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Did you know, images are also searchable on Google? Not only can you search for text-based content, but you can also look for the images.
They say, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” and we think they are absolutely right! As a digital marketer, you’re already aware that keywords, SEO, and exceptional content can bring in more traffic. But what about images? They are hands down, the unsung heroes of traffic generation.
Unfortunately, many marketers overlook Google Image Search when they are exploring the best ways to promote their brand or drive traffic to their website. Although ranking for terms in Google Image Search may not bring you huge traffic, you shouldn’t be ignoring it.
Optimizing your images for Google Image Search is quite simple, and the traffic gains you get in return, compensate for the effort. An update to Google Images paves a new way for you to attract traffic with your images. You can leverage Google Image Search to drive more visitors to your site. In this article, we will show you exactly how to use a search by image on Google.
Image Search allows you to search for a term and find images related to the text you entered. That’s something many search engines offer, right? But unlike other search engines, Google Images can help you to drive traffic with your images.
Google is adding more context to photos in image search results, which presents your website with a new opportunity to attract traffic. Info about people, places, or things relevant to the photo is retrieved from Google’s Knowledge Graph and shown underneath images when they’re clicked on.
One way to explore topics in more detail is by visiting the web page where the photo is featured. The added context perhaps makes photos more appealing to click on. Think of it as Google adding meta descriptions to image search results.
Google Images results are sourced from websites all over the internet. However, the corresponding facts for every photo are fetched from the Knowledge Graph.
For instance, in the image below, you can see how the photo comes from the site where it’s hosted. Whereas, the extra information is pulled from another source. As a result, users get more information about photos that could attract more clicks to the image source.
An update to Google Images can help you bring more traffic via images, but there are some problems with this traffic.
Users who search Google Images for photos of Texas State Park don’t care what you say about the place. Perhaps, they just want to look at the images. Or, maybe they just want to find a photo of parks to use on their website.
Once searchers get what they want and learn that you don’t provide an infinite stream of Texas pictures, they’re less likely to bookmark your website and place it into regular reading rotations.
Sometimes users use image search as they just want to steal your cute pet images and feature them on their sites. And at other times, people are genuinely searching for info or products that can be represented visually.
If you’re running a business website or blog, you should always think about building content that makes your audience want to return for more. If people find your website and convert immediately, that’s awesome!
The objective is to establish a new relationship, nudge the prospect down your sales funnel, and get them one step closer to finally becoming your paying customer.
At the end of the day, you want the majority of your users, even new users who find you via a Google search, to be relevant to your brand. Keeping that in mind, you must optimize photos to maximize your Google image search traffic.
Image optimization is perhaps one of the most ignored elements of acquiring traffic via image search. Many marketers think of it as overkill. But it’s actually one of the best methods to beat your competition and create brand awareness.
Here are a few ways you can optimize your images to maximize Google image search traffic.
If your content is included in Google’s Knowledge Graph, you’ll have more opportunities to appear in the search engine results pages (SERPs) for competitive keywords. Wikipedia is not the only source of info in Google’s Knowledge Graph. Google pulls info from hundreds of websites all over the internet to compile billions of facts.
According to Google’s official help page:
“Facts in the Knowledge Graph come from a number of sources that compile factual information. Along with public sources, we license data to provide info like sports scores, stock prices, and weather forecasts. We also get factual info directly from content owners in various ways, including from those who suggest changes to knowledge panels they’ve claimed.”
This means website owners can submit info to the Knowledge Graph by claiming a knowledge panel. If you aren’t doing it already, you should consider claiming your business’s knowledge panel.
Local businesses can get the most benefits from image searches. That’s because your Knowledge Graph info, along with a link, can potentially surface underneath those images.
We strongly recommend using original images, the ones that you or your employees have taken. Remember, your ‘Meet The Team’ page needs pictures of your actual team, not some random guys standing in a stock photo.
Likewise, your blog needs photos relevant to the subject. If you’re selecting a random picture just to get a green bullet in your SEO plugin’s content analysis, then you’re doing it all wrong.
The image you use should reflect the blog topic. Or, it should have an illustrative purpose within the content. Also, try to put the photo close to the related text.
Don’t have any images of your own that you can use? No problem. There are many other ways to find exclusive photos and still avoid stock images. Once you’ve got the right image – whether it’s an illustration, chart, or graph – the next step is to optimize it before using it on your site.
There are several factors you should consider:
Use your focus keyword in the image file name. This will help Google know what the image is about without even looking at it.
For images, there’s no right format. It all depends on the type of photo and how you want to use it. You can use various formats such as:
Infographics are ideal for enhancing your traffic with relevant images. At the same time, they can add rich details to your content. An infographic can bring a large number of visitors and establish your authority in no time. You don’t have to create an infographic for every piece of content you create. However, you must use photos that are relevant to your topic.
Everything about your images should be related to your website’s topic, and this will organically grow your traffic. Ensure your photos aren’t unappealing, blurry, sluggish to load, or awkward.
Here’s what Google recommends to keep your photos user-friendly:
They attract visitors more than ugly, unclear images. Moreover, other webmasters are more likely to include high-quality images, which can divert traffic to their website. Clear images will also look better in the thumbnail versions Google displays in the search results. These images are more likely to get clicks from viewers.
Even if your image appears on multiple pages of your website, think about designing a standalone landing page for every image. Consider gathering all the image-related info on this page. Also, make sure you provide unique info like descriptive titles and captions on every page. You can also allow comments, discussions, or ratings for every image.
A browser can start rendering a page even before photos are downloaded, as long as it knows the dimensions to wrap non-replaceable elements around. Defining these dimensions can increase your page loading speed and enhance user experience.
An alt tag defines the content of every image. If your image can’t load for some reason, visitors will see an image box, including the alt tag. This lets them know what would have been in the image. Plus, it also increases your traffic when you use keywords.
If you’ve used the right keywords in your alt tag, people searching for an image relevant to yours can find it in the Google Image search results. Google uses the info you provide via an image alt tag to rank it accordingly. This is especially useful if you’re showcasing a product. You can also add the year before the product description.
Are you creating content that ranks for your SEO keywords? Start with those keywords instead of writing whatever and forcing keywords into your content. Likewise, when optimizing for image search, start with keywords and take it from there.
When optimizing your images, keep the following in mind:
Loading times are critical for user experience (UX) and SEO. The faster the site loads, the easier it is to visit and index a web page. Photos can have a significant influence on your site loading times. This is particularly true when you upload a large image and then choose to display it as a small size. For instance, if you display a 2500×1500 pixels photo at 250×150 pixels size, it takes a while to process because the whole image still has to be loaded.
Resize the photo to how you want to display it. If you’re using WordPress, you can automatically resize the image in multiple sizes after uploading. But that doesn’t mean the file size is optimized as well. It just optimizes the image display size.
How to use search by image Google to drive more traffic? Well, traffic via image search depends on several factors. Google is improving at identifying elements in images every day. So you should ensure that all images on your site, along with their elements, contribute to a good UX.
Whether you need images for articles, videos, or any other reason, Google Images is perhaps the first place you look for relevant images. That’s why driving traffic via Image Search is so powerful yet so easy. Following the tips discussed in this article, you can optimize all images and steadily see your organic traffic rise.
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