Image SEO Best Practices: How To Name Your Images?
As wedding professionals, we adore visually stunning images that capture the essence of what we do. These images not only allow us to showcase our work but also provide a great opportunity to be discovered by numerous individuals searching the internet for inspiration. And it’s not just couples—blogs, other wedding suppliers, and magazines are all on the lookout. But here’s a question: Do search engines like Google see your images the same way you do? If you’ve come across the term ‘image SEO’ and wondered how to best name your images for maximum reach, you’re in the right place. In this blog post, we’ll dive deep into all you need to know about Image SEO and its best practices. Prepare to see your images discovered and pinned across the web!
What is Image SEO?
Image SEO involves optimising your images to be search engine friendly, ensuring that Google can interpret and understand their content. When optimised for search engines, your images can appear on Google's image search, giving you more visibility.
Here’s why image SEO is important:
Helps Google to understand your image content
Provides Google with more context about the page’s relevance
Ensures accessibility for visually impaired users via screen readers
Below is a prime example from one of my florist clients. After we optimised the images on her 'Floral Design' service page, two of her images now appear in the image search results. Couple that with her website ranking as the 1st result, and she enjoys triple the visibility!
Why do we need image optimisation?
While we see images as colourful and inspiring visual elements, Google only sees them as code, relying on text-based information. But don't worry; you don’t need to know how to code! Understanding this difference just emphasizes the importance of image SEO.
The crux? Pay attention to two elements: image filenames and image alt text. Here's how to master both.
1. Naming Image Files For SEO
Filenames refer to the actual name of your image file. They are important because they offer Google insights about the photo’s content. You want them to be short and descriptive of the actual image.
Here’s what Google tells us:
“The filename can give Google clues about the subject matter of the image. When possible, use filenames that are short, but descriptive.”
Pro Tip: Make sure to rename your image files before uploading them to your website. Once they're uploaded, you usually can't change them without re-uploading. While SquareSpace does allow for filename changes, it's worth noting that this feature isn't available for Gallery blocks.
Image Name Best Practices:
Use descriptive names
Separate words with dashes/hyphens
Limit filenames to five or six words
Make sure they are relevant to the image
Avoid keyword stuffing and only use keywords if it makes sense. For example, if your image shows a wedding bouquet don’t name it ‘best-wedding-florist.jpg’.
Use unique names for each image, don’t use the same name on every page
Steer clear of generic filenames like ‘IMG0010.jp’
Example Image Filenames:
YES
buttercream-wedding-cake-flowers.jpg
white-wedding-cake-fresh-flowers.jpg
4-tier-wedding-cake-design.jpg
NO
best-wedding-cake-designer-london.jpg
buttercream-wedding-cake-simple-white-flowers-london-cake-design.jpg
IMG0010.jpg
YES
outdoor-wedding-ceremony-setup.jpg
wedding-ceremony-floral-backdrop.jpg
wedding-ceremony-[venue name].jpg
2. Adding SEO Image Description
The SEO image description, commonly known as Alt text, is basically a textual representation of an image. While it’s not visible on the page itself (it’s not the same as your image caption), it’s embedded within the code. Depending on the website platform you’re using, it might be referred to as ‘SEO description’, ‘Alt text’, ‘Alt tag’ or ‘image description.
The Alt text plays a crucial role in accessibility. For instance, screen readers rely on your SEO description to convey the content of your images to visually impaired users. Additionally, if there's an issue loading the image, the Alt text will be displayed in its place. And most importantly, it assists search engines like Google in understanding both the content of the image and the context of the page it's on.
Here’s what Google says about Image Alt Text:
“When writing Alt text, focus on creating useful, information-rich content that uses keywords appropriately and is in context of the content of the page.
Avoid filling Alt attributes with keywords (also known as keyword stuffing) as it results in a negative user experience and may cause your site to be seen as spam.”
Image Alt Text Best Practices:
Keep it to a maximum of 15 words
Make sure it accurately describes the image
Avoid keyword stuffing and irrelevant descriptions
Example Image Descriptions:
YES
Luxury wedding florist Emma creating table flower arrangements in her London studio.
Table floral arrangement with pink roses for a private party.
Prioritising Your Image SEO Efforts
Now let’s get real. We’re in the wedding industry - no matter your service, you likely have a ton of images to show. Given the volume, it’s not always feasible to optimise every single image on a page. Especially on portfolio pages where you may have 20 or more photos. So we need to prioritise.
First, don’t feel overwhelmed by the number of images you already have on your website. There’s no need to rename every image and re-upload them. Instead, let’s focus on a strategic approach. Here's how to prioritise:
Begin with Your Homepage: Your homepage is your biggest asset. Think of it as your main shopfront. Therefore, it would be great if you can optimise image filenames and alt text here.
Move to Service Pages: Once you're done with the homepage, shift attention to your key service pages. Let’s say you are a wedding planner aiming to attract more clients for destination weddings, it's wise to prioritise the "destination weddings" page over the general "wedding planning" page. However, if you can manage both, that's even better!
Think About the ‘About’ Page: After optimising images on your homepage, main service pages, and any high-priority blogs or portfolios, consider addressing the images on your 'About' page. While this isn't an absolute requirement, it's a nice touch.
Portfolio or Blog Pages: Realistically, with potentially dozens of images, you're not going to be able to rename every file. We need a smarter strategy here. Choose five or six pivotal images, assign them unique filenames and alt text, and ensure they cover a broad range. For the remaining images, adopt a consistent yet general naming pattern, such as “venue-name-wedding-1”, “venue-name-wedding-2”, and so on.
Voila! You’re ready to optimise your images!
Image SEO may seem like a small detail, but it’s a powerful tool to increase your visibility and make your website more user-friendly. By optimising your filenames and alt text, you’re giving Google the clues it needs to understand your content, and in return, Google rewards you with a broader reach.
When it comes to naming images for SEO and adding image descriptions, all you need to remember is this: as long as you are describing the image, you’re good! There’s no wrong or right, you can describe it however you want. It just needs to be relevant to the image. And that’s why you should always make sure to use images that are relevant to the page content.
Remember, your beautiful images deserve to be seen by as many eyes as possible. With these tips, you’re well on your way to making that happen!
P.S. - All the example images in this blog post are sourced from Elevae, formerly known as Social Squares. It’s a stock membership where I’ve found the most gorgeous images perfect for websites, Instagram, blog posts and any other type of content. If you’re interested, check them out using my affiliate link here. I truly love their collection and think you might too!
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MEET THE BLOGGER
Hey there! I’m Nergis, wedding SEO expert and the author of this blog. I’m here to simplify SEO using easy-to-understand language, teaching you the basics, so you can start benefiting from it.