Google has released a new video on how image search rankings work. John Mueller of Google answered how to rank images on Google and provided useful tips on the topic.
John said the most important thing is "to consider is how you'd want to be found in image search? What you expect users to search for? And how can your site be useful to them when they find you?"
After you figure that out, then he provided these technical tips:
- Use high quality images
- Place them on your pages in a relevant visible way
- Use great titles on the pages themselves
- Provide useful alt attributes for the images
- Potentially add captions
- Pick good filenames for your images
- Host your images in a way that they're fast for your users
Here is the video:
Here is the full transcript:
Today's question is from Soshim Kana Hai Jaan. Please tell us how to rank images on Google. Please tell us some useful tips.Well, images are awesome. For example, images of cheese. Who doesn't like cheese?
Anyway, when it comes to images the number one thing to consider is how you'd want to be found in image search? What you expect users to search for? And how can your site be useful to them when they find you?
In short, don't just optimize for images because they exist but rather do it with a specific goal in mind. Once you have that, you can look at the technical details. Let's start with these:
- Use high quality images - Place them on your pages in a relevant invisible way - Use great titles on the pages themselves - Provide useful alt attributes for the images - Potentially add captions - Pick good filenames for your images - Host your images in a way that they're fast for your users
There's a lot more that can be done to optimize images for search. If you're curious then check out the article I linked to in the description below.
Here is the document in Google's help area that John is talking about.
Forum discussion at Twitter.
