Naming and Alt-Tag Conventions

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a properly optimized image is probably worth at least two thousand. In search marketing, images provide an important source of clarifying messages to consumers, as well as helping your site to rank for targeted terms.

By creating effective, keyword rich names and alt-tags for your images, you'll help search engines to understand the nature of your site better - when two sites are competing for a search ranking, images can make the difference in terms of prioritized ranking.

From a technical standpoint, the image name is just the file name: a file named Business-Strategy.jpg will help you target those keywords within both image and general search. Importantly, when users roll their mouse over the image (or when they have images disabled, such as on certain mobile browsers), they'll see the alt-text displayed.

So, if the file is embedded with the HTML code then the text "Business Strategy" will be displayed. This can be an important source of keyword targeting, and can help you structure your site properly. Further, as a growing number of browsers rely upon mobile techniques these alt-tags are particularly important sources of naming conventions.

Always select appealing, unique images for your site layout that match the overall messaging of your site. Take time to properly name and tag the images for search, as well as users, so that you can effectively optimize the media sources on your site.



 
Google is a registered trademark of Google, Inc. This website is not associated, affiliated or endorsed by Google, Inc.