Google indexes images! Just like keywords in your text, their spiders are deployed to identify, consume/ index and [their algorithms to] rank images… for people that search. People that search have intent SO if your images are prepared those people may just turn up on your site! 

And folks, it’s likely most of your direct competition is NOT using these tactics so let’s look at what signals can prepare your images for better search engine optimization.

7 Signals Search Engines Use To Index Your Images

1. Anchor Text That Points To Your Image [= hyperlinks buried in descriptive text on other pages, your and other sites, and from other sites pages]
2. Alt text [= human friendly descriptive tags placed inside your images]
3. Image Filename [= 100MainStAlbanyNYHome.jpg or LosAngelesCASushiHotTunaRoll.jpeg]
4. Textual Content On The Page With The Image [ = particularly text near your image] 
5. Page Title
6. Image Sitemap [= list of images accessible to Google helps tell about images]  
7. Computer Vision [= technology attempts to duplicate human vision by electronically perceiving and understanding an image]

Just like with text, your site, pages & your images must be marked up well for competitive search engine indexing. Your images must also be a supported format such as BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, WebP or SVG, but when prepared well … your images, just like text, can attract traffic & generate new business!

Related Posts And Information:

• How Do I Search Engine Optimize My Images?
• Google Wants Your Pictures!
• 1000 Words About Images

Understanding, not only what obvious phrases people are searching, but what phrases might be targeted from the long tail of people’s search activity is a practice any website owner should pursue.

Here’s some quick video instruction and tips on how you might look into more strategic keywords for your site, your blog and your content in general:

Related Posts:

 REFRESHER SERIES: PREPARING CONTENT BETTER FOR SEARCH ENGINES

Links & Tags In Images

 

Links & Tags In Text Content

And we’re adding more video education here all the time!

Related:

PREPARING CONTENT BETTER FOR SEARCH ENGINES

Better Content

It’s never a bad time to revisit the subject of better content, which can always be an incredibly powerful  advertising tool. Look guys, no matter what they’re selling out there as a traffic driver your knowledge ‘published as content’ is not only the most sustainable, but the most cost effective means to advertise you!; your expertise!; your product and/ or your service! Google, the other search engines and humans are all always looking for sources of good content… so be one!

The 9 Best Practices: Preparing Content Better For Search Engines!

Here are the practices we’d strongly suggest you get comfortable with in order to improve search engine indexing when publishing new content:

1. Have your 15- 25 target key phrase list ready! Ultimately you want to impress humans, but in order to capture them in the search engines you’ve got to be visible for the phrases you believe they will search in the engines and also in social networks.

2. Create strategic post titles! Search engines and humans typically want different things out of a title; to be successful you must strive to please them both. In technical terms, your page or blog post title is a header tag. This means it’s the first thing a search spider will encounter on a new post or page. Be specific using targeted phrases, so that spiders identify the purpose of the new page, but also impactful so that you attract human attention.

3.  Leverage your content! Search spiders tend to look for phrase consistencies in titles and then high in a page. Random spider crawls also digest more content toward the top of a page or post. Without this, at least during random crawls, they may skip your page leaving you with less potential key word & phrase indexing. Create compelling first paragraphs that include your target key words & phrases, but demonstrate a value proposition for humans too. On the flip side, don’t overuse keywords or use them out of context. The search engines have filters to flag this behavior – often referred to as “keyword stuffing”. And then too much keyword duplication is also just boring for humans.

4. Gather and add good links! When competing for search rank, links remain an important metric, including those you create in text phrases pointing to other content … including your own. Links matter most when relevant to the purpose of a post and also when they come from a trusted source. The best way to generate links organically from others is to create content others will appreciate enough to link back too. Consider notifying news sources that might be interested in your coverage because they just may link to you. Creating links [especially in targeted key phrases] to relevant articles you’ve already written, essentially voting for those pages yourself. That’s right folks, adding ‘anchor text based links’ in your own content to your own content is a proven strategy too. Whether creating or receiving links, it’s always best to have them laid into descriptive anchor text. Search engines prefer anchor text based links! If your page is about widgets and the link comes from text such as ‘the top widgets’ – search engines will recognize and value that more than they would ‘go here’ or go to tomswidgetshop.com.

5. Use Proper Formatting! Most readers give you a few seconds to qualify whether or not they will go deeper into your content. It’s imperative that you make it simple for them to do so. Use simple formatting and a clean layout for every blog post you create. Bold section titles, bullets and numbers are a great way to call attention to your main points and search engines can see certain emphasis too! Fonts should be uniform throughout, with photos and links well placed. If it’s a train wreck for the eye, people will typically not give it a chance AND assume neither will search engine algorithms.

6. Add Images & Video when possible! Search engines place emphasis on alternative image and video content, so use of these forms of content are actually separate competitive visibility opportunities to text based content for you. Use proper tagging, as well as descriptive text, techniques so that your images and video are easily understood and working to generate that indexing for you.

7. Categorize & Tag! Add posts into broader categorization (i.e. a blog post titled, ‘Olive Oil Prevents Alzheimer’s Disease’ should go into the ‘Olive Oil Health’ category) and tags, strictly based upon key phrase emphasis from content itself (they are summarizing bullet points from your article only – not overall descriptors of your site). Summarized, 2- 4 specific tag phrases will typically do and generally one category per post is a good discipline too.

8. Add ‘Call to Action’ & Contact Information! A call to action like, ‘Please, Use Our Complimentary Santa Barbara Online Property Search’, linked to that actual resource can drive greater engagement. And in case visitors are ready, be sure to have your personal contact information easily accessible! Remember, most consumers will NOT comment. Most don’t necessarily want to be a part of the conversation; if they’re interested, most will call or email you – give them what they need!

9. If at all possible, maximize the number of places your blog posts and thereby your brand appear! Social Networks typically offer blogs and while they aren’t going to present your brand exclusively, they certainly an opportunity to be visible to people who may be looking for your product or service. Most of these will allow for your blog posts to automatically appear via feed, eliminating the need to duplicate your effort AND saving you valuable time! You should also enable social icons on all your content so that visitors can easily share your content with their own social networks. Focus on as much visibility in as many places as possible, but do it with the intention of bringing prospects back to where you sell best. For instance, Twitter is not your brand… but you can sure use it to get people there

Related Posts:

Business Blogging Refresher Series: General Writing And Content

Business Blogging Refresher Series: Visibility, Then Qualified Users

And don’t forget to be in the habit of saving every so often too so that, in the event your web connection is ever broken – it happens folks!!, you still have all your work in WordPress not to mention in Word on your desktop. Pretty easy to use, so good luck with it… from Kinetic Knowledge!

Why Is The Search Engine Optimization Of Images Important?

With Google’s Universal Search, which places emphasis on alternative sources of content like images, there has been a shift away from the strict use of text based content in search result pages. The great news is, the images you add to content can generate competitive indexing of their own; however, it’s the search optimization and use of descriptive alt’ tags that make it possible!

And let’s not forget – humans really appreciate images too!

Remember, years ago consumers didn’t have an instant means to research products, services OR their future providers. Advertising was actually a source of information; whereas now it can, at times, be ignored as noise. With the web, search engines, social networks & direct subscription they most certainly have the instant means now … and as marketers we have to adjust our thinking towards how we advertise!

Some good news [what many have called disintermediation] is, we marketers can go direct! We have affordable publishing platforms to share our knowledge AND THEN search, social & subscribe [= what consumers use for research] to distribute it!

Visibility & Traffic First

In the beginning it’s about visibility and the development of some traffic. With your posts, THINK LESS about how many and more about the most useful information! Some will argue this, but in my view people aren’t looking for rapid fire posts so much as they are authentic useful knowledge. If it’s really good, visitors may link to, bookmark, subscribe, Re- Tweet, FB’ Like and Share your good knowledge… all good things to get the attention of more humans and search engines, who may send even more humans.

More On Content

1. Consider taking a stance, show the true you. A little controversy isn’t always a bad thing and a true opinion can generate some healthy visibility.  A heads up here to err’ on the side of caution when it comes to controversial subjects: no slander, no personal attacks and no cursing (…this is your business)!
2. If controversy ISN’T your style, you can always borrow ideas from a hot public interest story. Like we alluded to in the first post, popular stories are often highly searched subjects so they’re likely to get you some good visibility. And again, NEVER copy a story outright – introduce ideas from your own perspective. You can support them with excerpts and links to an original online resource, which is recommended practice, but any more than an excerpt and copyright is [of course] an issue. The search engines are mostly sophisticated enough to identify an original source: they don’t necessarily police plagiarism, but their filters will identify & ignore gross duplication…  and that nullifies your effort in terms of a page search engines might use to index & send more traffic.

Give Help; Give Answers; Refine Traffic Into Qualified Users!

They want help; they want answers!  Do you answer client questions? Every day right? Start writing them up! If one person is asking you, there are likely hundreds searching those same answers… so get in the habit! Your accumulated knowledge, including day to day,  is an advantage. In the past many a business kept knowledge close to the vest [i.e. "you must contact me in order to find out"], but in an age of abundant & free information those who share knowledge gain the trust of qualified consumers. Qualified by their intent; by what they’re looking for = your knowledge! And if you’re not educating, you can be assured your competitor is! So, give the folks who are actively researching the very products & services you offer a reason to visit YOU. A free tutorial isn’t a bad idea. How about an E- Book or an Informative Report!

Personal Appeal; Get More Qualified Users!

If you appeal to people, they are much more likely to follow you! Mix in some personal interest allowing you to be yourself. Not to suggest it’s about you because it is always about them, but if you can find clever ways to share some common interest you’ll likely connect with others that have those too. I can’t help but share a story from a conference I attended last year on what’s NOT a way to go. One person argued we should all get a dog, regardless of whether or not we actually cared for dogs. He felt writing about your dog would attract lots of followers and we could then convert them. I’m a dog lover and that’s genuine, but would I have a dog to fool my future clients? Citizen journalism and the democratization of information probably isn’t about fooling people and / or ulterior motives – give some real flesh & blood folks! In fact, anything but genuine behavior and [fair warning] you’re likely to be outed for it! So be true and you will reinforce your appeal with a qualified audience.

Real Life Examples & Proof; Even More Qualified Users!

Nothing garners more trust and staying power with a qualified audience than proof ! It’s OK to share stories, but use examples of others you have helped. Have clients said great things about your products or services? Share the story! Consumers will connect emotionally; they will identify you as someone they trust! Have you saved someone time? Have you saved someone money? Have you solved a problem? Have you made people happy? Have you helped grow someone’s business?

Visibility, Then Qualified Users!

Sure you need to get started with visibility and traffic, but always strive to satisfy the most qualified visitors possible. They’re the ones… ‘most likely to buy!’

Click here  for access to the Business Blogger’s Bible, a complete resource for business blogging practices brought to you by Kinetic Knowledge.

When business blogging, it’s crucial to remember that quality, and not necessarily quantity, gains the trust of ‘qualified people’ … or BETTER YET those most likely to buy! Minimum one current relevant post a week should be a goal … BUT MORE will certainly help!

Educate [and in doing so advertise] yourself by staying on top of current issues related to your business so that you can cover relevant topics and have an opinion about them for your audience! In the post ‘The Key Is To Stay In Contact, My blog Is Instrumental In That Strategy’ – Malone Hodges, Carmel / Pebble Beach CA documents his experience when covering a local school related matter. He explains, that not only was he immediately indexed high atop the search engines for the subject matter, but he was also quoted as a result in the local newspaper. Forwarding the material to the local school authorities, who appreciated his accuracy, they then sent his coverage out to even more people.

Write in your own voice. Don’t copy another’s writing or story; better to reference good material in a piece that shares your own point of view. If you have read a relevant article certainly link and refer to it, but never copy it. Per Connor T. MacIVOR Santa Clarita CA - “My advice to others is to be real and not plastic. The visibility in search engines is only part of the equation. People want flesh and blood – not someone else’s ideas or bland reporting on the Real Estate market and trends.”

Ghost content: You’re busy so you can look for good content support! While it’s important to write in your own voice, it doesn’t hurt to mix in some ghost writing so long as it is carefully directed by you! Even trusted guest authors can be useful to your visibility.

FREE Tools Save You Time: If you’re short on time and local subject material, subscribe to Google News Alerts. It’s a FREE service that perpetually searches key phrases you set up for sought after news and events. When ’Alerts’ identifies material it sends you an email with links to the source. General Google News Alerts for your particular area are also a great resource, offering the latest links to pertinent articles.

Related Information:

13 fresh content ideas for your Real Estate Blog!

What Are The Best Practices for Business Blogging?

Question Of The Day: Why Do I Need To Be Current?

What’s Going On Locally Has Everything to Do With Your Real Estate Brand!

Click here to read the Business Blogger’s Bible.

It’s a question many ask and for the most part we’ve always answered with another question, “what is the purpose or goal of your site?” If the answer is to drive more leads, subscribers or to sell more products and services, BUT NOT to sell advertising…. than we have the answer to the question.

Often people under value their own brand, not to mention the value of being a current & knowledgeable authority on a subject. And if we can be the current & knowledgeable authority that future buyers are looking for, then why do anything but center visitor attention on our brand? Better yet, why not convert them to a direct subscriber or even a buyer?

DailyBlogTips.com Post Titled ‘ Why I Will Never Use Adsense on a Blog Again’

Ironically DailyBlogTips.com post actually has competitive Google Adsense Ads’ directly beneath the title, but we felt ‘ Why I Will Never Use Adsense on a Blog Again’  did a nice job of summing up why the practice can be counter productive. And by the way, no reason to blame the author about the Adsense Ads. He’s a guest author and unlikely to be aware of DailyBlogTips.com’s Ad’ management. See the image here, which if you think about it ONLY PROVES THE GUEST AUTHOR’S THEORY - ADSENSE CAN BE VERY COUNTER PRODUCTIVE to the purpose of publishing a blog!

In any event, less than 1 click per 100 visitors on average means only ’critical mass’ will generate enough click through activity to make meaningful money. And while the author didn’t quite get into how competitive it is for traffic these days, nor that to make money with Adsense you’ll need significant traffic, he did make great points about a site’s purpose including:

1. Your Purpose Should Be To Get Readers – We’d add: focus less on quantity, more on quality!
2. Each [Adsense] Click Represents A Lost Reader
3. It [Adsense] Dilutes Your Brand equity
4. Passes Equity To The Advertiser That Gets A Visitors Click
5. You Do Not Have Complete Control Over What Ads Surface
6. You Compromise Your Brand With The Wrong Ads
7. The Money is In The Mailing List
8. Subscribers Eventually Buy!
9. If You Must Have Ads, Look Into Complimentary Affiliates

Summary

What is the mission of your blogsite?  Is it to drive traffic? Subscribers? Brand? Product & Service Sales? Do you want to grow your business…. or someone elses?

Click here to read the Daily Blog Tips post and decide for yourself what is important to you and your blog mission.

Like with traditional advertising, if blogging & social media don’t eventually convert then why do we bother? I’m not knocking hobbies, passions or  relationships, but Kinetic Knowledge means to discuss the use of content, organic advertising methods and doing more business!

One of the more important points I’ll address here is that conversion isn’t likely to happen, or at least improve at all, unless we look to assign metrics or dollar values to it.

We’ve really got to execute our methods of conversion or, again, why invest our valuable time? Recently, in posts titled ‘Sure, You Have A Blogsite & Social Network Accounts, But What is Your Plan To Succeed?‘ AND ‘You Cannot Optimize What You Do Not Analyze!’ we looked at a series of steps proven to help develop a successful organic advertising campaign, including:

1.Become a Content Networker … have your content go everywhere!
2.Meet Consumer Intent With Answers & Relevant Information …good information reaches those looking for it!
3.Expose Them To A Current, Authoritative & Appealing Brand … present the most useful site possible!
4.Measure Past To Optimize Future Content … you cannot improve what you don’t evaluate!

5.Conversion! … getting to more sign ups, subscribers and sales!

For Starters, What’s The Goal?

For starters, what is the conversion goal? Is it simply raw traffic? I hope not! Used correctly the web makes qualification possible so why develop a site that tries to please everyone? Is the goal registrations for an e- book or an ongoing stream of answers & information via your blogsite? For those who believe sales are about pipeline and getting to the next step, this method positions you nicely because you’re directly connected for repeat touches! Or is it immediate sales? A tougher task with savvy consumers these days, but when so many are online with an ‘intent to buy’ it is possible!

We’ve talked about it a great deal in previous posts, so let’s assume that you’ve figured out what makes your site special and worth visiting; you have a feel for what prospective clients want and you provide it!? For Realtors, qualified traffic is likely interested in property search, home appraisal and current market data. These days support with Tax Assessment, Foreclosure, Short Sale and REO information may be the call. For Executive Recruiters & Staffing firms, it may be jobs, market salary comparison calculators, resume and career support. With Food Companies there  may be an interest in recipes, health and  ingredient oriented information. Would targeting mothers by sharing ingredients and health tips drive more subscription & loyalty? Whatever the hook is, you’re driving some qualified traffic and they’re not just bouncing off your site. They’re digging for real answers & information. The more they’re finding, the more likely it is they’re willing to trust you. Now, you’ve got to convert!

How Do You Convert?

Ultimately, whether it’s sign ups or immediate sales, conversion requires a compelling offer. What is your compelling offer and how can they sign up for it? Does your blogsite offer RSS subscription? Better yet, and because most people don’t use RSS, does it offer direct & voluntary email subscription? Do you have sign up forms readily available on your site? Is buying something easy to do, with shopping carts and simple credit card processing? Examples might include:

- Lead Capture Form: ‘Reduce Your Learning Curve by Years! Register for our eBook.’
- Blogsite Subscription: ‘Get Detailed Weekly Data FREE! Register Here.’
- Forms: ‘Get Our Coupons and Special Offers. Register Here.’
- Blogsite Subscription: ‘Be a Member of This Network – Get Smarter! Subscribe.’
- Shopping: ‘Shopping Made Simple!’ OR ‘Get 10% off your order 1st time you BUY with us’

Raising The Bar For Conversion

Conversion isn’t likely to happen, or at least improve at all, unless we look to assign metrics or a dollar value to what happens. Why?, you ask. Because it’s the metrics and/or the dollars that help us to crystalize or visualize an actual result. For simplicity’ sake, let’s say we’re looking to convert subscribers. We see 1,000 unique users visit our site in the month and 100 register a subscription. Great!, that’s 10%. Now the simple objective becomes improvement: how can we improve that by 10% or to 110 new subscriptions [assuming we have same unique user traffic] next month? At Kinetic Knowledge we just changed ‘Subscribe To Our Email Newsletter’ to ‘Become a Member of Our Organic Advertisng Education Network’. Why? Because we’re not satisfied and we’re trying to improve our monthly direct subscription registrations!

It’s the results we really want and with actual numbers we can easily visualize what, for instance, a 10 percent improvement means. Jamie Steven VP Marketing at SEOmoz wrote a really great post titled, ‘How to Convince your Boss that CRO is a Win’ centered on metrics and dollars. To uses Jamie’s words, “OMFG. Improving the conversion rate of our checkout page by 10% will result in an additional 63 conversions each month, or 756 per year!”

Now that’s conversion! – Now that’s impact for your business!
Now we are beginning to build a successful organic online presence!

Related Posts:
1. Organic Advertising I: What’s Your Plan to Succeed?
2. Organic Advertising II: You Must Analyze In Order To Optimize!