Creative Entrepreneur Guest Post | How To Use SEO for Image Heavy Sites.

Everyone is always talking about the importance of SEO, and driving targeted traffic to your website, and the importance of Google rankings, and the use of rich text, etc. and so forth.  For those of us who work in the design or visual arts industries, it can be rather frustrating to be continually reminded of the need for key-wording, as, by virtue of our chosen field, our online presence is not text-based.  Google spiders search for text, not images.  Your gorgeous website with its stunning portfolio of bird photography, displaying work that is representative of the last twenty years of your artistic journey, may very well be impossible to find because the phrase “bird photographs” is not used in any way on your site.  No matter that your site is full of relevant images, if a collector or other artist searches for the text “bird photographs”, your site will remain buried.  There are two major ways to combat this search engine bias, however, and they only require some planning and a bit of logic on your part.1.  Creating Text

Since you are aware that Google searches for text, it is important to include text in your site, even if it is image heavy.  Aesthetically speaking, having a lot of text around all of your images can make your site seem cluttered and busy.  Below is a list of ways to include text in your site that will not affect the visual presence of the site.  All of these tools should be utilized during the creation of the site, so that they are built into the code.

a.  ALT Tags – The alt tag allows you to provide a text-based definition, or description, of an image that appears in your website.  Do not leave this description blank.  It is your first line of defense in getting Google to recognize that you exist.b.  Image Descriptions – (a.k.a. alt text) For those people who can’t see an image that is displayed on your site, for whatever reason, including an image description allows them to read what should appear.  Search engines can read this information as well, making it highly useful.  For those people who have Flash-based sites, the image description tag is especially important, as many hand-held devices cannot view Flash-based sites.c.  Naming – Make sure to title each page in your website.  The title you create should include keywords that a potential viewer might use.  For example, if you make furniture and you have a series of sofas in the style of Klaussner sofas, title your page, “Klaussner Sofa Styles” or “Sofas in the Style of Klaussner”.  Do the same with any files that can be downloaded or accessed from your site.  Do not name them something generic like, “orderform.pdf”.  Instead, make the form as searchable with a filename like, “grantsofasorderform.pdf” (Grant Sofas Order Form).d.  Captions  - Though your painting may be called, “Untitled #1”, this will not drive traffic to your site.  Use the caption area of your image gallery to add a brief description of the image, so that a search engine can find what is displayed.e.  Headings – Heading 1 on a webpage is basically the headline of the page.  The heading should include keywords that are related to the content of your site and the page on which the heading appears in particular.These are a few of the ways to address making your site more text friendly.  Now we can examine how to make your images themselves work for you.2.  Google Image SearchThe Google Image Search bot has become increasingly useful, and it is a boon for photographers, designers, and other visual artists.  Having it work for you in an appreciable way, however, requires utilizing some of the same techniques used for driving traffic to your site by more traditional routes.a.  Naming, Tagging, Describing – For your image to appear on the first page of a Google image search, it must be named, tagged, and described very specifically.  Choose your text with care and try to intuit what potential collectors or clients would search for when trying to find the type of work you create.  Naming the page on which on image appears can also increase the chances of having your image appear in an image search.b.  Size and Location – Large images utilized on the top half of a page stand a greater chance of being included in an image search than smaller photos that are essentially “buried” at the bottom of a page.c.  Links – If you link a photo to a larger version of itself, or to another page on the site, this hyperlink text is read by Google.  Provided you have named your files appropriately, or have included a more detailed description of the image on the linked page as text, the text will be recognized, and will increase your ranking in an image search.Now that you have some idea of how to make your image-based site searchable, you can feel confident about creating a visual online presence that is both attractive and functional.  Whether you are a designer, photographer, painter, or architect, showing off your work is part of the job.  Hopefully, with proper SEO utilization, you work will be admired, requested, and/or purchased, by many.Written by Dee Mason.