Source: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/optimize-images-seo/125998
Images can make a huge difference in your posts. They can help liven up long articles and catch the attention of your readers. Here are 10 image optimization tips to help you take full advantage of the benefits images offer.
Image optimization tips to improve your SEO
- Add the Right Image – Use an image that fits the topic of the post. Illustrations and animated gifs can be used as alternatives for photos
- Give The Right File Name for Your Image – Choose a file name that will let viewers know what the image is about.
- Scale the Image for SEO – Huge images can greatly affect loading times. Scale the image to the size you want it to be shown.
- Reduce the File Size of The Scaled Image – There are tools you can use for this or just export the image and test until you get a quality percentage that is acceptable.
- Put the Image at the Right Spot – You can add the image near/at/in related textual content.
- Adding Captions – Add a caption if it would make sense to the visitor when a caption is added. The caption should be for the visitor and not just for image SEO.
- Adding Alt Text and Title Text – In case the image can’t be displayed to the visitor, the alt text serves as a descriptive text. The title text is a good way to provide non-essential information.
- OpenGraph – Add the right image tag to the <head> section to make sure the image is included in your share on Facebook or other social platforms.
- Alignment – Images should not break the left reading line.
- XML Image Sitemaps – Make sure that you add images to your XML sitemaps to help Google index your images.