In class, we discussed writing alt text for images as a way to optimize a website for Google’s crawlers. Alt text is a great way to insert keywords into your website, however it is not the only way that content creators can optimize images to improve a website’s ranking on the SERP.
According to SEMrush, one of the factors that Google’s crawlers consider when determining a webpage’s rank is the time it takes for images to load on the page. Users don’t want to wait a long time to see photos and graphics that are needed to understand the content on the page, so images with long loading times can cause a page to be ranked lower on the SERP.
SEMrush suggests several ways to decrease the load time of an image. Smaller photos and images usually take less time to load than larger ones. SEMrush concludes that images should only be 2,500 pixels MAX, but smaller sizes are more optimal. A great strategy to limit load times is to use responsive image scaling. This feature changes the size of images depending on what type of device users are viewing content with. This allows for faster load times, and it makes it helps with mobile optimization. Images are best viewed at certain sizes on certain devices. If content is difficult to view on a mobile device, mobile users will get frustrated and will be less likely to interact with your content in the future. SEMrush also suggests using Google Analytics to learn what types of devices users view your website with the most. Then you can change the size of your images to best fit the device consumers use most frequently. Sometimes, changing the size of an image can change its quality. SEMrush recommends compressing images to preserve their quality while changing their size.
It’s also important to consider the file format and name when optimizing images for the SERP. According to SEMrush, WebP files are the best to use on a website. This is because they compress well and have shorter load times than other formats. JPEGs and PNG files are also good choices for digital images. Content creators should also carefully think about how they choose to name their files. Crawlers consider the file name when determining SERP rank. SEMrush recommends using detailed but short descriptions of what an image consists of when naming the file.
There are many effective ways to optimize images in a way that boosts your content’s rank on the SERP. It’s important to use a variety of these strategies when creating a website.
One Response
Image sizes and their loading time are so important for users to understand the content as they are meant to. With the tips you talked about here along with alt text, images could be super useful to gain ranking for companies, especially with the growing importance of visual aspects of communication in today’s world.