Google Image search ranking
Google’s job is to streamline the user experience and deliver helpful, relevant and informative content relevant to a specific search query. Search engines are increasingly recognising the visual search trend which is booming thanks to platforms like Pinterest and Instagram with 28% of Google search results now including images. This is up from 19% just two years ago. Well-optimised images can enhance your SEO strategy and improve conversion rates. So what can you do to improve your Google Image search ranking?
Technological developments are continuously evolving with AI and machine learning set to influence image search results. But before we delve into this, here are some basic things you should be doing to help with image search ranking.
Make Sure Your Content is Top Notch
The Google Image search algorithm considers not only the image but also the website where it’s embedded. This ensures people don’t click on a great image only to be met with thin or poorly written content. The image ranking algorithm takes in several factors when looking at the quality of content such as:
- The authority of a webpage
- Context – images should match the content theme
- Freshness – Google prioritises up-to-date content
So when it comes to image ranking, always make sure your content strategy is on-point and give web users a good reason to visit your site.
Make Sure Your Images are Well Optimised
If you can optimise it, you should. And images are no exception. There are several things to think about that’ll give you the best chance of ranking for specific terms. It’s all about making it clear to Google what you’re offering, so try to:
- Use an image file name relevant to what the image is about. Use important keywords whenever you can. It’s a good idea to separate words in file names using hyphens.
- Use alt text to describe the image with text relevant to the query.
- Use an image caption that is relevant to the page it appears on. Think about keywords that might be used in a specific search query.
- Use keywords on the webpage that match the image for continuity.
- Use a decent sized image at a decent resolution that isn’t mistaken for a thumbnail.
Machine Learning for Image Ranking
So now onto technological developments in the image ranking world…
Technology is advancing at a rapid rate with Google constantly experimenting with AI and machine learning. These will inevitably affect SEO strategies. So what could the future hold?
Well, Google has already rolled out Google Lens. This helps users identify objects of interest as they look through image search results. Lens essentially analyses a picture and detects what’s in it. If you click the object, other relevant searches will appear, many of which are linked to product pages. Of course, such advanced AI technology will lead to an increased number of image searches. It will also increase the population of image searches meaning competition will increase and your SEO strategy will have to be on point.
There’s also talk of machine learning as a way of ranking image search results. According to reports, machine learning could generate a relevance core for an image search result from an image, a landing page and a query feature. Relevance scores will then be used to serve up the most relevant image for a search query.
Ranking for image searches is an important part of SEO. Contact Whitefish Marketing today for an SEO strategy tailored to the needs of your brand.
