Non-Textual Content SEO

One of the most effective SEO strategies is to add alt text to images. Adding a brief but accurate image description in the alt tag is important for three reasons:

• Visually impaired users rely on screen readers to read the alt text for the image to understand the content.

• It offers a textual alternative to the image in case it fails to load, i.e., in case of low bandwidth connections.

• Google uses it, besides other resources, to understand the contents of the image.

Including keywords, sparingly and only where appropriate, in image alt texts can add to our SEO. Keyword stuffing, however, can damage it. Google Search Central outlines the best practices for image alt texts with some simple examples [22].

Keyword-optimized title tag

Though not as important as the alt text, title tags are additional resources for search engines to understand what the image is about. We can use the same text for the title tag as we did for the image alt text. We can make the two unique. Including keywords naturally in title tags can also improve SEO.

Keyword-optimized filename

Similar to alt text and title tag, filename is another resource that Google uses to understand the image. The default file name will look something like IMG_126449.JPG. Change it to a descriptive, keyword-rich file name like “surprised-black-kitten.jpg” and Google will have more context for the image.

Add structured data

Adding image structured data can display the image as a rich result in Google Images. For example, if we add a schema markup to a recipe post using the guidelines provided by Google Search Central, there’s a possibility of winning a rich result with the image in Google Search results and Google Images [23]. The image attribute needs to be added for the image to appear in rich results. Currently, Google supports markup for products, recipes, and videos.

Best practices for infographics

Infographics are an image type particularly popular these days. Displaying valuable information as an infographic makes it easier to understand and more interesting to the audience. They’re also good for link building. Users will often want to share a visually appealing and information-rich infographic on their own site (more on this in the chapter Link Building).

It’s easy to create, even without professional experience. Once we’ve researched and extracted all the useful information to add, we can use an online tool such as Canva or Piktochart to develop the infographic. These tools can also help us develop original graphs and charts to add more value to the page.

Since an infographic is an image, all the image optimization tips listed above hold true for this one too. Additional best practices for infographics include:

Target audience

The goal of an infographic is to attract our target audience. Know our audience, understand what they want, and create an infographic that will be of value to them. People often tend to create an infographic around a topic that’s popular in general, but not necessarily relevant to their cause. Such an infographic will not generate conversion.

Keep it simple

The entire point of an infographic is to make information easier to understand. Don’t overwhelm the audience with too much information in a single infographic. Too many words, bright background colors, and overuse of images and designs can make it complex for visitors. Use short, crisp text to accompany a few, impactful images.

Here’s an infographic, for instance. It uses short, concise pieces of information, minimal use of colors, and a simple design.

Sharing button

Get our message across to a larger audience by including sharing buttons for the most popular social platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Embed code

Add an HTML embed code to make our infographic easily shareable so we can get credit and inbound links. We can use a free tool, such as Siege Media’s Embed Code Generator to get the embed code for the image. Share it on the page with the image.

Test your knowledge

Choose the correct answer for each of the following questions.