You’ve optimized your content: Your keywords are in strategic places and they link to logical pages on your website. The headline strikes the right balance between enticing and informative. You’re done, right?
Not yet. You may be leaving out a very important and often-overlooked optimization and engagement opportunity: your photos.
Every time you post a photo you have the chance to further bolster your content from a search perspective, as well as enhance conversion ability and benefit the user at the same time. With the explosion of visual communication online, making the most of your images is more important than ever.
Here are three ways you can capitalize on your photos, infographics and other visual content.
1. Title attribute
This is what pops up when a visitor hovers over your image. Often these titles aren’t given much thought – strings of numbers and abbreviated words are common. Why not use it as one more way to get your keywords out there and also as a helpful guide for the reader? How many of us have quickly scanned a bank of images looking for something? A relevant, concise title allows us to zero in faster on what we are looking for and signals whether it’s worth our time to click for further information.
2. Alt attribute
Not to be confused with the title, this is a short description (about eight to 10 words) of the image that is added to the html code and is useful to the reader in the event that the photo itself isn’t visible for some reason, or if the user is making use of screen-reading software. Alt attributes are especially helpful with mages that convey complex information such as infographics. Keep the text brief and specific to the image. Include keywords, but only if they make sense within the context of the description.
3. Captions
They may be an afterthought, but captions can be a valuable way to squeeze out a little more optimization from your content. Use them to heighten the impact of your image by including some explanation, highlighting product details, or even just to add some humor. And, of course, include appropriate keywords. You just made your image more appealing and powerful to the user.
Give your content an extra boost by extending optimization benefits to all your images. And start doing it now: “While we’re young.”
