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Image Optimisation for Your Showit Website
Achieving a website's appearance takes lots of planning. One of the most critical factors that affect a website's appearance is the visuals.
Adding images to a website is a massive part of its visual appeal, but did you know these could impact your SEO too? Many elements come into play in achieving effective SEO, and image optimisation, which is a part of on-page SEO, is one of the most important of all.
Website builders have their optimisation processes but if you have a Showit website, implementing your SEO strategies is much easier. This goes especially for image optimisation! In this guide, let's dive deep into image optimisation for your Showit website.
Why Preparing Your Images for SEO Matters
Gone are the days when we have to sit in front of our computers to go online. Mobile phones, tablets, and laptops enabled us to access the internet instantly – anytime and anywhere! Because user behaviour has changed during this transition, people have become used to getting information within seconds. Users will take their business elsewhere if a website takes more than three seconds to load.
Building a website involves uploading attractive images, but visuals tend to slow the loading speed down. Image optimisation matters because it boosts loading speed. It minimises the load on servers, and faster loading speeds lead to improved user experience. When people are sticking around, you can expect more conversions.
Factors to Consider for Image Optimisation
What are the critical factors to consider when preparing your images for optimisation on Showit?
File Size
Did you know that Google and major search engines prioritise websites with fast loading speeds? The faster the loading speeds, the higher the search rankings!
Keep your website images from bogging your website down; check the loading time to ensure better search rankings! There are free tools that will assess the loading speeds of a website like Canva.
Make a habit of reducing the file size of every image you upload on your website, ideally under 300kb. Large images should be limited to 1200 pixels wide.
The image format matters too. Showit supports JPEG, PNG, and GIF formats, but the JPEG format is the best. It's more SEO-friendly than PNGs and GIFs. JPEG images compress much better too. Again, there are free tools you can use to compress your images' file sizes. Another strategy is to curate your images. Don't upload too many photos. Just pick two to three of the best images to feature.
Image File Name
Apart from reducing the file size of your images, make a habit of renaming your photos for better SEO. Use searchable file names so Google will feature them on top of the searches every time a reader does an image search. We suggest inserting your primary keyword and using dashes (-) instead of underscores (_). Use descriptive words but do avoid long file files. Ex: London-wedding-cakes-business-name-001.jpeg.
Batch Names
Don't stop at renaming images individually, do it by batch too. Some tools let you rename images by batch, like Adobe Bridge or Lightroom. Insert your primary keyword and avoid keyword stuffing. On Showit, you'll have plenty of optimising opportunities.
How to Optimise Images on Showit
Each time you upload an image on Showit, you'll need to fill out the SEO title and description fields. These fields will appear on the right panel of the screen.
File Name
As previously discussed, every image file name should be changed before uploading on your Showit website. This is the first step. Use keyword-rich file names because generic image names perform poorly in the searches.
SEO Title
AKA the image title, this appears as the title of an image on the searches. It's essential to use words that correspond to your primary keywords. Keep it short, straightforward, descriptive, and relevant to the image. Every image should have different image titles for better SEO.
Description
The second field below the SEO title is the image description AKA alt text. This area is where you need to focus your SEO efforts. In this field, you need to describe the image for context and indexing. Use your primary keywords to describe the image, and avoid keyword stuffing. When writing the image description, imagine describing the photo to a blind person. Use as few words as possible and be straightforward. The description should be short and relevant to the image.
Developing a well-planned SEO strategy will improve your website rankings. Thankfully, Showit makes it easy to optimise every web page and blog post! As long as you have your primary keywords, you can optimise all sorts of visuals to feature on your Showit website!
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