Image Optimization

[Laustin1878]

Has anyone experimented with using additional cities (outside of their physical location) in their image file names and alt tags? I have not tried this yet and Ik now there is some common practices to use for image optimization which I also plan on getting into.

Has anyone seen any negative effects of doing this? Has anyone seen any improvements in ranking for nearby cities doing this?

 

[Linda Buquet]

Interesting idea Luke. I've never seen it done and don't really think it would be enough to move the needle. Seems like the algo would think it was spammy if your listing was not in those cities, that is, if it even picked up on it.

 

[mborgelt]

We tried this for a client right after Pigeon rolled out that really wanted to rank for their surrounding areas. We geo-tagged the images to the next city over and named the file and alt tags accordingly and it didn't work move anything. We pulled out all the stops, too. Put it on the landing page and shared it across 4 social media platforms (which worked for the city the client was in) but I think Google ruled it all as spam. This was in a very competitive market with a lot of saturation, however.

 

[heckler]

I've had pretty good luck with geo-tagging photos for specific jobs for a pipeline contractor I help. Uploading those tagged images to the GMB photos, we've got a lot of them to appear in cities around Texas in the 'photos section' of maps.google.com.

I can't say with 100% certainty that it has increased traffic from those areas, but I'd like to believe from a 'semantic' frame of thinking I'm building relationships to those areas through the photos listed in GMB.

For what it is worth, I use Picasa to do this.

 

[Laustin1878]

Heckler, this is exactly what I was thinking.. just putting the business name in front of more faces from surrounding cities. I wasn't expecting heaps of traffic from it but thought that I would apply Linda's image optimization techniques to secondary or tertiary images using other cities.

My fear was that it may be looked at as spam by Google. Thinking about it further, if the business does work in surrounding cities and I add an alt tag stating the job was in XYZ, then I'm not spamming but stating "fact."

I may experiment a little but I don't want to push the envelope. Getting a leg up for external cities this way would be great. Thank you for the feedback!

 

[Dustybones]

@ heckler: thanks for bringing up Picasa to geotag. Its great for tagging multiple images with lat/long. Besides just image naming tactics, make sure you search in your keyword group. See what is showing up and look to see if there are any patterns to the SEO on those images.

 

[heckler]

@ heckler: thanks for bringing up Picasa to geotag. Its great for tagging multiple images with lat/long.

The watermark feature is also great for branding.

 

[Laustin1878]

I've just begun playing with the geo-tagging features in images. I've done the basics such as file names with a geo-identifier, alt tags, captions here and there and supporting content on the page which has helped organically but will definitely start getting into the nitty gritty with geo-tagging.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Here's another image optimization tip.

I shared a really good example in training but I can't remember which part.
I think it's the Red Hat Local SEO section of the new Advanced training.

Anyway, you know how if you upload from PC it will just have KW in the image if you named it that way.

Well if you 1st upload to Panoramio and do a nice rich description and then upload from Panoramio to G+ L - the nice long description will carry over and be on your image in G+ L.

The example I used in training included a really nice long description. Holler if anyone wants me to dig it up.

PS Not saying that would be enough to help you rank in a different city. Not even saying image descriptions will help you rank better. BUT it's one more way to send the right signals to Google and who knows...

You guys know you can also GEO tag your images right in G+ now too right? Again that's not a tip to rank in other cities, just a general image optimization tip.

 

[Dustybones]

Thanks Linda. Your training has been such a HUGE help. Thanks for your continued dedication.