Images SEO Best Practices for WordPress

In the visually dominated digital landscape, optimizing images for search engines is essential for improving website visibility and driving organic traffic. By investing time and effort into image optimization, your website will be more likely to flourish in the competitive online world of search engine optimization (SEO). Luckily, WordPress by default provides most of these tools right at your fingertips. Here are the five Best Practices for Image SEO in WordPress.

#1: Relevant File Names

First Make Sure to Save the File Name with Relevant Keywords.
Instead of jibberish like DCMIMAGE1052.jpg, you should name the file with a descriptive keyword phrase that you’re targeting that relates to your image.

#2: Use Image Alt Tags

When you upload your image into WordPress, there’s an area for you to enter Alt text. Make sure to fill that out with the keyword phrase that you’re targeting. See image above.

#3: File Size & Format

Don’t upload images in the biggest size you have if you’re only planning on displaying a small image. This would cause poor load times which could hurt your SEO. Be sure to make the image file size as small as possible (without sacrificing quality, of course). If you’re unsure which file type to save the image as, a good rule of thumb is jpg. Using image compression tools can also be helpful when it comes to speeding up image loading times.

#4: Submit Images in a Sitemap

Make sure to create a sitemap and submit it to Google via Search Console (formerly Webmaster Tools). After your sitemap has been submitted, make sure to visit the Search Console a few days later to verify your images are also being indexed.

#5: Use Image Captions

People tend to scan headings, images and captions as they scan a web page. Therefore make sure to use the caption field when it makes sense to the visitor.

By following these best practices, you can enhance the impact of your visual content and increase organic traffic.