These days, there are not too many websites that don’t contain any images. Without some kind of visual appeal, it’s usually pretty difficult to maintain the user’s interest – as the old saying goes, ‘A picture tells a thousand words’. For online shops, businesses, or individuals advertising goods and services on the web, good images are a key element, without which it would be virtually impossible to attract customers. High-quality images ensure a better user experience and attract attention; for these reasons alone, it’s worth investing time and money into optimizing your images. Infographics are particularly popular, as these also often generate useful backlinks.
Retention times and conversions increase when the content is enhanced by images, while the bounce rate is reduced. Technical quality is also a decisive factor, in addition to the visual quality of the images. When it comes to generating traffic from mobile devices, it’s particularly important for the images to have a short loading time. Website owners who make an effort to create strong images in a suitable format are rewarded with a good rating by Google, which subsequently improves the ranking of your entire site.
In addition to the normal search function, Google offers a targeted image search, which is of central importance for the search engine optimization of images. A good position in the image search results pages can pay off just as much as on normal results pages. While many users will end up on your site by searching directly for their desired product or service, this can also be achieved by having many attractive images appear in the normal results pages. According to a study by Searchmetrics, Google plays about 40% of the entered search requests matching pictures. In this way, you can position yourself with good SEO images in the standard search. One study by German content marketing platform Searchmetrics suggested that Google displays matching images for around 40% of all search queries. This allows you to improve your position in the standard search with good image SEO.