By Gayle Mahoney
Remember the Flying Monkeys from The Wizard of Oz, and the way they scurried about in a slightly creepy way? Well, that’s how I envision “web crawlers” or website search engines, they are like creepy little robots that crawl around and scour the World Wide Web in order to find whatever is out there.
The info the encounter goes back to Google and the other search engines, and is evaluated using very complex automated systems. These algorithms determine how important your website is to your audience, how authoritative your content is, and most importantly for your business, how high in the pecking order your page should be on search results pages.
In broad strokes, search engines evaluate:
The structure of your website – how information is organized, including page hierarchy, if the right style tags (H1, H2, Paragraph etc.) are assigned to text, and if the content on the page is relevant to page names and titles
Text content – authoritative, useful content; clear, simple language; phrases people use to search the internet
Image file names, image descriptions and alt-text
Outside pages that link to your page
Photographers, artists and designers tend to have many portfolios, images and videos on their websites, but without proper labeling, those images have no value to search engines. Many designers are drawn to clean, minimalist design, and don’t want to clutter their pages with too much text.
Most artists and designers upload hundreds or even thousands of images to their website, but never change the filenames of the images they upload, and fail to include image descriptions and/or alt-text. This makes their images essentially invisible to search engines!
Three Steps To Maximize the Use of Images on Your Website to Improve Your Search Results
Optimize your image file names by adding relevant information about the photo. Most digital cameras automatically generate a file name for your images, such as “img_2358.jpg”. An example of a better file name might be “Kipps Bay residential interior living room - coffee table detail.jpg” or “©Gayle-Mahoney-original-watercolor-on-paper-white-peonies.png.” Depending on your web platform, you may have to change the file names before uploading, or you may have the option to change the file name at upload.
Add alt text to your images. “Alt text” or “alt tags” describe what’s in your photos to people who use web readers or other adaptive technology to visit your website. It’s an important part of making sure your website is ADA compliant and accessible to all. Alt tags should be somewhat brief and accurately describe what is in the image. You can use your primary keyword for your page, but you don’t want to stuff the alt text with too many keywords. A best practice is to start your alt text with “Image of…” or “Picture of…” and then simply describe what’s in the picture. Alt text is also a way to add searchable information to your image. I try to use some different words in my alt text and page descriptions to provide broader content.
Add image descriptions to your photos. By providing descriptions for each image, you are adding valuable, searchable content to your website. Consider what details will be most interesting to your viewers to include in your image descriptions. On most platforms, you have the option to show or hide image descriptions, or have them show on hover, in case you want to keep your pages clean. Even if you opt to keep your image descriptions invisible to site viewers, they will still be visible to search engines so there is still value to adding them.
If you take the time to optimize the photos on your website, you are making your fabulous designs and artwork searchable by the web robots. Plus, it will give you an edge over your competitors, most of whom are probably not using crafted file names or image descriptions for their photos.
Pro Tips:
Create a text document (Word, Pages, Google Doc, etc.) and keep it as a master list, that way you can cut and paste a lot of titles or phrases that you are likely to use often.
Consider important keywords when you craft your file names, but the most important thing is to be accurate about what’s in the picture and use natural language to describe it. It isn’t helpful to copy and paste the same text in every title or description, but it can save you time if you create a list of titles and description items you use often so you can copy and paste then do a little tweaking.
For your image description, go a little deeper - describe what is important or interesting to your audience: “Contemporary Sag Harbor beach home: This modern Mexican-inspired, family-friendly living room interior shows off the client’s vivid art collection offset by the clean lines and natural hues of custom furniture by Luteca.”
Hiding image descriptions: If you want to keep your portfolios super clean visually and don’t want your image descriptions to display, they can be clicked on or off in Squarespace and some other web platforms. The search engines will see the text even if it is not displayed. But just keep in mind it might be helpful for your visitors to see your descriptions - the can be hidden except on image rollover (when the user puts the cursor over the image).
If you work in Squarespace, you now have the option to import your image metadata when you upload images (Article: https://support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/205812798-Importing-image-metadata)
QUESTIONS?
Inbox me at gayle@gaylemahoney.net or visit www.gaylemahoney.net.
Gayle Mahoney is a branding and design specialist who works primarily with artists and creative entrepreneurs in luxury markets. She provides website design, maintenance and SEO for www.StephenKarlisch.com.
