Simple SEO Technique – Use Alt Tags and Image Names
Do you optimize for images? There are a lot of people who go to Google and/or Yahoo Images and conduct searches for various topics. By optimizing your images for the search engines you increase the chances of your site being found by searchers. What do I mean by “optimizing images”? By using the “alt” tag and putting a little thought into how you name your actual images, you will greatly increase the chances of showing up on an image search.
The “alt” tag is an HTML attribute that is used to textually describe an image. The “alt” tag or textual description of the image will display if a browser has the image display settings turned off. In Internet Explorer the text in the “alt” tag will display when the user place the mouse pointer over the image. The use of the “alt” tag provides another opportunity for the search engines to pick up your keyword for that image which should correspond to the information being provided on that particular web page.
Naming your image properly will reap many benefits with the search engines. For instance, if your website is about barbecue pork ribs and you have a photo of a rack of cooked ribs you should name your photo “barbecue-pork-ribs.jpg.” When an image search is conducted for barbecue pork ribs your image has an increased chance of showing up. When the visitor clicks on your image they are then transported to your website. This provides another route to your website from the search engines.
The “alt” tag and proper image naming is a quick way to increase your SEO efforts. If you haven’t used this technique on your site you can simply take a little time and go back through your site and make these changes. Yes, it may take a little work but the payoff will be worth it.
