When was the last time you thought about optimizing your web images? That's what I thought. However, flippancy aside, leaving them un-optimized can significantly hurt your site in a number of ways.
It can have a definite impact on your site's SEO performance, in addition to the benefits that optimized images can bring your way.
Let's examine 5 quick tips for making sure your images are enhancing your site, and not detracting from it!
5 Practical tips for optimizing your web page images
Keep your image files smallish - This is among the easiest and best favors you can do for your page. Large image files can take ages to load on the page, causing annoyance, abandonment, and lost sales. Amazon calculated that every second lost while their images load costs them $1.6 billion per year!
Use keywords in your image filenames - This is an easy one to complete, yet many do not think of it. Not only is this a major on-page SEO item, it can help Google figure out where and for what keyword to rank your pages. Enough said?
Optimize your ALT tags - Taking care to optimize your image ALT tags, also known as ALT text, is another "make sure you do" item. This can be the difference in whether or not your images even show up in Google images or for that matter search, and is also an easy fix. Don't neglect this one.
Employ JPEGs if at all possible - There are several different types of image types out there, but for the most part, JPEGs have always been and continue to be the de-facto image type used on the Web. They are easily compressed, and have a small footprint, helping them to load quickly. If you can't use a JEPG, then opt for a PNG files next, and GIFs last.
Employ a Google Image Sitemap - Located in Google Webmaster Tools, you can deploy an Image Sitemap which will help Google find, index and otherwise categorize your imagery, thus enhancing your chances of having those images seen in Google images and search. A handy and Google-friendly way to optimize!
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