Best practice SEO for images added via WP
-
<label class="setting" data-setting="title">Hi</label>
When adding an image to a post or page using wordpress I have complete 4 fields:
Title
Caption
Alt Text
DescriptionIf the image is of an orange campervan in Cornwall, UK then how best would I complete these fields? Can Title and Alt be the same and can Caption and description be the same?
Thank you for this!
James
-
It doesn't really matter that much if you use the alt text, and title well to describe the image. However, I always recommend (and do it myself) renaming the image to match the title, in your case something like orange-campervan-cornwall-uk.jpg.
Always use dashed to separate words, not underscores
-
One other thing if you have time - what should the image be called in the file it's uploaded from? Would it be 'orange campervan cornwall uk'? Thanks
-
Thank you - it makes sense now!
-
Thanks for a fast and detailed response!
-
Hi James,
Each field is actually intended for something different:
- Title: should be what is the image. In this case: orange campervan
- Caption: Is what shows up under the image describing it to users visiting the page. In this case: orange campervan in cornwall, UK blah blah.
- Alt Text: Should be an image description that appears when the browser can't (for some reason) display the image. In this case can be either "orange campervan", "Image of orange campervan" or whatever you think describes best the image when somebody can't see it.
- Description: Is just that, a short, brief description of the image contents.
Hope that helps.
-
First, I would focus on making the alt tag accessible. If the image didn't load, or a user happened to be visually impaired, could they tell what should be in the images place? So alt="orange campervan in cornwall uk", but only if the context of Cornwall UK is important. Don't write a book, if the image is that of a green apple - then alt="green apple".
Here's more on alt text. *Note, don't use images for a nav, but definitely alt -exactly- if you don't have a choice.
The purpose of a caption is editorial. It should be a little less terse than your alt text. If you're writing about traveling through Cornwall in your campervan something like; "What an adventure I had when driving my orange campervan through Cornwall UK". If you're writing about your trip through Cornwall UK in your orange campervan - then you've successfully given the lizard brain a reason to possibly stick around and read.
The description part really depends on if your theme supports it. More on that here. An example would be; "I really liked this shot of my orange camper van. The sunsets in Cornwall UK are amazing!" (If there's a sunset.) You're really just providing commentary here.
The title is closer in spirit to the alt text. It may also include a CTA. "Click here for more adventures"
But the overall goal should be aimed at being descriptive where appropriate and succinct where necessary. Doing so improves accessibility. If you're remotely talking about the topic, the keywords tend to fall into place.
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
-
Is having a Video important for SEO or is it the time-on-site that's important?
Assuming it's a relevant video, is having a video on your landing page considered a good SEO tactic in and of itself? Meaning, when google crawls the page, will they say "good job, there's a video here." Or is having a video on your landing page something that helps you improve on other ranking factors like increased time on site? So, it would not be the video itself google "likes" but rather the increased User Experience factors that went up. (Crossing my fingers I explained this well enough) Thanks for any input, Ruben
Image & Video Optimization | | KempRugeLawGroup0 -
What is the SEO value of images of geographic areas (states, counties, cities) on a page?
We want to put images for specific geographic locations on some new pages we are building and I am wondering if: A) What the SEO value of adding these images would be? B) Suggested Sources for the images. Right now we are looking at using panoramio, but would love some MOZ community advice! Thank you for your help MOZ Community!
Image & Video Optimization | | AlyssaN0 -
How do I improve positioning in Google Images?
Looking around in Webmaster tools today and I noticed we have hundreds of thousands of impressions in Google Images, but a very low CTR. I understand normal SEO, but what about increasing rank in Google Images? It is hard to get links straight to an image, and we already use proper alt tags. Any other ideas?
Image & Video Optimization | | EcommerceSite0 -
Video and SEO
I am planning on placing some short how to videos on my site. My question is what is the best way to implement video. Youtube Vimeo Self Hosted Video How do I ensure that the video can be viewed by all devices if it is self hosted?
Image & Video Optimization | | bronxpad0 -
What is the best way to embed a link back to our site in our video embed codes?
Our site has over 100 great videos. We are currently streaming them all from our YouTube channel. I noticed SEOMoz is using http://www.wistia.com and that when I copy and paste a video from SEOMoz that code has a link back to the SEOMoz site in it, which of course is awesome for SEO. My question has several parts: Is this possible to do with an embed code from YouTube? Specifically directed towards SEOMoz: Which of the 3 types of player did you choose, HTML5, Flash or javascript? Why? Is Wistia just creating a video feed, or are they actually hosting your video content too? Our goal is two-fold: 1. We want people who embed our videos to be also embeddding a link back to our site and 2. We want our videos to be found in SERPs and have those direct people to our site instead of our YouTUbe channel. I'd welcome any comments regarding video SEO in this thread. Thanks!
Image & Video Optimization | | danatanseo0 -
Google Knowledge Graph - change bio image
I have a client who is a well known personality in a particular niche that I've done some general event and design work for, but he hasn't had interest in SEO or social help until this point. He is very displeased by the image that was chosen for his Google Knowledge Graph result when you search his name. The issue isn't due to a poor photo, but rather due to the site it links through to. Google has chosen to use a bio image for his Knowledge Graph result which links to an "anti-" site. This site is opposed to the organization he leads. If you click on the image, it sends you to an image result page backed by an article which is full of misinformation and overall negativity about this individual. The source is also listed under the image on the Knowledge Graph result, a source he doesn't believe deserves any publicity, especially in conjunction with his name. So, what best practices might you suggest should be employed to go about getting Google to choose a replacement image for his Knowledge Base bio? Optimize his own bio page and bio image on his website? Get an image on his Wikipedia page? Create a G+ page with the bio image? Integrate the rel author syntax into his articles pointing back to his bio page? He doesn't want this to become a public matter, so he's against posting the issue to Google's Help Boards or reporting it in a public fashion. I'm not sure what should be the best first steps and top priorities for him and am hoping the SEOmoz team is starting to see some trends with Knowledge Graph. Let me know your thoughts when you can. Thanks so much! iLqNW iLqNW.png
Image & Video Optimization | | windturbines2 -
What is the best way to internally link via images?
What is the best way to internally link via images? I have a website about shoes with all different brands. Let's say I'm trying to rank for "ABC sandals", and on the ABC page I have a "related brands" section with 4 logos of related sandal brands, linking to their respective page. Currently the alt text of the logos is "XYZ Logo" with the link title text "XYZ." Would it be beneficial to have change either the image alt text, or the link title text, or both to "XYZ sandals"?
Image & Video Optimization | | Hakkasan0 -
Do citations in foreign languages help for local SEO in English?
Hi, All! If you're doing trying to get a foreign site (in English) to rank for local SEO in that country (in English),.do citations in the native language help? Google does seem to know that the business name in English and the foreign language are the same (e.g. if you search in English, it will return some results in the foreign language with the business name in the foreign language bolded). And addresses Google can also tell are the same, as evidenced by Google map searches in both languages pinpointing the same location. So - are citations in the foreign language relevant to help the page rank higher for a local query in English? Any thoughts? Thanks, Aviva
Image & Video Optimization | | debi_zyx0