Google Image Search is a vastly underrated search platform
The short answer to the question posed in the title of this post is that everyone can benefit from ranking in Google image search. If you have a website or a blog, then with a little due diligence you can generate very useful supplementary traffic via Google image search.
And if you can rank for a search term on Google image search, then your website will likely experience a surge of traffic. If you rank for more than one such term, image traffic could rival organic search traffic.
If you run an image-heavy website or your business lends itself nicely to image traffic, then you really should do all you can to get as many visitors as possible from image search. There is a reason why success stories on Pinterest and Tumblr are often from niches such as real estate, food, lifestyle accessories, interior décor, garments, and businesses where images are a natural ally to textual content.
A look at how sites like Amazon display images will serve to inform you of the importance of images in selling products. Whether the product be perfumes, electric lamps or folding chairs, etc., if you’re into e-commerce you should try to rank for images. Image traffic converts and for many websites has a lower bounce rate than regular traffic. Or, your business could be something totally different, maybe home improvement or landscaping. A how-to post on replacing kitchen flooring with images will be appreciated much more than text-only copy.
If you think that an image will take the story forward and inform your readers, then use it.
It is far easier to rank for keywords using images. The competition is not that stiff, and with a planned approach you can get traffic to your site. Once you do that, your page needs to be configured to pique the interest of your visitors and keep them on your website. The content and layout should be able to take over. The image has already done the hard work.
How to Optimize an Image for the Search Engines
Use an image sized appropriately for the subject. An image of a product needs to be large, but certainly not of wallpaper size. On the other hand, an image of a sportstar or an actor cannot be thumbnail sized. Take a look at the sizes of images that are ranking high. Download them. Check how the images are named. How are they described? Use a descriptive filename that carries your chosen keyword. Search engines value descriptive and sensible alt tags. Use simple and relevant alt tags for the images.
One trick that even established websites miss is of adding new images. If your blog carries an image not present online, and it’s properly optimized as explained above, you are adding to the sum total of information already present online. Your visitors will appreciate it. It may take a little effort, but the resulting visitor engagement will be worth it.
A picture is worth a thousand words, and you can make them speak for your business. Follow the optimization tips given in this post and you will see a rise in traffic and also one-way backlinks.
