Image SEO covers file choice, size, naming, alt text, surrounding context and discoverability. Done well, it speeds up pages, improves accessibility and can bring traffic from image search.
Need help with SEO?
Comppound runs SEO and AI search for SaaS companies. We plan what to publish, produce it with AI, and every page passes automated checks, and a person reviews samples and anything high-risk.
- Published to your site and tracked in Search Console
- One person answers for your account
- Plans from $400 a month, terms from 3 months
The checklist
- Descriptive file names instead of IMG_4021.jpg
- Alt text that says what the image shows
- Modern formats and compressed sizes
- Width and height set to prevent layout shift
- Relevant text near the image
- Real <img> elements so crawlers can find them
Don't forget purpose
Product screenshots and original diagrams earn their place. Generic stock photos add weight without adding meaning.
Common mistakes
Loading huge originals
Uncompressed images are a leading cause of slow pages.
Putting text only inside images
Crawlers and screen readers may miss it. Repeat key text in HTML.
Frequently Asked Questions
It helps search engines understand an image, and it is essential for accessibility.
Keep reading
- Image Alt Text: Alt text is a written description of an image in its HTML. It makes images accessible to screen reader users and helps search engines understand them.
- Image compression: Image compression reduces image file size, by removing unneeded data or by encoding more efficiently, so pages load faster with little visible loss.
- WebP and AVIF: WebP and AVIF are modern image formats that usually give smaller files than JPEG or PNG at similar quality. Current major browsers support both.
- Lazy loading: Lazy loading defers images, iframes or content until they are about to scroll into view. It saves bandwidth but can delay important content if misused.
- Above the Fold: Above the fold is the part of a page visible before scrolling. It decides first impressions and whether a visitor sees the answer or a wall of ads.
- AI-Assisted Writing: AI-assisted writing uses language models to help research, outline, draft or edit content. Google judges the result on quality, not on how it was made.
- Anchor Text: Anchor text is the clickable text of a link. It tells readers and search engines what to expect on the page the link points to.
- Answer-First Writing: Answer-first writing puts a direct, complete answer to the reader's question at the start of a page or section, then adds context and detail.
