Image Optimization - File Name Important?
-
I am currently working on a site with 100+ recipes that all have image file names that are relevant, but not optimized for keyword purposes. I'm wondering - from an SEO perspective - would it be worth my time to go back through all of the images and rename them with keywords in mind?
On my own site I have always done this as a "best practice" but I'm curious - does it make a difference to search engines? Does anyone have any recent research/experiences that they would like to share?
Thanks!
-
I would be intested in knowing what you guys think is the best way to name images?
say "rustic-oak-3-draw-bedside.jpg"
How long should the names be max and are hyphens ok do you think?
-
No probs, glad to help!
Hope you Friday doesn't drag too long due to all this!!!
-
Thanks everyone. It seems the consensus is to rename the files (assuming they aren't already ranking high with their current file name), ensure each one has proper alt text and submit an image site map to google.
I've got a busy Friday ahead of me!
Also, Mike - thanks for the tip on the caption tag. I hadn't thought of that. Every little bit of "google juice" helps. I'm going to give it a try!
-
Yes, when it doubt add puppies. That always helps.
-
Daniel, I gave you a thumbs up, as I think that is a good point
It could help if you submit an image sitemap once the renaming has been done, or even impliment 301 redirects from the old image URL to the new ones, but unless you have an automated way of doing the redirects, it could be quite a long process to do them manually!!!
-
Another thing to consider is that if you do have an image ranking within the SERPS that you don't change the filename at all - I've seen that it takes google's bot(s) much longer to reindex an image that's filename has changed vs like some content change or meta title etc
-
YES! We've seen a significant drop in visits via google images when one of our clients eventually changed their file-upload-backend and files were named automatically like 445390348043534.jpg - we then added a separate module only to assure the naming is correct and useful, and are slowly recovering the lost google images visits.
-
Benjamin pretty much covered it I feel!
Remember, Googlebot is, well, a bot! To help Googlebot, and it's associated algorithms figure out what your images are about, you should ensure certain 'triggers' are well taken care of.
Filename is one such trigger, as is alt text (both mentioned by Benjamin already).
Additionally I would consider adding title tags to the images, and at times that you link to any of the images, use relevant anchor text too, as this can help.
Also consider using tags, for example, Paella Recipe as this can give an extra bit of help in regards to Google & other engines understanding what the image is all about.
Then if you are really wanting to go the extra mile;
Image sitemap submission to Google, to try to make sure big G finds all of your images! (see here: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=178636 ) Note the tags that you can use, specifically the caption and title should be quite useful for image SEO etc
Hope that helps!
-
Thanks, Benjamin. That's a great way of looking at it. All of the images I looked at did have "golden retriever" in the beginning of the file name.
Plus bonus points because I got to look at puppies.
-
Hi Emily,
Yes, it does make a difference. Think about it from Google's perspective. If you're crawling a site and come across an image with no ALT tag, no title, and a name of C19823.JPG. What could that image be?
Now imagine you're Google and you come across an image titled golden-retriever.jpg. There's a pretty good chance that image is of a dog. Especially if the content on the page is also about dogs. The more clues that Google can use to figure out what a site is about the better.
Do a Google Image search for "golden retriever" and look at the file names. Notice any similarities?
-Benjamin
-
In short, yes. I've always found them to be a benefit - essential on an image search ranking. Also don't forget your alt tags.
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
-
Do i have to optimize all pages on ecommerce site which is currently 4028 give or take
Hello, do i have to optimize all pages on ecommerce site, as its a lot of pages to developed unique content for my plan at the moment is to start from top down, I have completed top home, featured products etc i have also started on individual team shops my content inst unique to each page more the same and just changing the team name and keyword i was planning on doing that in the blog area of the site and just making the top categories and sub categories. and maybe in time start on the products. I can do all categories in about two months but to complete products would take like 2 years I don't feel that is productive and most would be changed or out of stock by then please take a look at my site and tell me what you think ? sportingdesires.com Kindest Regards, Stephen Kewn
On-Page Optimization | | sportingdesires0 -
Disavow Tool Submitting 2nd File
Hi About 2 Months ago I submitted a Disavow File using the Disavow Tool I have collected more links and I am ready to upload a 2nd File, However should I download the previous file in Webmaster Tools (Disavow Tool) and add these new links to that File or if I just upload and override the existing file with this file containing new links only will that be ok. What I dont want to do is do something that removes all the previous findings from the list so that google cannot see them anymore. I guess what I am trying to say is does Google just refer to the live file I am updating / overriding or once I have submitted a file weather i remove it or not will google still have a record of it and be referring to it ? Thanks Adam
On-Page Optimization | | AMG1000 -
Should we add our company's name in page title tag or not?
We have been adding our company (Townscript) name in all the page titles. For example, in an event page of Lucknow Conclave: www.townscript.com/lucknowconclave the page title is Lucknow Conclave | Alexis Society | Townscript I read somewhere that it's not necessary to put your company's name in the title tag. Is it right? Please help!
On-Page Optimization | | sanchitmalik0 -
My Site's Name Not Ranking in Google
Hey all, I've seen a few posts like this. But I wanted to start a new thread in hopes I may find the underlying issue. I've had my site: http://www.ctrl-alt-success.com for about 2 years. Recently I've started really adding a lot of content to it. (about 2-3 posts a week). I get zero organic views which is fine as I know it's still in the beginning. But here's my main question. If I type "ctrl-alt-success" into google. I get some site that shows up. "ctrlaltsuccess.com" I've been looking at this issue forever. That site has been "coming soon" for nearly 2 years. lol My site doesn't even show up on the first 10 pages of google. However in Bing and Yahoo it ranks on the first page. What could my site be doing wrong that it's not even ranking for the exact domain name? Keep in mind, if I google "ctrl-alt-success.com" my site comes up fine. Any help would be appreciated, thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | Ctrl-Alt-Success0 -
Advanced tags in images
Is it true that one can improve image seo by adding metadata to the details (right click image and choose details), like tags and comments. I never heard of doing this before. It seems like grasping at straws.
On-Page Optimization | | Webzenz0 -
How to ALT tag correctly many similar images?
scenario: I have a product page with some text about the product and 12-15 different images af the product: details, colours, different views... how should I name an alt tag them correctly, been them actually really similar? Is it keyword stuffing to use the same name containing a relevant keywords?
On-Page Optimization | | DavideM0 -
Optimization for allready indexed web without seo before
Hi, I have some questions. I have 2 Joomla web sites who needs seo optimization, but there are allready indexed in Google: 1/ Will rel=canonical fix the problem for duplicated content for allready indexed pages? I have read different solutions but I haven't tested them all. I puted rel=canonical on the first web site that I started to optimize, but Google WMT shows me very small or not at all decreasing of duplicated content. Would it need more time? 2/How can I show search engines to craw and change the cache for a page that is allready indexed faster than 1-2 months? 3/ What is your opinion and experience? With done changes for one website for a low competition keyword /the web site was not optimized for search engines before/ how much time will it take usually for Google to see the changes made and change the ranking for some keyword?
On-Page Optimization | | vladokan0 -
Woah, my A-grade optimized pages that were on the first page have all vanished outside the top 50 in Google... is this Panda?
Yep as mentioned, I had some pages hit the top ten pretty quickly after ensuring they were A-grade for pretty uncompetitive keywords however, today, all bar 2 have just vanished from the top 50! All were ranking in Google.co.uk and I know we were predicting the Panda update to hit soon but WOW! My client is understandably a little upset, what on earch do I tell him and what should I do about it? Cheers! jT
On-Page Optimization | | Switch_Digital0