SEO or search engine optimization is an important exercise for all bloggers who wish to expand the reach and influence of their blog posts. Leading search engines such as Google encourage webmasters and bloggers to use legitimate SEO techniques so that the readers can reach the most relevant and useful sites and blogs.
SEO Value of Images
Images are a key part of any good SEO strategy to promote a blog. Search engine algorithms use certain criteria to evaluate the worth of a blog or website, and attach differentiated weight to each factor. The page rankings of any website or blog on a search engine are determined on that basis.
Search engines have traditionally considered images as an important factor in deciding the worth of a blog or website. Images help to enhance the quality of content and deliver a superior or enriched experience to the readers. Therefore, blog posts with good quality images are likely to be ranked higher on search engines compared to blogs that are devoid of any images.
Quality of Images
Merely uploading images along with the blog post is not sufficient to achieve the best SEO results. Search engines consider the image quality and resolution, as well as the originality and authenticity of images. The most important consideration is that the image must be relevant and useful to the content. Dumping the blog post with irrelevant or disconnected images will eventually drive away readers and bring down the page rankings of the blog.
Images must not be offensive because the Internet is a public place, and certain public norms and conventions must be observed. Image quality, resolution and other physical aspects of the image are also important to determine its overall SEO value. If the images are posted in an outdated format, or are so heavy that visitors have difficulty in downloading the page, it can discourage the readers from visiting the blog.
Copyright
One of the most important things for every blogger to understand is that the images used for a blog post must be free of copyright protection. If it is important to use copyrighted images, the blogger must seek due permission from the owner of the image, or pay its cost to reproduce the image on his or her blog.
Violating image copyrights can land a blogger in potential legal trouble. At the same time, such violations can also bring down the page rankings of the blog on leading search engines, and may even lead to blacklisting of the blog (being tossed into virtual purgatory is about as bad as it gets). A number of reliable online image libraries are available today that provide free as well as paid images for bloggers. Using such authentic sources, like Wikimedia commons or iStock Photo, can keep bloggers free of the risk of copyright violation and golden in the eyes of those same search engines. Even if you have to pay for high-quality images to use in your posts, you can find discounts and coupons to help lower these costs.
It may be our game to lose but we are playing by the search engine’s rules.
Source: http://www.dragonblogger.com/images-seo/
February 21, 2012
SEO