Updated July 5, 2023
Do you have a lot of visuals on your website? Are you uploading images and videos to show users what your company is all about? If not, then you should start adding pics and videos because beyond enhancing your site you could get these elements ranking on Google, drawing more people to your site.
Google’s John Mueller describes this process by first tackling how Google processes a query. Some key takeaways from his response include:
- When a query is made, Google sends out the query to a lot of different systems to relay to Google how relevant the results they have are.
- The systems will come back with image results or web results or something else, whatever is most relevant. This will determine what shows up first. For example, if the image results system says images are the most crucial, then the image will be first on the page.
- The systems attempt to understand how relevant the results are based on what the user is looking for – an answer to a question, an image, a video, or something else.
- Mueller notes that this can change as well. If, over time, everyone is searching for a video for a specific query, Google will recognize this and adjust the results.
How You Can Make Your Photos and Videos Relevant to Queries
As you can imagine, optimizing your photos and videos for SEO and relevant search queries can have an incredible impact on your results. Here are a few tips for optimizing your photos and videos:
- Pick the right image or video – Any image or video that you choose must be relevant to the content that is on a given page. It must be of a high quality and should ideally be original.
- Add a caption – Captions help the search engine understand your content better. They also help guide the user’s eye, as often users will scan a page to search for indications of what it is about. So consider adding some captions to help out search engines and your visitors.
- Optimize alt text, title text, and file name on pics – When your image isn’t displayed on the website, the “alt text” is shown, which is a brief, written description of the image. Therefore, it is essential that any image is given relevant keywords for the image itself and the page. The same goes for the title and file name. This will help Google better understand what your images and videos represent.
- Decide where to upload your videos – You could host your videos on your website or on YouTube. YouTube is great for building brand awareness and making many meaningful connections with your viewers. Hosting on your website means boosts in conversions and leads.
- Optimize title tags and descriptions for videos – When it comes to ranking, title tags and descriptions are essential for videos. Make sure your video description is concise and includes a few relevant keywords. Also, include any key links to increase your chances for conversions.
- Consider mobile friendliness – Some tips for mobile-friendly videos and photos include utilizing square formatting instead of landscape, increasing text size, and keeping videos short and sweet.
Reach Out to Sixth City for SEO Help!
Are you ready for your photos and videos to rank at the top of the page results? Contact us today to learn more about our SEO services and how we can make your website thrive online! We look forward to working with you.
