How to Get Traffic from Google Images?

There’s a lot of information out there on how to optimize content to get visitors. What many new web developers overlook is that their images are great for traffic purposes, too. Just like with traditional content, there are techniques and strategies to optimize images for as much traffic as possible. A Google image is one of the most consistently used platforms to find images, so many of the techniques rely on the particulars of Google images. What follows are some of the best methods to optimize your images to attract Google images traffic.

Label Your Images Correctly

While tags have become less popular as a way to optimize whole pages for traffic, they are still the best way to optimize images. There are several opportunities to maximize any image. First, ensure that the filename of the image is related to what the image is. Then, set up an appropriate alt text for the image that expands on the file name to include closely related keywords. Finally, ensure that the title tags for the image are relevant as well.

Other Factors

There is also evidence that Google Images may consider other factors, such as the text that surrounds the image and the content on the rest of the page. You may want to consider limiting the amount of content on pages where your images appear to only the most relevant content to the image. If you have too much on a single page, your image risks losing the tight focus necessary to rank for an image search term.

Consider Your Audience

Google has many helpful options to allow users to assess an image before they click on it, so if your image fits their needs poorly, they’ll never click on it in the first place. In this way, quality images are just as important as quality content. Make sure your images are of a comfortable enough resolution that it can be seen when shrunk to Googles Images thumbnails.  Consider whether or not your audience is looking for a small or a large image, as well.

Consider the Competition

Respect that you have competition and assess the other images that are available for your audience when they are searching for an image with your keywords. If you know that your image is a lower quality that the others available, you may have an opportunity to seize traffic by developing an image that could beat out the others available.