Google images pull in a humongous 20.45 % of total web traffic market share, making the Google image search engine bigger than Amazon, Bing/Yahoo, Youtube and DuckDuckGo combined!
Would you want to learn how to rank in Google image search today? Yes?
Then this is the guide for you to read. Right now!
So, without further ado, let’s get started!
But first, why bother about Google images?
Google images pull in 20.45 % of total web traffic market share.
To give you a hint and a half, the Google image search engine is secondary to normal Google Search. However, it is bigger than Amazon, Bing/Yahoo, Youtube and DuckDuckGo combined.
Way bigger!
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Google Image Searches – Why Bother Really? 6 Excellent Reasons!
Here are 6 excellent reasons why you need to optimize your photos for Google.
#1- Easy Branding Opportunity
If you are making custom images for your blog posts (you should) I hope you’re not forgetting to watermark them and slap your logo on.
If you are then you’re missing out on a substantial, perpetual and passive branding effect.
When people see your logo, even if they don’t click and interact with your listing, they are still exposed to your brand and will learn to recognize it over time.
It takes an average of seven exposure instances for a brand to be remembered, and branded images found in Google Images can be one of those seven.
#2- More Traffic
As you saw in the image above, Google Images have lots of traffic to send to sites that are actually competing for their share.
The good news is that most marketers suck at image SEO. Partly because they think it doesn’t matter as much. And partly because they already “know” what they’re doing.
#3- It’s Way Less Competitive
Most marketers think Google Image search is a joke as a traffic source, and won’t lift a finger to try to rank their images.
Yes, that may include a keyword in image filename and alt attribute, but that’s all they do and it’s not enough.
As you will see further below, there’s so much more you can do to boost your ranking chances.
#4- Earn More Money
Ranking in Google Image Search can also be very lucrative.
For example, imagine you’re number #1 result for the query “best espresso coffee maker under $1000”.
It’s a visual keyword and also a buyer one, and people will want to check out the image results before clicking anywhere.
#5- Featured Snippet Theft
Oftentimes, the really juicy keywords are so dominated by huge sites that it’d take years of your best SEO to rank.
However there is a shortcut and it’s ranking your image in the featured snippet, next to the other text-based result.
For example, when you type in the query “how to write a resume” Google ranks this page in the snippet, but the images above come from several different websites.
And if you check Google Images you will see that image number 1# in the snippet is ranked number #2 in Google Image search.
That’s free and easy exposure and unique and high quality images will get at least a few clicks from that features snippet position.
#6- Possible Influence on the Main SERPS
Full disclaimer – This is just a nerdy speculation of mine and I only have anecdotal evidence of it (when I see it working).
But it is possible that by ranking your image number #1 in Google Images, that image sort of “pulls” your page indexed in normal results to start ranking higher and faster.
You learned WHY you need to be optimizing your images to rank high in Google.
Now let’s learn HOW to do it.
How to Rank Your Site in Google Image Search? 16 Awesome Tips Ahoy!
#1- Create a Hero Image
What is a Hero image?
Hero images are oversized banners that sit perched at the top of your blog posts, right beneath your headline.
Their purpose is to entice the reader to start reading, and as such they need to be, well, enticing.
What else 🙂
However, these images are also your best bet for ranking in Google images.
It’s because they’re attractive, original and are the first image in your blog post, which is very important.
#2- Image Must Be Original
Google loves original content and that includes images too.
So don’t expect to take a picture from someone else’s website, change it a bit, name it differently, and then try to rank it.
It won’t work as Google is at the point where they can “see” the image and also recognize where it came from.
For example, when you input an image of a random dog found on Pixabay in Google Cloud Vision API, it can “see” the image and tell you it’s a dog with 90% certainty.
Note: another reason to create original images is the general SEO benefit you can gain. This recent study showed that image duplication hurts the page’s organic performance in regular Google SERPS.
#3- Use Google Preferred Image Formats
Let’s do a quick test,
What kind of images does Pinterest algorithm prefer to show?
Exactly! Vertical one’s, shaped like rectangles.
And what about Google?
Square, horizontal ones, you guessed right again.
The point is, don’t make a vertical image and try to rank it in Google- It won’t find success, even if all your other image SEO is perfect.
#4- Add Keyword-Rich Image filename
Image filenames is how you name the image before you upload it to WordPress.
Here’s what it looks like on my desktop:
Notice how I wrote-it-with-dashes and_not_with_underscores?
That’s the way to write for Google-bot.
Pro tip– If you want to go back and modify image filenames, you can.
You can’t change them natively in WordPress, but if you use this free plugin, it’s a cinch.
And it’s worth doing it for image keywords you really want to rank for.
#5- Always Write Alt Attributes
Alt attributes, (or alt tags) are little code snippets that help people who’re visually imparied consume your content.
They show up when the image fails to load and screen readers (devices that help blind people consume content) read those so users know what the image represents.
So it is good UX (user experience) to include them.
But alt attributes help with image SEO as well.
In fact according to John Mueller, alt attributes are “very important” for ranking in Google Image search.
