Internet Marketing

Optimizing Website Graphics and Images

So much has been said about content you’d think content was the only important part of website optimization. But that would simply not be true. Each and every image you use on your site should be optimized for Search Engine Results Pages (SERP). When using an image or graphic file on a website, you must be sure to name the file correctly. Naming an image or graphic correctly can be crucial when a site is scanned or ‘crawled’ by search engines. For example, if you have a site dedicated to Ferrari’s, you wouldn’t want an image on the site to be vaguely called ‘car.jpg’, instead, giving it a proper name will add relevancy and credibility to what the specific page or website site is about. The “alt tag” or alt attribute is a simple code you can add to your image/graphic and is meant to be another option for non-visual browsers when they come across images. This means that the text is used when the image is not visible on the page. Instead, the alternative text or tag is what’s read. In the article, “Describing Your Images for Better Web Accessibility”, Jennifer Kyrnin from About.com lists a few tips on how to successfully use “alt” attributes or tags:

• Be Brief - some browsers will break if the alt text is too long.
• Be Clear - don't be so brief that the context is confused.
• Be Contextual - don't describe the image if it's meant to be viewed in context.

Don't display your site's inner workings just describe the image with useful information.

Don't use it only for search engine optimization - Many websites developers think that if they use “alt” text as an SEO tool, they can "fool" the search engines by using a keyword on the alt tag that is not relevant. However, this can backfire. Because if the search engine decides you are trying to fake your results, your website will be completely removed from the search engine results.

XHTML Title Attributes is another key factor that needs to be added to the different elements on your website such as images/graphics, links, forms, etc. This is a very versatile way to provide more information to visitors or readers on your site. To give you a better example of what this means, if you view sites in modern browsers and hover over images/graphics or links, you’ll see a short title or description come up in a small box. This is a very advantageous way to help optimize your site or specific web page as this will also help that particular page or section of the site become more accessible in search results or page ranking.

If the images or graphics on your current website are not optimized, you are missing out on a very valuable component of Search Engine Optimization.

Please contact us if you would like a free evaluation of your current website.

Article by: Manish Dalal, Strategic Account Manager, Western Region.