Image Optimization for Visual Search Results
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You've been optimizing the text-based content of your web pages for the search engines for years now. But that's not enough anymore. The web is growing more visual every day, with the consequence that searchers now want to be able to find images and video as easily as they can find articles and other word-based content. That means you will have to start optimizing your images. Keep reading to learn how.
There are two kinds of image optimization techniques. The first, which has been around since the web was able to display images, deals with optimization for displaying on the web. This usually involves making the image's file sizes as small as possible so that they render quickly in a browser across HTTP. Slicing is often involved.
The other kind of optimization, which has only really begun to matter since people were able to search specifically for images, deals with optimizing your images for search engine indexing. So now, in addition to all of your usual SEO practices, you also have to make sure that your images are optimized in both ways. This is not going to get any less important either, with the emergence of new and improved search engines designed solely for images, yotophoto being an excellent example. Optimizing your images is only going to matter more.
Just as optimizing your images for easy and fast viewing over the Internet is simple, optimizing your images for SEO is not a major headache either. There are a few simple rules to follow and a little investment of time. During the course of this article, we'll look at each aspect of an image that can be optimized. One thing I won't be discussing however is how to make your images render more quickly. This is something you should have been doing already for a long time and doesn't really come under the SEO umbrella.
Next: Rule Number 1: Make Use of Your HTML Attributes >>
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