Online content with images receives far more views than content without them. So why are most Australian businesses missing out on this opportunity?
The answer is simple: they’re overlooking image SEO.
Optimising your visuals could be what separates page one rankings from digital invisibility.
Here’s what many business owners don’t realise: images can contribute to 75% of a page’s weight.
This matters because page speed directly impacts your Google search engine rankings. Google uses the context you provide for images to deliver the right search results to users, making image optimisation a critical piece of your SEO strategy.
The good news? Most of your competitors aren’t doing this properly either.
This guide walks you through the essential image SEO practices that actually work – from smart image file names to technical implementation. Think of it as your roadmap to making every visual on your website earn its place and drive more traffic to your business.
What is Image SEO and Why It Matters
Image Search Engine Optimisation is the process of optimising visuals on your website so search engines can discover, understand, and properly rank them. This specialised optimisation covers file names, formats, dimensions, and descriptive elements that help search engines index your images effectively.
Think of it as teaching Google what your images actually show.
How search engines interpret images
Search engines can’t “see” images like humans do. Google’s crawlers are built to read and interpret text, so they depend on contextual clues to understand what an image represents.
When crawlers visit your site, they collect specific information about your images:
Textual context elements:
- Alt text – the primary method Google uses to understand image content
- File names – descriptive names like “melbourne-coffee-shop.jpg” versus meaningless “IMG_0693.jpg”
- Surrounding content – text near images adds relevance context
- Captions – provide valuable context for users and search engines
Google extracts information about image subject matter from page content, including captions and image titles. Place images near relevant text and on pages that match the image subject matter to improve their searchability.
Technical elements like structured data markup can help search engines better understand your images, potentially triggering rich results that attract more clicks.
Benefits for rankings and user experience
Properly optimised images deliver advantages that extend well beyond image search results:
Visibility through Google Images/Traffic generation: Google Images accounts for a large chunk of all internet searches. Since Google removed the ‘View image’ option, users are more likely to visit your actual webpage when they click on an image.
Enhanced visibility: Images rank above text results for approximately one-third of search queries on Google.
Performance improvements: Optimised images directly impact load speed, and faster web pages score higher on Google.
Accessibility benefits: Image SEO simultaneously optimises for screen readers, helping visually impaired users better understand your website. This makes optimisation beneficial for both SEO and inclusivity.
Increased crawlability: Faster pages mean more pages can be crawled within your crawl budget, increasing the chances of your website being properly indexed.
Image SEO bridges visual storytelling with search visibility, helping you reach broader audience segments while improving overall user experience.
Choosing and Preparing the Right Images
The foundation of effective image SEO starts before you even think about technical optimisation. Your choice of visuals and image formats can make or break how search engines interpret and rank your content.
Use original and relevant visuals
Google prioritises original, high-quality images that add genuine value. Rather than throwing any old visual onto your page, choose or create images that:
- Showcase your offerings with product images from multiple angles
- Illustrate your services in action
- Provide visual explanations of complex concepts
- Break up large blocks of text effectively
- Display data through clear charts or graphs
Creating your own images gives search engines more reason to rank your content. Original photography or custom graphics help your website stand out.
Why? Google’s algorithm favours fresh, unique content that provides distinct value to users.
For Australian businesses targeting local markets, this becomes even more important. Google prioritises locally relevant content, particularly when images include geo-tagging metadata for specific business locations.
Avoid generic stock photos
Here’s the problem: too many websites use identical generic stock photos, making them appear unoriginal. Even perfectly optimised stock images won’t deliver the same SEO benefits as unique visuals.
Think about it this way – when users see the same smiling businessperson or generic handshake image across multiple websites, they mentally categorise that content as less trustworthy. Google understands image content, and identical stock photos across different sites are essentially treated as duplicate content.
If budget constraints require some stock imagery:
- Upgrade your subscription for less commonly used images
- Choose stock photos that match your brand colours and style
- Use stock photos as metaphorical representations rather than literal ones
- Select images with enough negative space for typography
Match the image to the surrounding content
Search engines analyse the text surrounding your images to understand their context. For maximum SEO benefit, place images near relevant text and on pages that match the image subject matter.
This placement strategy serves two purposes: it helps Google connect your visuals with appropriate search queries, and it improves user experience. Google extracts information about image subject matter from page content, including captions and image titles.
The contextual relationship between images and text should be logical. Displaying a chocolate cake picture on a hiking boots product page creates confusion for both users and search engines.
For step-by-step guides: Use images that specifically highlight each step. Place your main image near the top of your article, with subsequent visuals directly relevant to their adjacent content.
Remember, image SEO starts with thoughtfully selecting visuals that enhance meaning, build trust, and provide genuine value to your audience.
Choose original, relevant images that align perfectly with your content, and you’ll establish a solid foundation for all other optimisation efforts.
1. Use descriptive file names
Rename your image files before uploading them. Default names like “IMG_0023.JPG” tell search engines absolutely nothing, while descriptive filenames like “melbourne-coffee-shop-interior.jpg” give Google clear signals about your content.
SEO best practices for file naming:
- Keep image filenames short but descriptive
- Use hyphens to separate words
- Place your main keyword at the beginning
- Avoid special characters and spaces
2. Add meaningful alt text
Alt text is how search engines “read” your images. Write alt text that accurately describes what’s in the image while naturally including relevant keywords. Skip redundant phrases like “image of” or “picture of” – they waste valuable character space.
Keep it under 125 characters, as some screen readers stop reading beyond this point. Remember, you’re writing for both search engines and people who rely on assistive technology.
3. Choose the right image format
Different image types serve different purposes:
- JPEG works best for photographs with lots of colours.
- PNG handles simple images or graphics needing transparency.
- WebP offers superior compression, but may not perform as well in image search.
- SVG is perfect for logos and simple graphics that need to scale.
4. Resize images to fit the display
Website images rarely need to be wider than 2,500 pixels. More importantly, resize your images before uploading them. Don’t rely on HTML or CSS to shrink large images – this forces browsers to download massive files unnecessarily.
Match your image dimensions to how they’ll actually appear on your site.
5. Compress images for faster load
Use tools like TinyPNG, Squoosh, or ImageOptim to reduce file sizes by 40-70% without noticeable quality loss. Target file sizes under 100KB when possible – your site speed will thank you for it.
6. Use responsive image scaling
Modern websites need images that adapt to different screen sizes. The HTML “srcset” attribute lets you specify different image versions for various device widths. For CSS images, use “max-width: 100%” to prevent images from breaking out of their containers.
7. Implement lazy loading
This technique delays loading images until users scroll near them, dramatically reducing initial page load times. Simply add “loading=”lazy”” to your image tags that appear below the fold.
It’s a simple change that can significantly improve your Core Web Vitals scores.
8. Add structured data for rich results
Structured data markup helps search engines understand exactly what your images represent. When implemented correctly, this can earn your images prominent positions in Google Image search results, complete with additional information that makes users more likely to click through to your site.
Think of structured data as providing Google with a detailed description of your image content, whether it’s products, recipes, or local business photos.
Enhancing On-Page SEO for Images
Technical optimisation alone won’t get you the results you’re after. Where and how you place images within your content can make or break your image SEO performance.
Think of structured data as providing Google with a detailed description of your image content, whether it’s products, recipes, or local business photos.
Place images near relevant text
Smart image placement acts as a contextual signal to search engines. Google extracts information about image subject matter from surrounding content, including captions and titles. Position your images near relevant text, and you’ll significantly improve their searchability.
This contextual relationship works both ways:
- Text becomes more relevant to the image
- Images become more meaningful to the text
Search engine crawlers analyse page content to understand what images represent. Place visuals adjacent to related explanatory text, and Google gets a clearer picture of what the image is about and its contextual meaning.
Think about it this way: if you’re explaining how to change a car tyre, don’t put that step-by-step image at the bottom of an article about engine maintenance. Context matters.
Use captions where appropriate
Image captions are among the first elements readers notice when scanning a page. They offer an excellent opportunity to enhance comprehension while naturally incorporating relevant keywords.
But here’s the thing: not every image needs a caption.
Add them primarily when:
- Images require additional context or explanation
- Photos tell a background story that needs clarification
- Product galleries benefit from descriptive text
- Family or event photos need identification
Captions play a vital role in how users consume your content.
Optimise Open Graph tags for social sharing
Open Graph (OG) tags control how your images appear when shared on social platforms. These meta tags ensure your visuals display properly on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social networks.
Essential OG image specifications:
- Size recommendation: 1200 x 630 pixels
- File format: JPEG or PNG (under 5MB)
- Implementation: <meta property=”og:image” content=”URL-of-your-image” />
Without properly configured OG tags, social platforms guess which image to display. This often results in random, inappropriate, or low-quality visuals representing your content when people share it.
Set these tags through your CMS or manually in your HTML <head> section. Most SEO plugins offer dedicated fields for configuring OG image properties.
Technical Improvements for Better Performance
Optimising your images is only half the battle. How you deliver them to users makes the difference between a fast, engaging website and one that loses visitors due to slow load speed.
These technical improvements reduce load times dramatically, which directly impacts both user experience and search rankings.
Enable browser caching for images
Browser caching stores image files locally after a user’s first visit. This means returning visitors won’t need to download your images again, reducing server load and speeding up page loads significantly.
Add this code to your site’s .htaccess file:
<IfModule mod_expires.c>
ExpiresActive On
ExpiresByType image/jpg “access 1 year”
ExpiresByType image/jpeg “access 1 year”
ExpiresByType image/gif “access 1 year”
ExpiresByType image/png “access 1 year”
</IfModule>
Use a content delivery network (CDN)
A CDN stores cached versions of your website content across servers worldwide. When someone requests an image, it’s delivered from the closest geographic server – drastically reducing load time.
The benefits extend beyond speed:
- Lower server resource consumption reduces hosting costs
- Better performance during high-traffic periods
- Protection against DDoS attacks
For Australian businesses targeting local customers, this can mean the difference between a 2-second load time and a 0.5-second load time.
Include images in your XML sitemap
Image sitemaps tell search engines about images they might not otherwise discover – particularly those loaded with JavaScript. You can create a separate image sitemap or add image tags to your existing one.
The basic structure looks like this:
<url>
<loc>https://example.com/page.html</loc>
<image:image>
<image:loc>https://example.com/image.jpg</image:loc>
</image:image>
</url>
This approach becomes essential for image-heavy websites like e-commerce platforms or travel sites where visuals drive conversions.
Use SEO to Your Advantage
Search can take the form of many different shapes and sizes. You need to make sure the content you’re publishing caters to your audience and where they are looking for the products and services you are offering.
At Digital Nomads HQ, we help businesses improve their search rankings through optimising their content and using comprehensive SEO strategies. We want your website to be seen by the right people who increase your ROI.
