Are Your Images Helping or Hurting Your Site?

Most business owners with a web site are concerned about search engine rankings and how often their site is listed by the major search portals such as Google or Yahoo. They take the time to make sure their web content is keyword rich, has just the right amount of links to other relevant pages and they are cautious to use language that will improve their rankings, not get them banned from the search indices. This process is called search engine optimization (SEO) and web site operators are becoming better every day at maximizing their site's potential through SEO.

But one commonly overlooked element of SEO is image optimization. Image search engines are looking for relevant images just as the other search engines are looking for relevant data content. Having a great web article on a top ranked keyword will definitely get you more hits. But combining that web content with precision images can pull your site to the top of the ranking, improving your business and helping to solidify your brand presence on the web.

How Image Search Engines Work

Contrary to popular belief, image search engines do not view an image and determine if it is relevant to a keyword search. Technological advances in search engine software are good but they aren't quite to the visual recognition level yet! Instead, image search engines work much the same way content search engines do, utilizing metadata associated with the image to determine if the file is relevant to a search or not. Metadata includes file name, data and time the photo was taken, file size, ownership information and even camera settings. By accurately coding your images you can increase your site's credibility with the search engines and improve your search engine rankings.

Combining quality images containing complete and concise metadata with keyword rich content that optimizes search engine strategies is a sure way of increasing web site traffic and generating more sales, leads, or interest in your business, your products and your services.

Infinity Arts is the leading web management solution for all your search engine optimization and web design needs. For information on how Infinity Arts can help you enhance your website and achieve business results contact us today.