An infographic is an image that explains something visually, combining charts, icons, short text and layout. They were widely used for link building in the 2010s, and over-production made many low-quality. Today they work best when they make complex data or processes genuinely clearer, and when they are published alongside text that search engines and screen readers can use.
When an infographic helps
Use one when a picture explains faster than words: a process with steps, a comparison across many dimensions, a timeline or data with a clear pattern. If the content is mostly text with icons added, it is better as a normal article.
Making infographics accessible and indexable
Text inside an image is hard for search engines and assistive technologies to read. Publish the infographic on a page that also explains the content in text, with an informative alt attribute on the image. Google's image guidance recommends descriptive filenames, alt text and placing images near relevant text.
- A full text version or summary on the same page
- Descriptive alt text
- A readable size on mobile, or a mobile-specific version
- Source and date for any data shown
- An embed code or clear permission for reuse, if you want it shared
Example
A process diagram that sales also uses
Hypothetical company Thistlebank sells procurement software. Buyers struggle to understand the steps of a vendor onboarding process. The team publishes an infographic of the process with a written walkthrough of each step on the same page. Sales reps share the image in proposals, and other procurement blogs embed it with a credit link.
Common mistakes
Text in the image only
Without a text version, the page has little for search engines to understand and excludes people using screen readers.
Unsourced statistics
Infographics often spread numbers with no source. Cite where every figure came from.
Questions
Generic ones are much less effective than they once were. Infographics based on original data or that explain something genuinely hard still get referenced.
