Boost Your SEO Rankings with Visual Content
The Power of Search Engine Optimization
There is truth to the well-known saying “A picture is worth a thousand words” and when it comes to SEO this is especially pronounced. There is a direct correlation between what a user wants to see and experience on a web page and what search engines display as top results. What’s good for users is good for the search engines. This translates to optimizing your content by using high-quality images that contribute to the user experience.
Optimize your images for increased traffic
Google not only provides text results but image results. It should make perfect sense that there are a massive number of searches where users are only interested in seeing images of the keyword they’re using. Optimized images on your pages not only provide a better user experience but also leads to an additional stream of traffic.
Enhance the user experience
Images are a way to enhance the user experience because they give users an additional way to digest the information you’re providing. Let’s say you were in the market to buy a pool table. Imagine reading a solid wall of text describing the room size required for the different sizes of pool tables. It would be much more difficult to visualize the description than to see actual images of the suggested playing area for each table.
Google ranks pages primarily based on the ability to answer search intent. Therefore a page that provides detailed images of the topic discussed would ultimately achieve more search visibility because it provides more value to visitors landing on the page.
How to optimize your images to appear in keyword searches
Here are a few tips for optimizing your images. This is so search engines can understand the context of the image and categorize it correctly in keyword-related searches.
-Use descriptive filenames
Whenever you take a picture with a camera the filename is automatically assigned, (example: IMG0476.jpg). Rather than upload an image to your web pages using a filename that has no meaning, use a descriptive name that provides a clue to what the image is (bar-size-pool-table.jpg)
-Use your keyword in the alt tags
The most important aspect of image optimization is to use your keyword in the alternative description tags. Most CMSs provide a specific area to input a short description. When crafting your sentence, keep in mind that the visually impaired use this information to understand what the image is about. If the image fails to load, the alt tag is the only sentence users will see.
-Add captions
Captions add context and provide more information for search engines and users.
Create infographics to visualize data
Infographics are an excellent way to get your audience to remember important facts. Studies indicate after 3 days of reading a block of text the average person retains 10% of that information. Combining the same text with relevant images makes that number increases to retaining 65% of the information. This speaks directly to the impact visual content has on the minds of the average person.
Infographics have been widely used because of their effectiveness to communicate a large amount of data. As well as their ability to generate backlinks. On average, infographics accumulate 172% more backlinks than plain text articles. Backlinks are one of the three largest ranking factors Google uses for determining ranking ability. In turn, making infographics a highly effective means for boosting SEO rankings.
Video is the #1 form of content
If a picture is a thousand words, how many words is a video worth? Over the last few years, video has emerged as the most widely shared form of content. Most people prefer to watch a video than to read an article. This is why adding a video to your content will send your engagement statistics through the roof. To learn more about the benefits of using video content for marketing, check out this article on the topic.
The average time a user spends on a page is an important engagement metric and compared to other pages competing for the same keywords. When visitors spend more time on your page, it becomes clear they are enjoying the content, which in effect, contributes to higher rankings.
Gain the competitive advantage with visual content
Not all pages are equal. The visual content you use on your web pages can be the key component to outranking your competition. Not sure how to make this happen? No problem, we got you covered. Our team at Gorilla Gurus are pros at digital marketing. Contact us today for a comprehensive assessment of your website and learn how to break through to the top pages of the search results for more traffic, new clients, and increased revenue.
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