Image Optimization - File Name Important?
-
I am currently working on a site with 100+ recipes that all have image file names that are relevant, but not optimized for keyword purposes. I'm wondering - from an SEO perspective - would it be worth my time to go back through all of the images and rename them with keywords in mind?
On my own site I have always done this as a "best practice" but I'm curious - does it make a difference to search engines? Does anyone have any recent research/experiences that they would like to share?
Thanks!
-
I would be intested in knowing what you guys think is the best way to name images?
say "rustic-oak-3-draw-bedside.jpg"
How long should the names be max and are hyphens ok do you think?
-
No probs, glad to help!
Hope you Friday doesn't drag too long due to all this!!!
-
Thanks everyone. It seems the consensus is to rename the files (assuming they aren't already ranking high with their current file name), ensure each one has proper alt text and submit an image site map to google.
I've got a busy Friday ahead of me!
Also, Mike - thanks for the tip on the caption tag. I hadn't thought of that. Every little bit of "google juice" helps. I'm going to give it a try!
-
Yes, when it doubt add puppies. That always helps.
-
Daniel, I gave you a thumbs up, as I think that is a good point
It could help if you submit an image sitemap once the renaming has been done, or even impliment 301 redirects from the old image URL to the new ones, but unless you have an automated way of doing the redirects, it could be quite a long process to do them manually!!!
-
Another thing to consider is that if you do have an image ranking within the SERPS that you don't change the filename at all - I've seen that it takes google's bot(s) much longer to reindex an image that's filename has changed vs like some content change or meta title etc
-
YES! We've seen a significant drop in visits via google images when one of our clients eventually changed their file-upload-backend and files were named automatically like 445390348043534.jpg - we then added a separate module only to assure the naming is correct and useful, and are slowly recovering the lost google images visits.
-
Benjamin pretty much covered it I feel!
Remember, Googlebot is, well, a bot! To help Googlebot, and it's associated algorithms figure out what your images are about, you should ensure certain 'triggers' are well taken care of.
Filename is one such trigger, as is alt text (both mentioned by Benjamin already).
Additionally I would consider adding title tags to the images, and at times that you link to any of the images, use relevant anchor text too, as this can help.
Also consider using tags, for example, Paella Recipe as this can give an extra bit of help in regards to Google & other engines understanding what the image is all about.
Then if you are really wanting to go the extra mile;
Image sitemap submission to Google, to try to make sure big G finds all of your images! (see here: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=178636 ) Note the tags that you can use, specifically the caption and title should be quite useful for image SEO etc
Hope that helps!
-
Thanks, Benjamin. That's a great way of looking at it. All of the images I looked at did have "golden retriever" in the beginning of the file name.
Plus bonus points because I got to look at puppies.
-
Hi Emily,
Yes, it does make a difference. Think about it from Google's perspective. If you're crawling a site and come across an image with no ALT tag, no title, and a name of C19823.JPG. What could that image be?
Now imagine you're Google and you come across an image titled golden-retriever.jpg. There's a pretty good chance that image is of a dog. Especially if the content on the page is also about dogs. The more clues that Google can use to figure out what a site is about the better.
Do a Google Image search for "golden retriever" and look at the file names. Notice any similarities?
-Benjamin
-
In short, yes. I've always found them to be a benefit - essential on an image search ranking. Also don't forget your alt tags.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
H1 text and Header Image Overlap?
I have images with text at the top of every page on my site. But no H1 or H tags at all. I would like the text on the image to be my H1 text. But I don't want to be repetitive. What should I do?
On-Page Optimization | | Calligraphy0 -
Should you do on-page optimization for a page with rel=canonical tag?
If you ad a rel=canonical tag to a page, should you still optimize that page? I'm talking meta description, page title, etc.
On-Page Optimization | | marynau0 -
We have new website abexpress.ae. The website is not ranking in the first page when I search with the Domain name itself. Any tips to improve the SEO for a new website?
We have launched a website abexpress.ae. The website is not ranking well even if we search with the Domain name. The Domain authority of the website it 10. How to increase this?
On-Page Optimization | | AlliedTransport0 -
What is the most common problem to be solved when optimizing web sites?
ON page - What is the most common problem to be solved when optimizing web sites?
On-Page Optimization | | JordanBrown0 -
Post Pinguin Onpage Optimisation - How Do I Build the Perfectly Optimized Page?
Hello, So far I always follow the recomendations of the chocolate donuts example of Rand Fishkin on the Blogpost: How Do I Build the Perfectly Optimized Page? I also think that the onpage grades follow this rules. Do you think this is still all true after pinguin? Personally none of my websites have been afected by the update and I have an A grade on all my landing page. What do you think about the image alt text. Is it still a good idea to use the keyword? Are there any newer resources here on SEOMOZ (I didn't find any with my search)? Thanks for sharing your experiences.. Regards
On-Page Optimization | | stereo690 -
To Optimize Brand Name or Product Name First on Product Pages for E-Commerce Website?
We are using your free month trial for optimization of our E-Commerce website. In regards to individual product pages such as this one http://www.amgair.com/air-purifiers/iqair-healthpro-plus-air-purifier/, would it be more effective to have the page title start with the brand name and then the product (as we have it now) or forgo the brand name and start with just the product. IE: IQAir Healthpro Plus Air Purifier or HealthPro Plus Air Purifier by IQAir. These are commodity type products and are price restricted so all competitive websites advertise at the same pricing and it would be helpful not only to have a keyword phrase that is searched for a lot but also one that is easy to rank for. Please give me a recommendation when possible.
On-Page Optimization | | youhow0 -
Robots.txt file
Does it serve any purpose if we omit robots.txt file ? I wonder if spider has to read all the pages, why do we insert robots.txt file ?
On-Page Optimization | | seoug_20050 -
Whats important to receive a large amount of traffic quickly?
What would you suggest is the best route for providing a website with extra traffic quickly?
On-Page Optimization | | wazza19850