According to some SEO pundits, optimizing images for search engines is woefully underused, and according to others it doesn’t make much difference. But the end result is that optimizing images for search engines certainly isn’t going to hurt, so here are some tips how to do it.

• Use original images that you can brand with your logo or url.
• Use high quality images and make adjustments to resolution between the full sized images and thumbnails.
• Save photos as JPGs and other images as GIFs. Search engines interpret GIFs as standard graphic images (256 colors), and they’re going to interpret JPGs as photos.
• Make the file names representative of what’s in the picture, i.e., “small-mouth-bass.jpg” as opposed to “DSC1452.jpg.”
• Optimize the page the image is on. Search engines examine the text surrounding a graphic to determine relevancy. Use labels, captions, and relevant text all around your image.
• But don’t “keyword stuff.” Users and search engines see right through that.
• Don’t put a “click to see larger image” in a JavaScript link. The search engines can’t “see” it that way.
• If you’re targeting very popular keywords, try re-uploading your pictures. Image freshness sometimes clues the search engines in as to relevancy. It’s worth a shot anyway.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 6th, 2010 at 5:09 am and is filed under Optimization Techniques, SEO. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.