Any value in external links to image files?

[qlkasdjfw]

Let's say you have www.example.com. On this website, you have www.example.com/example-image.jpg. When someone links externally to this image - like below... { is <

{a href="www.example.com/example-image.jpg"} {img src="www.example.com/example-image.jpg"} {/a}

The external site would be using the image hosted on your site, but the image is also linked back to the same image file on your site. Does this have any value even though the link is back to the image file and not the website?

Also - how much value do you guys feel image links have in relation to tech links? In terms of passing link juice and adding to a natural link profile.

Thanks!

[TaitLarson]

This is an interesting idea.To maximize your SEO benefits I would:

• Make the image link back to the post on my site not the image itself.
• Provide an alt attribute for the image tag
• Provide a title attribute for the link

Image links have less value then text links.  How much benefit will this stategy really give you is tough to quantify. It depends on how many sites are republishing content from your RSS feed, what the quality of those sites are and how relevant the are to your site's industry.

Having the image link back to a post on your site has the added benefit that if someone reads a post on another site on in their RSS feed and clicks the image they'll be taken to your post.  Every additional visit to your site is a chance to capture another new reader.

Images don't have a ton of value.