Three of the most important things that Google Image Search looks for, in descending order, are:
1. Alt Text
2. File Name
3. Surrounding Text
1. Alt Text
See the earrings above? In Blogger, in Compose mode all you see is the image. But if you click on the Edit Html tab, you will see the following html language:
Notice the alt="" that I highlighted in yellow?
The Alt Text (the part between the quotation marks) can contain keywords describing an image - BUT ONLY IF YOU ADD THEM. Alt Text is the text equivalent for an image, and is used by blind people (and also for other things).
But, importantly, Google uses Alt Text to find images. It's the MOST IMPORTANT element of Image Search Optimization.
How can you add it? Just by putting a description between the quotation marks.
I'll show you how. For this example, let's add the words "sterling silver hoop earrings swirls":
Remember, try to be descriptive with your Alt Text, but don't over do it. The best thing to put here are keywords you personally would search for if you were looking for that image.
2. File Name
Instead of calling your photo file image1234.jpg, rename it to something more descriptive such as sterling-silver-earrings-with-swirls.jpg. Try to keep the File Name either the same, or very similar to the Alt Text. The name of the file for my earrings is silver-hoop-earrings-with-swirls.jpg. The html Image Name for the image is:
Google will use the Image Name as it searches for images.
3. Surrounding Text
Always try and place a paragraph of descriptive text directly above and below your image, with words from your Alt Text and Image Name included in this text.
Google will look for relevance. If it doesn't think your Alt Text and Image Name correspond with your surrounding text, it might ignore your image.
It may take a while for google to crawl through the web and find your site, but you' ll be AMAZED at how many more hits your blog will have if you remember these 3 steps.
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Wow, wonderful tips! Now, just tp remember to do them!!
ReplyDeleteI know I personally use the google image search tons!
I am totally going to link this to my blog if you don't mind!
It's not too hard to remember if you get into the habit. Especially naming your files to ones that relate to the image. And it WILL make a difference in your views.
ReplyDelete(Please, go right ahead and link this to your blog.)
Really great tips! I love blogs where I can learn somehing...going to follow you!
ReplyDeletegood to know, I will try this, thanks for sharing...
ReplyDeletethis is a great tip, i will have to keep a copy of this. thanks for sharng :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip! I've already noticed quite a few hits from GIS - I'll start doing this alt thing and keep an eye on what effect it has.
ReplyDeleteThis is a fabulous tip!
ReplyDeleteEveryone talks about SEO (Search Engine Optimization), but this is not as widely known. I don't know why because it's pretty easy to do and it really gets results.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the information!
ReplyDeleteGreat tips! Thank you!
ReplyDeletePei Li
Hope this helps.
ReplyDeleteYesterday, I had 60 views from google image searches alone!
Fantastic! Thanks for the great tips...hopefully I can get the hang of it right away.
ReplyDeleteGreat tips! I'm going to make some edits to my blog photos today! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteAfter you make the edits, don't forget to ping your site.
ReplyDeleteThanks, these are great tips. Just tried them and will keep track of my hits to see if it helped.
ReplyDeleteRemember, it might take a while for the Googlebots to find you. So the results might not be instantaneous.
ReplyDeleteGreat tip!
ReplyDeleteSuper informative! Thank you!!
ReplyDeletethanks so much for explaining this, I never would have known!
ReplyDeletealso, those earrings are fantastic.
thanks for this - i knew about alt tags but never remembered to go back and add them to photos
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post, I learned things in this post that I had never heard or thought of before, thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you found it helpful!
ReplyDeleteIt's funny that there's not this is not something that's widely used. SEO is always talked about, but not this.
This is so helpful, I had no idea. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteWow thanks for this tip. I am new to blogging and I didn't know anything about this. I will have to try it out. I am just now trying to put badges on my site. Not having much luck either. I am not a computer quiz that is for sure.
ReplyDeleteI am going to mention your post on my site I am sure there are othere that would love to know about this.
Thanks again.
craftyLinda,
ReplyDeleteWelcome to blogging and good luck to you! And thanks for mentioning my post on your site.
Wow! Great info here...Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThank you. This is so easy that I could kick myself for not knowing sooner!!
ReplyDelete-Suzanne
I know. Especially the part about making sure your file name is descriptive. I've always tried to do that - but now I know why it's important.
ReplyDeleteI just went back and alt tagged the last three pages of posts on my blog... AFTER I put up a post sending other etsy folks over here to see your great tip. http://www.solsisters.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteTHANK YOU SO MUCH for sharing.
SolSisters,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you found this helpful and I wish MANY MORE views for your blog.
And thanks for the call out on your blog.
:-)
Great tips! I can't wait to try ito ut. I wondered though what is pinging your site mean? I am clueless!
ReplyDeleteHouseThatCrowBuilt,
ReplyDeleteWell, that will take more than a quick comment to explain. Maybe I need to write about that in a future post.
I have wanted to know this info for so long. Have I mentioned you rock? LOL
ReplyDeleteThanks tons-shoozles
Shoozles,
ReplyDeleteYou're great! Hope you found this useful and get many more views.
Hmm I will tried, thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteGreat Tips!
ReplyDeleteThanks :)
Thanks for the tip, I'll give it a try!
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Will come back to read it in detail - love your earrings too! Very pretty!
ReplyDeleteJust seen the Etsy forum thread where you mention this and came along to read more about it - thanks! I will have to try it out:)
ReplyDeleteWow!!! This is fantastic and helpful information!! Seriously, this is the best thing I have read in a long time & it is something I can implement immediately. I love you for sharing!! I cannot believe I have been using flickr for a long long time and never made that connection with the alt"". THANK YOU!!!!!
ReplyDeletevery cool! thanks!
ReplyDeleteWhoa! I do image searches all the time... and *cough* never knew that's how it happened. Thanks so much! I will definitely implement this in my blog.
ReplyDeleteFound you in the Etsy fora :)
-Amanda/PersistentGreen
Great tip and love the samples you provided. I'm bookmarking your blog. I found you in the Etsy forum, too. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteWho knows where to download XRumer 5.0 Palladium?
ReplyDeleteHelp, please. All recommend this program to effectively advertise on the Internet, this is the best program!