Need advice on how to proceed

[NoahsDad]

I need some feedback on how to take advantage of some interesting rankings I'm receiving.  If you want to know more about my site, or what we are trying to, take a look at my first post on SeoMoz when I posted all about our site, and our story of what it is like raising a child born with Down syndrome.

Ok, my SEOMoz tools are showing that I'm raking number 3, 4, 13, and 14 for the keywords "cute down syndrome pictures." That is great, but the problem is it's ranking for pages that make no sense. For instance the number 3 spot is this ---> http://noahsdad.com/more-sitting/down-syndrome-boy-sitting-up-sofa/  but that is just a picture (do individual images show up in search results? I'm a little confused if the tool is showing me rankings in google images, or if that pic is actually showing up in the google search results.

If so, is that right? Should my images be ranking as pages?

Now my question is how should I move forward. This "page" (again, it's not really a page, it's just an image that has it's own page) is in no way the best page for people to get who are searching for that term. (or maybe it is...?!?)

I'm thinking it'd be better for that page to be a full post, talking about some of my pictures and having them show up.

Anyways, I'm just getting started on getting this site cleaned up, and really being proactive about the making sure the right things are ranking and people searching are getting the info they need.

So basically I just wanted to get some overall feedback on how to move forward, and how to take advantage of my rankings for these words. (I have some other random words doing the same thing, so the advice you leave here I'll assume can apply to the other pages where this is happening.)

[NoahsDad]

No disrespect, but how does your answer answer these questions:

1.  Why is an image ranking google search results as if it is a normal page?

2.  How did the image become it's on page? I''m not sure how this happened since that image was used in a page. Somehow the image itself has become it's on page and is getting ranked in google.

3.  When a user find that page (which is ranking on the first page of google) they will be confused since it's an image and there is no blog info on there.  I wonder if I should redirect that page to another instead. I don't want a lot of people going to that page and then quickly leaving, which will hurt my ranking.

4.  There are other questions I asked, that you didn't provide details either. You said I should focus on "writing quality content" and "improve my keyword research." Ha,ha...I already know this. That doesn't have anything to do with my question.

[EGOL]

Yes, I answered it... you might not like the answer.....

I would not spend a lot of time trying to understand every nuance of google.  Google has lots of nuances and they are even more volatile and difficult to understand than the primary factors that drive traffic.

So, to make it perfectly clear and less polite.  I think you are wasting your time.

[NoahsDad]

Ha,ha...I'm not sure you are really understanding what I am asking.

Of course I know that the more content the page has the better...but did you read my entire first post?

Thanks for taking the time to reply, but you didn't really answer the questions that I asked.

[EGOL]

Should I turn that image page into a blog post with more text, change the title tags, etc

Yes, by all means... the more substantive the content the more longtail traffic it will pull and it might rank better or get imporved social sharing.

[NoahsDad]

Thanks for the reply, I understand all of the general ideas you mentioned.

I was looking for more detailed feedback on how to use the current rankings I have.  Why those images are showing up as pages (is if they were a blog post) and what I should do moving forward with those pages. (Should I turn that image page into a blog post with more text, change the title tags, etc...otherwise when a user ends up there, they would leave because the way it is now it just looks like a random picture on  a page...if that makes sense.

[EGOL]

I think that you are doing the right things...

... you have your eye on analytics and learning about where your traffic is coming from.  When you see traffic coming in for a subject that you don't cover completely then improving the entry page used by these visitors makes a lot of sense - or building a separate page to address that topic.

Keep improving your current content, improving your keyword reach with new content and working to understand your visitors.

Nice work!

I would not spend a lot of time trying to understand every nuance of google.  Google has lots of nuances and they are even more volatile and difficult to understand than the primary factors that drive traffic.

Keep your eye on the big picture... content, sharing and visitor information.