By Michael Rock (c) 2006
In case you didn't know it, or didn't care Google has an image
search located on the tab just to the right of its web search
where you can search the internet for images based upon the text
you type into the search box. This article will explain how to
optimize your web site to use this to your advantage.
When you do a Google Image search you will get a page of results
that show the images according to your search query. Along with
the images you will get a description of file size, image size,
and file type. Google also shows some text that is near the
image on the web page where the image was found and the web site
address of the image.
If you were to click on the image to see the image better, you
would be brought to a framed page where Google's information
along with a link to view the full size image is in the top
frame and in the bottom frame is the actual page of where the
image comes from.
This bottom frame, if enticing, will generate traffic to come
visit your web site and make a sale. Take this idea for an
example. Say you wanted to see what a DeLorean looked like and
typed it into Google Image search. You would get a result of
images and, if you happen to want to see a bigger image of the
DeLorean or noticed that it came from a web site called
www.deloreansforsale.com, you would click on the image. On the
next page in the bottom frame where the web page of the image is
located you see a deal on a DeLorean that you like the looks of
(from finding out with the help of Google Image search) for sale
for only $1000!
This is just one possibility out of many showing how Google
Image can be of benefit to your web site. If the web page is
intriguing enough, people will visit your web site to see what
else they come across. Maybe someone will do an image search on
afghans and discover a class or video on the subject from your
web site. The possibilities are endless.
An Overlooked Way to Get Traffic
Optimizing the images on your web site is often an overlooked
way to get genuine traffic. In the past stuffing the tags
of an image (the text that shows up when you rest your mouse
pointer over a picture) with keywords got you ranked high, but
the search engines soon discovered the abuse of this and now
penalize web sites for it. Optimizing the images for a web site
done correctly can gain traffic to your web site. Granted it is
not as targeted as web text searches on the internet, but this
often overlooked way can bring traffic and sales to your site.
How Does Google Rank for Images?
Google looks at these factors when determining which images to
rank first in an image search:
* Image File Name
* ALT Text of Image
* Text Surrounding the Image
* Page Title and other Web Page Factors
If you were to do a few searches using Google Image search, you
would discover easily the commonality of the top ranked images.
The most important are the file name, alt text, body text
surrounding the image, and page title. I will describe these
further.
Image File Name
When you do a Google Image search and right click on the image
to save it you see the file name of the image. You will discover
that the top images usually have the keyword you typed in your
search query.
ALT Text
If you are using Internet Explorer and rest your mouse pointer
over the image displayed in the web page where it came from, you
will discover that the top images also contain the keyword you
used in your search query.
Text Surrounding the Image
You will notice that Google takes text containing your keyword
search query and displays it next to the image for a brief
description. Google uses this method in regular web text
searches as well. So it is plain to see that this is relevant to
Google Image Search as well.
Page Title and Other Factors
If you notice the page title and URL of the web page where the
image resides, you will find your search query keyword there as
well.
How Do You Optimize Your Web Site for Google Image Search?
Easy! Just make sure that the file name of your image reflects
what it is really about. Instead of 00001a.jpg name it
delorean.jpg. Make sure that your tag accurately describes
what the picture is about using the keyword you want to optimize
for. For example for the delorean.jpg picture you could write an
alt tag like this. (alt="DeLorean for sale for $1000") Just be
sure not to enter 'DeLorean' for every image and graphic on your
web page. This is a blatant misuse of the alt tag and will get
you penalized by the search engines.
Make sure that the text surrounding the images contains the
keyword you want to shoot for. If you have a picture of a
DeLorean, it is natural that the web page will have text about
it, so little effort is needed here.
And, if you really wanted to optimize for it, make sure your
keyword is in the tag and URL of your web site.
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Michael Rock is a teacher, author, and web designer. He is also
the founder of The Internet Presence (http://www.theinternetpresence.com)
which offers web development services and Web Ranking Consultants
(http://www.webrankingconsultants.com) which offers SEO
consultation and services.
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