Today The Tennessean Media Group presented their Thrive Seminar Series titled “What Has Your Website Done For You Lately?” to a group of small and medium sized business owners and organizations at the Hendersonville and Gallatin Area Chamber of Commerce. During the question and answer section of the presentation, one of the attendees asked a very good question that we typically have not covered yet in our seminars. The question was “How do you get your images to show up in the Google Images search results?”

First, it is important to understand what Google Images is. Google Images is a special niche search engine that allows users to search for images just like they would search for webpages. When a user types in a keyword into the search field, Google provides back search results that are images, instead of the normal webpages that you would get in the normal web search. This type of search engine can be very helpful to users for a variety of business applications, as well as entertainment. Lets say you need a copy of a organization’s logo for a advertisement you are creating. Just Google Image search it. Or, maybe you want a picture of Taylor Swift to use in an upcoming birthday card to your daughter – it is just a click away.

Google Images SERP

As a website publisher/owner – the images that you include on your website could be a gateway to increased traffic coming from the search engines to your website. For example, a car dealer could receive traffic from Google Images if someone searches for a picture of a certain car, and an image that is on their car dealership’s website is found.  Basic Google Image Search Optimization techniques is not very difficult and just requires you to think a little upfront while you are creating your images and placing them on your website.

Here are my Top 10 Ways to Optimize Your Images for Google Image Search:

1. Name your image files with descriptive terms.
   When you save your images, instead of labeling the image something that is irrelevant to the subject, label it exactly what it is. If you have an image of the downtown Nashville skyline, then label it nashvilleskyline.jpg.
2. Insert keywords into your ALT text.
   This is something that is good for all of your SEO, not just for images. ALT text is a HTML tag that allows you to put a short description of what an image is. This way, when a search engine or other “robot” is scanning your website, they know what the subject of your image is. Ensuring that your ALT tags include relevant text descriptions will assist not only with your website’s optimization, but also your image’s. Here is an example of what an ALT tag looks like: <img src=”nashvilleskyline.jpg” alt=”Downtown Nashville Skyline“>
3. Include relevant and descriptive text around your image.
   In most cases, your images are surrounded by text on your webpage. This could be titles, subheads, lists or most commonly, paragraphs of text. By including keywords and relevant text to the image’s subject before and after the image this provides Google Image Search with more information about what the image is about. Plus, you will notice short descriptions below each image in the search results. Sometimes, the text surrounding the image is what Google uses to provide this description to the user.
4. Use anchor text that includes keywords when linking to images.
   Whenever you link to an image, make sure that the text you are linking is descriptive of the image. For example, if you provide an option for your user to view a larger version of your images, do not make the link to view the larger image say Click here to enlarge, instead use a more descriptive text like, Nashville Skyline Picture Enlarged.
5. Make sure your images folder is accessible to the search engines.
   Your website’s file structure will most commonly include one folder that includes all of your images. Plus, your website should include a file called robots.txt. A robots.txt file tells a search engine (or other robots) what NOT to scan. In some cases, website programmers may wrongly think that the images folder is not a folder needed to be scanned and will include it in the list of files not to follow. If you are telling the search engines not to scan your images, then you definitely will not show up in the Google Images Search.
6. Image Formatting.
   You can format or save you images in a variety of formats that will work with your website. These formats may be .GIF, .PNG or a .JPG file format. Search Engines have been known to state that they would prefer .JPG files over .GIF or .PNG files.
7. Image Originality.
   Taking your own photos, or adding your own special touch to the images that you include in your website will provide you with an advantage in the engines. Even if you get images from a manufacturer, add your own special touch to them by including your logo in the bottom corner. Plus, you will get the added benefit of brand exposure.
8. Freshness.
   Search engines crave good relevant content that is new and fresh. Change out your images, move them around and even just re-upload them to your server to get new creation dates added.
9. Say “no” to embedded thumbnails.
   Many image manipulation software programs ask you if you would like to save an embedded thumbnail along with your image. Search engines like to resize your image and create their own thumbnails instead of relying on the one you provided. For this reason, embedded thumbnails will cause them to work harder. When they have to work harder, they don’t like your image as much as another easier-to-use one.
10. Image quality.
    Google Images Search likes providing high-quality, high-contrast images. So, make sure your images are saved with high-quality and slightly higher resolutions. Be careful though – you don’t want to increase your download time!