how google treats & ranks images by eli feldblum
DESCRIPTION
From SMX East 2013 / SearchMarketingExpo.com - A Photo is Worth A Thousand Links by @Feldbum of @RankAbove - #SMX #34C Slide deck by Eli Feldblum of Rank Above covers ranking signals and best practices for image optimization for Google Search results.TRANSCRIPT
HOW GOOGLE
TREATS &
RANKS IMAGES
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Eli Feldblum
RankAbove
@Feldbum
#SMX #34C
October 3, 2013
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About This Presentation
• How Well Do Images
Perform in Search
Engines?
• How Has That Changed?
• How Do You Make Your
Images Rank?
• What’s Changed?
• What’s Changing?
About Me
• Eli Feldblum
• CTO & Founder of RankAbove
• @FeldBum
• 201-815-9467
How Did Images Once Perform
In August 2010, RankAbove
and comScore conducted a
large study on how universal
results—including images—
performed in search engines,
compared with regular text
results.
How Did Images Once PerformIn that study, images kicked ass.
How Did Images Once PerformWell, most of the time.
How Did Images Once PerformIn August 2013, we re-ran the study.
How Do Images Perform Today?
All universal
results dropped
since our 2010
study, but only
images lost to
non-universal
results—except
for celebrity
images.
Why?
CTR from all universal results dropped as users either got
more accustomed to seeing those results or because Google
offered searchers more information on universal searches
without having to click. But images suffered more than most.
Why?
Mostly because of UI changes made by Google.
Why?Unless the users clicks “Visit Page” or on the image,
he or she does not continue on to the site.
What Happened?That UI change occurred in January 2013, and hit sites hard.
What Happened?That UI change occurred in January 2013, and hit sites hard.
What Happened?That UI change occurred in January 2013, and hit sites hard.
What Else Did Google Change?Google makes changes to search all the time.
What Else Did Google Change?All of these things are not like the other
What Else Did Google Change?It didn’t used to be like that. Uniqueness now counts.
How Do Images Rank?
• Good SEO (on-page and off-)
• Unique Image
• Surrounding Text
• Image Name (not Alt Tag)
Which Sites Rank
• Lots of text with one or two images.
• Lots of images with a bit of text.
• Lots of images and lots of text.
• What doesn’t rank: one image with no text.
Sound familiar? I just described the average
slideshow
Text Sites RankSites with lots of relevant content,
well-named images and good overall
SEO often rank highly for image
searches—as long as they have
unique images.
Multiple Image Sites RankSites with many
images on a single
page often rank as
well, as they are
almost always
assured of at least
one unique
image—as long as
they have some
relevant text and
good SEO.
Multiple Image Sites RankAnd they don’t
even have to be
ugly. Take a look
at Boston.com’s
Big Picture for a
beautiful
employment of
this technique.
Combo Sites Rank Best
Sites with good text and
lots of images not
surprisingly do the best.
How To Get The Click
Give people a reason to click: more
pictures, or a higher quality or non-
censored version. But ensure that
the same functionality exists on
your site as well.
How To Get The Click
Or use scripts, like WP-PicShield, that add a watermark on the fly.
How To Get The Click
Or use scripts, like WP-PicShield, that add a watermark on the fly.
And Get Your Traffic Back1. Google Image Search
update hits site
2. Watermarks implemented
and traffic returns
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