview your potential SEO. Some useful questions to ask an SEO include:
    • Can you show me examples of your previous work and share some success stories?
    • Do you follow the Google Webmaster Guidelines?
    • Do you offer any online marketing services or advice to complement your organic search business?
    • What kind of results do you expect to see, and in what timeframe? How do you measure your success?
    • What's your experience in my industry?
    • What's your experience in my country/city?
    • What's your experience developing international sites?
    • What are your most important SEO techniques?
    • How long have you been in business?
    • How can I expect to communicate with you? Will you share with me all the changes you make to my site, and provide detailed information about your recommendations and the reasoning behind them?
    • See if the SEO is interested in you and your business. If they're not interested, find someone who is. Your SEO should ask questions such as:
      • What makes your business or service unique and valuable to customers?
      • Who are your customers?
      • How does your business make money, and how can search results help?
      • What other advertising channels are you using?
      • Who are your competitors?
  3. Check your SEO's business references. Ask past clients if they felt that this SEO provided useful service, was easy to work with, and produced positive results.
  4. Ask for a technical and search audit for your site to learn what they think needs to be done, why, and what the expected outcome should be. You'll probably have to pay for this. You will probably have to give them read-only access to your site on Search Console. (At this stage, don't grant them write access.) Your prospective SEO should be able to give you realistic estimates of improvement, and an estimate of the work involved. If they guarantee you that their changes will give you first place in search results, find someone else.
  5. Decide if you want to hire.

Precautions

While SEOs can provide clients with valuable services, some unethical SEOs have given the industry a black eye by using overly aggressive marketing efforts and attempting to manipulate search engine results in unfair ways. Practices that violate our guidelines may result in a negative adjustment of your site's presence in Google, or even the removal of your site from our index.

When your SEO comes up with a set of recommendations for your site, ask her to corroborate these recommendations with a trusted source, such as a Search Console help page, Google Search Central blog entry, or Google-sanctioned response in the forum.

Here are some things to consider:

  • One common scam is the creation of 'shadow' domains that funnel users to a site by using deceptive redirects. These shadow domains often will be owned by the SEO who claims to be working on a client's behalf. However, if the relationship sours, the SEO may point the domain to a different site, or even to a competitor's domain. If that happens, the client has paid to develop a competing site owned entirely by the SEO.
  • Another illicit practice is to place 'doorway' pages loaded with keywords on the client's site somewhere. The SEO promises this will make the page more relevant for more queries. This is inherently false since individual pages are rarely relevant for a wide range of keywords. More insidious, however, is that these doorway pages often contain hidden links to the SEO's other clients as well. Such doorway pages drain away the link popularity of a site and route it to the SEO and its other clients, which may include sites with unsavory or illegal content.
  • Finally, avoid getting involved in link schemes, such as buying links from other sites to increase your ranking. This is against Google's quality guidelines and can result in a manual action against some or all of your site, which will negatively affect your site ranking.

If you feel that you were deceived by an SEO in some way, you may want to report it.

Seo 101: Get Started With Simple Optimizations For Beginners

In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) handles complaints about deceptive or unfair business practices. To file a complaint, visit: http://www.ftc.gov/ and click on 'File a Complaint Online,' call 1-877-FTC-HELP, or write to:

Federal Trade Commission
CRC-240
Washington, D.C. 20580

If your complaint is against a company in a country other than the United States, please file it at http://www.econsumer.gov/.

Helpful guidelines

  • Be wary of SEO firms and web consultants or agencies that email you out of the blue.

    Amazingly, we get these spam emails too:

    'Dear google.com,
    I visited your website and noticed that you are not listed in most of the major search engines and directories...'

    Reserve the same skepticism for unsolicited email about search engines as you do for 'burn fat at night' diet pills or requests to help transfer funds from deposed dictators.

  • No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.

    Beware of SEOs that claim to guarantee rankings, allege a 'special relationship' with Google, or advertise a 'priority submit' to Google. There is no priority submit for Google. In fact, the only way to submit a site to Google directly is through our Add URL page or by submitting a Sitemap and you can do this yourself at no cost whatsoever.

  • Be careful if a company is secretive or won't clearly explain what they intend to do.

    Ask for explanations if something is unclear. If an SEO creates deceptive or misleading content on your behalf, such as doorway pages or 'throwaway' domains, your site could be removed entirely from Google's index. Ultimately, you are responsible for the actions of any companies you hire, so it's best to be sure you know exactly how they intend to 'help' you. If an SEO has FTP access to your server, they should be willing to explain all the changes they are making to your site.

  • You should never have to link to an SEO.

    Avoid SEOs that talk about the power of 'free-for-all' links, link popularity schemes, or submitting your site to thousands of search engines. These are typically useless exercises that don't affect your ranking in the results of the major search engines -- at least, not in a way you would likely consider to be positive.

  • Choose wisely.

    While you consider whether to go with an SEO, you may want to do some research on the industry. Google is one way to do that, of course. While Google doesn't comment on specific companies, we've encountered firms calling themselves SEOs who follow practices that are clearly beyond the pale of accepted business behavior. Be careful.

  • Be sure to understand where the money goes.

    While Google never sells better ranking in our search results, several other search engines combine pay-per-click or pay-for-inclusion results with their regular web search results. Some SEOs will promise to rank you highly in search engines, but place you in the advertising section rather than in the search results. A few SEOs will even change their bid prices in real time to create the illusion that they 'control' other search engines and can place themselves in the slot of their choice. This scam doesn't work with Google because our advertising is clearly labeled and separated from our search results, but be sure to ask any SEO you're considering which fees go toward permanent inclusion and which apply toward temporary advertising.

  • What are some other things to look out for?

    There are a few warning signs that you may be dealing with a rogue SEO. It's far from a comprehensive list, so if you have any doubts, you should trust your instincts. By all means, feel free to walk away if the SEO:

    • Owns shadow domains
    • Puts links to their other clients on doorway pages
    • Offers to sell keywords in the address bar
    • Doesn't distinguish between actual search results and ads that appear on search results pages
    • Guarantees ranking, but only on obscure, long keyword phrases you would get anyway
    • Operates with multiple aliases or falsified WHOIS info
    • Gets traffic from 'fake' search engines, spyware, or scumware
    • Has had domains removed from Google's index or is not itself listed in Google