Images and SEO
Sean Ragsdale Teeing off the 12th Hole at the Vail Golf Course – Rocky Mountain Vacation Rentals
When users search Google, they have options. Usually, people search through the “Everything” tab. However, users are tending to search through the “Images” tab. For this reason we need to have SEO for images. This is really important for our SEO.
(For Bloggers) When blogging, we are NEVER TO USE other images, because we are not helping ourselves AT ALL. If you are looking for a photo and resort to Google, I will find you, and it will NOT BE GOOD.
Added Value Proposition:
When going out to events and activities and taking photos be aware of the following guidelines.
Example:
Rocky Mountain Vacation Rentals had recently played 18 holes of golf at the Vail Golf Course. We took many photos on the day, and want to blog about the activity, put our pictures on our website, use these pictures for our golf package marketing campaign, use these pictures on our constant contact, write a press release about the activity, submit our photos to a competition online, etc. What we can’t think of yet, we want to be prepared.
Name of the Event:
Rocky Mountain Vacation Rentals Golf Outing at the Vail Golf Course
SEO STEPS TO FOLLOW
!! 1 !! Filename:
1. All words in the file name are to be capitalized, with hyphens ( – )in between, not underscores ( _ ).
2. Rocky Mountain Vacation Rentals is at the end of EVERY file name.
(NOTE) – .jpg is the correct file extension. Not “.JPG”, Not “.JPEG”, Not “.Jpg”, Not “.gif”, Not “.GIF”, Not “.Gif”, ONLY “.jpg”
Importance (Proper image type is crucial) – Make absolutely sure your photographs are .jpg and not .gif. The .jpg format is standard for photographs whereas the .gif format is normally used for graphic images.
Example:
Sean-Ragsdale-Teeing-Off-The-12th-Hole-At-The-Vail-Golf-Course-Rocky-Mountain-Vacation-Rentals.jpg
Importance (For Search Engines) – the text of your URL is looked at as part of the context surrounding the image. The domain name, directory name and filename of the image (name it with keywords) are taken into consideration as far as relevance.
Example:
http://RockyMountainVacationRentals.com/Images/Sean-Ragsdale-Teeing-Off-The-12th-Hole-At-The-Vail-Golf-Course-Rocky-Mountain-Vacation-Rentals.jpg
!! 2 !! Title:
1. The title will be the same as the file name extension, yet this time, ONLY the Proper words will be capitalized, like a normal sentence.
2. Rocky Mountain Vacation Rentals is STILL at the end, with a space, hyphen, space, in between our company name and the name of the file.
Example:
Sean Ragsdale Teeing off the 12th Hole at the Vail Golf Course – Rocky Mountain Vacation Rentals
!! 3 !! Alt:
The Alt Tag is important because it is the text you see if a picture is still loading, or if the picture is missing. For those who are waiting, they can read what the picture will be about, thus not getting impatient.
Importance (Descriptive is key) – Search optimizers used to debate over whether ALT text had any influence on rankings. That debate is over. Optimize your images using descriptive keyword-rich ALT text. Don’t stuff the ALT attribute. Make it short and to the point. The keyword rich ALT text for your images could be the tie-breaker over who gets the top spot, so always use it.
In Addition – Use the word “picture” or “photo” in your ALT text. Some searchers do use those words when they search for images.
Example:
Photo – Sean Ragsdale Teeing off the 12th Hole at the Vail Golf Course – Rocky Mountain Vacation Rentals
Picture – Sean Ragsdale Teeing off the 12th Hole at the Vail Golf Course – Rocky Mountain Vacation Rentals
!! 4 !! Description:
Descriptions are important because they can offer detailed information about the photo, and where permitted, this information is very helpful for SEO.
Example:
During our trip to the Vail Golf Course, Rocky Mountain Vacation Rentals enjoyed 18 rounds of golf, lunch, and great networking opportunities. Here we have Sean Ragsdale teeing off on the 12th hole.
!! 5 !! Keywords:
Keywords and Keyphrases are helpful in all search engines. You must approach your keywords and keyphrases with thought on the following: If I typed in “this keyword” or “this keyphrase” would I want to find “this picture”. We obviously want future clients to find us however possible, but we want them to be our targeted demographic.
(NOTE) – Still under debate – If someone typed in “golf swing”, will they want our picture for swinging purposes? For a project about golf? For golf club buying purposes? For renting a Vacation Rental in Vail so they can golf at the Vail Golf Course?
Example:
vail golf, golfing in vail, vail golf course, golf courses in vail, golfing packages, rocky mountain vacation rentals
Importance (For Bloggers that use Images) – Images can rank based on what surrounds them on the page. Pay attention to keyword text, headings, etc. on the page. Image-only sites generally only work well if it is an extremely well-known brand or product. Otherwise, you need keyword rich text. Using a keyword or keyphrase in the heading, or around the image that has been placed into the post, would GREATLY help.
Example:
Everyone enjoyed golfing that day, including Sean Ragsdale, seen here teeing off the 12th Hole. ( Picture ) The Vail Golf Course was very hospitable to all the Rocky Mountain Vacation Rentals staff.
!! 6 !! People in Photo
For Press Release Purposes, photos are used, and information regarding to the people in the photo can be helpful.
Example:
(from right to left): Sean Ragsdale
(from right to left): Tommy Z. Hoffman, Alana Hanks, James Bengala
Tags:
(For Bloggers) Tags are used for Blogs, in groups called tag clouds, that help blog readers search inside the blog site. These are similar to keywords and keyphrases, but are different in that they are used for locating blog posts, not locating photos. When a blogger is using photos, these photos must relate to the blog in a way that the keywords or keyphrases can be used as tags as well.
