ADD VISUALS TO BLOG POSTS; BOOST YOUR SEO RANKING
Visuals play an important role in your SEO strategy. Users are looking for and relying on visuals more than text now, and Google is measuring user experience as a cornerstone for ranking in the SERPs, so it’s important to not only create valuable content but to also make it visually appealing.
Gone are the days of keyword stuffing and robotic sounding articles that bring absolutely no value to your readers.
Adding visuals to your blog posts breaks up the text, creates a positive visual feel, and oftentimes makes it much easier for your readers to understand a topic. Don’t just add graphics, illustrations, photos, and videos to your articles for sake of adding visuals though. They must be relevant, thoughtful, and strategic. Google is always watching and analyzing!
Side note: Add the Pin It plugin to your website so your readers can easily Pin your visuals to Pinterest.
Here are a few ideas to inspire you to add visuals in your blog posts:
- Infographics. Infographics are a great way to easily convey a difficult topic. Of course, you’ll want to include accompanying text to explain certain features, however, an infographic gives people a visual to refer back to.
- Screenshots. Adding screenshots to your blog post is a really easy way to show people what you’re trying to explain.
- Illustrations. Graphics and illustrations can be both educational and fun. There are plenty of places to purchase illustrations and graphics at reasonable prices. Fiverr.com CreativeMarket.com Stock.Adobe.com
- Graphs and charts. Canva (affiliate link) is an excellent resource for creating graphs, charts, illustrations, all things visual for business, blog, and website.
- Photos. Photos are excellent for showcasing your products and services. When taking your own photos, make sure you have good lighting. Set your products near a window to brighten up your photos. Use photos of yourself; everyone wants to get to know the person behind the business and brand. And there are plenty of stock photo sights available. Make sure the stock photo matches your brand style and is relevant to the information on your blog post. Styled Stock Society (affiliate link) has beautiful photos with a $25/mo membership plan. Elle, the founder, adds new photos every month along with Canva templates, Instagram templates, and more. Canva (affiliate link) is also an excellent resource for stock photos and all things graphics.
Image Size
Image size should as small as possible while still maintaining quality. Large images can negatively affect site performance and since site speed is a major part of overall Google site ranking, you want to make sure to everything you can to keep it running as fast as possible.
Website image size should be less than 500 KB for best results. Image width should be between 1500 and 2500 pixels wide (long side) to avoid appearing pixelated or blurry on your website.
Image File Name
Rename your photos using descriptive keywords. Keep the file name short, and be strategic. For example, let’s say you’re writing an article about chocolate cake and have an accompnaying photo of chocolate cake. Your original image filename may look something like TLE1234.jpg; rename it to chocolate-cake.jpg.
Image Requirements
| Image File | Specification | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| File Type | .jpg, .gif, .png | Do not use .pdf, .psd, or .doc file types. |
| File Size | 500 KB or smaller | For best results. |
| File Name | Rename the file using keywords: letters, numbers, underscores, hyphens. | Symbols may cause issues while uploading. |
| Color Mode | RGB | CMYK is best for printed materials. |
| Color Profile | sRGB | Best for mobile. |
Alt Text
- Alt-text is used by screen readers to describe an image for visually impaired users.
- If a user’s internet connection is slow, the alt text will be displayed in place of the image.
- Alt-text is important for SEO because it describes an image to Google in detail and Google Images is the world’s second-largest search engine.
- Be concise.
- Use keywords if they’re relatable. Do not keyword stuff.
- No need to state that it’s an image.
- Do not repeat the same words in the caption.
Using the chocolate cake example above, the alt text would look like this to describe the photo: chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting and a side of ice cream and strawberries.
Alt-text for a high school senior photographer who includes photos on their website and blog would look like: high school senior portrait of a young woman at Boerner Botanical Gardens, Hales Corners, WI. This is a good use of keywords along with a nice description of the photo. A reader would be able to visualize a young woman standing amongst the flowers in the gardens, and the description is SEO friendly with nice use of keywords: high school senior portrait, Hales Corners, Boerner Botanical Gardens.
If you’re using WordPress, the alt-text can be found by going to your dashboard, click on media, click on an image when the gallery comes up, and in the right sidebar you’ll see what is shown in the image below. Fill in the Alternate Text area with a description of the photo while using keywords (if you can).
This is a screenshot showing alt-text for the featured image in the article Increase Your Website Traffic with a Killer Content Strategy. I used a photo of a young businesswoman sitting in front of a laptop with her hands in the air celebrating a big win. For the alt-text, I included a few keywords and typed in, Business Woman Excited About Increasing Website Visitors.
Get creative and have fun while being strategic and playing by the rules.
