SEO for manufacturers should be regarded as a crucial part of your business’ core online marketing activities. That is because manufacturing or industrial SEO is a potent strategy to rank high in Google, gain greater visibility and, with the right online marketing tactics, improve conversions.
With search engine optimization, the emphasize is often placed on content writing. There is no doubt that content is king in online search, but there are other, more technical methods for implementing SEO that shouldn’t be ignored. For example, one technique used in manufacturing SEO is known as image optimization. This revolves around procedures that help make the images on your website and/or blog more visible on the internet and, along with it, your business.
With a large majority of clients and customers ready to contact a business based on their web images, it is no mystery how important pictures are. That is why we are going to show you some helpful tips on how you can optimize your own images and become more easily found on search engines.
1. Balance File Size and Quality
Did you know that the longer it takes to load a website, the more you lose? In today’s age of high speed connections, web users simply have no patience for a slow-loading website with images that seem to take forever to appear. Never forget that SEO for manufacturers is very much about focusing on the user experience. A high bounce rate and short sessions can translate to lowered rankings. Not only that, but page and image speed is directly utilized as a ranking factor by Google, making it a must to optimize load times when it comes to manufacturing SEO.
As such, the first thing you need to do is reduce the file size of your picture as much as you can. If using Photoshop, you can lower than quality of the image by adding compression, which will in turn lower the file size. File extensions such as .jpg will add more compression to an image, compared to .bmp, making them more ideal for web graphics. Try to make sure that all of your web graphics are less than 1 MB in size. Also, the resolution of the web graphics you use should never be 300 dpi in resolution, which is utilized for high quality graphics intended for print. Instead, aim for 72 dpi, which will greatly reduce loading speeds and still provide a clear image for your visitors.
Quick Tip: You can also use an online image size optimizer to decrease image file sizes. You don’t need to change the dimensions — just resolution. However, if the result looks too blurry, then we recommend experimenting around with different tools and settings. Never settle for images that are too blurry or pixelated, as they will make your website look unprofessional.
2. Use the Right File Name
Most manufacturing SEO specialists know that inserting keywords into textual content is important for helping their clients find them in search engines. For example, if you would ideally like to appear for the query, “best plastic manufacturer in Texas” you’re going to want to stick that very phrase into the copy of your website, so Google indexes you accordingly. Images can also be optimized for keywords as well, allowing clients to find them through Google image search and other image-based search engines. This is why it is important to name your files clearly and descriptively with relevant keywords.
If all of your images are named with incomprehensible numbers and letters, such as “pvc-cnpcy1.png” — then you can’t expect them to show up when someone searches for relevant terms in your field, because you’re giving Google nothing to work with. Google can’t exactly “read” the image itself, but it can read the labels you provide. It is a ranking factor.
Therefore, when selecting a file name for your images, ensure that it incorporates relevant keywords you are targeting for your industrial SEO. For example, if you are targeting, “plastic manufacturing company in Texas” the file name can be something similar to, “our plastic manufacturing company in Texas.jpg” and this will help Google better understand the relevant of the photo and in turn boost your industrial SEO campaign.
Quick Tip: Spend some time experimenting with different filenames. This will allow you to see what works best. Moreover, use Google AdWords or Analytics to identify highly-searched keywords. This will help make choosing a file name an easier task.
3. Add an Alt Image Tag
Another way to help search engines understand the relevance of your images it to provide alt tags. Alt tags enhance the user experience by providing a description of an image that appears when one hovers over the image. This can also help web users with disabilities understand the content of the image. It is also a feature that Google uses as a ranking factor and should not be ignored for manufacturing SEO purposes.
What makes image tags great is that they are incredibly easy to implement. Simply navigate to a given image’s source code, and you may or may not see a small section of code that looks like this:
alt=””
If you don’t happen to see something like that, then simply add it. This is what the result should look like:
<img src=”/images/plastic-manufacturing.png” alt=”Plastic manufacturing plant in Fort Worth, TX”/>
The alt text you enter will be picked up by search engine spiders that will then have a better understand of the image. The alt image tag is simple enough to understand and should utilize a phrase that a client is likely to search for. By adding just a few relevant, descriptive words to your image tag, you can gain increased visibility.
Quick Tip: Always be sure to include optimized images within your content. Web users respond more to graphics, and search engines use them as a ranking factor for both web and image search. In other words, optimized images will help you rank for your keywords in more ways than one.
Armed with the 3-step procedure above, image SEO for manufacturers could not be any easier. By reducing the size of your files, naming them descriptively and strategically, and lastly, inserting optimized alt text, your pictures will be much more likely to appear prominently in online search.
SEO for manufacturers should be regarded as a crucial part of your business’ core online marketing activities. That is because manufacturing or industrial SEO is a potent strategy to rank high in Google, gain greater visibility and, with the right online marketing tactics, improve conversions.
With search engine optimization, the emphasize is often placed on content writing. There is no doubt that content is king in online search, but there are other, more technical methods for implementing SEO that shouldn’t be ignored. For example, one technique used in manufacturing SEO is known as image optimization. This revolves around procedures that help make the images on your website and/or blog more visible on the internet and, along with it, your business.
With a large majority of clients and customers ready to contact a business based on their web images, it is no mystery how important pictures are. That is why we are going to show you some helpful tips on how you can optimize your own images and become more easily found on search engines.
1. Balance File Size and Quality
Did you know that the longer it takes to load a website, the more you lose? In today’s age of high speed connections, web users simply have no patience for a slow-loading website with images that seem to take forever to appear. Never forget that SEO for manufacturers is very much about focusing on the user experience. A high bounce rate and short sessions can translate to lowered rankings. Not only that, but page and image speed is directly utilized as a ranking factor by Google, making it a must to optimize load times when it comes to manufacturing SEO.
As such, the first thing you need to do is reduce the file size of your picture as much as you can. If using Photoshop, you can lower than quality of the image by adding compression, which will in turn lower the file size. File extensions such as .jpg will add more compression to an image, compared to .bmp, making them more ideal for web graphics. Try to make sure that all of your web graphics are less than 1 MB in size. Also, the resolution of the web graphics you use should never be 300 dpi in resolution, which is utilized for high quality graphics intended for print. Instead, aim for 72 dpi, which will greatly reduce loading speeds and still provide a clear image for your visitors.
Quick Tip: You can also use an online image size optimizer to decrease image file sizes. You don’t need to change the dimensions — just resolution. However, if the result looks too blurry, then we recommend experimenting around with different tools and settings. Never settle for images that are too blurry or pixelated, as they will make your website look unprofessional.
2. Use the Right File Name
Most manufacturing SEO specialists know that inserting keywords into textual content is important for helping their clients find them in search engines. For example, if you would ideally like to appear for the query, “best plastic manufacturer in Texas” you’re going to want to stick that very phrase into the copy of your website, so Google indexes you accordingly. Images can also be optimized for keywords as well, allowing clients to find them through Google image search and other image-based search engines. This is why it is important to name your files clearly and descriptively with relevant keywords.
If all of your images are named with incomprehensible numbers and letters, such as “pvc-cnpcy1.png” — then you can’t expect them to show up when someone searches for relevant terms in your field, because you’re giving Google nothing to work with. Google can’t exactly “read” the image itself, but it can read the labels you provide. It is a ranking factor.
Therefore, when selecting a file name for your images, ensure that it incorporates relevant keywords you are targeting for your industrial SEO. For example, if you are targeting, “plastic manufacturing company in Texas” the file name can be something similar to, “our plastic manufacturing company in Texas.jpg” and this will help Google better understand the relevant of the photo and in turn boost your industrial SEO campaign.
Quick Tip: Spend some time experimenting with different filenames. This will allow you to see what works best. Moreover, use Google AdWords or Analytics to identify highly-searched keywords. This will help make choosing a file name an easier task.
3. Add an Alt Image Tag
Another way to help search engines understand the relevance of your images it to provide alt tags. Alt tags enhance the user experience by providing a description of an image that appears when one hovers over the image. This can also help web users with disabilities understand the content of the image. It is also a feature that Google uses as a ranking factor and should not be ignored for manufacturing SEO purposes.
What makes image tags great is that they are incredibly easy to implement. Simply navigate to a given image’s source code, and you may or may not see a small section of code that looks like this:
alt=””
If you don’t happen to see something like that, then simply add it. This is what the result should look like:
<img src=”/images/plastic-manufacturing.png” alt=”Plastic manufacturing plant in Fort Worth, TX”/>
The alt text you enter will be picked up by search engine spiders that will then have a better understand of the image. The alt image tag is simple enough to understand and should utilize a phrase that a client is likely to search for. By adding just a few relevant, descriptive words to your image tag, you can gain increased visibility.
Quick Tip: Always be sure to include optimized images within your content. Web users respond more to graphics, and search engines use them as a ranking factor for both web and image search. In other words, optimized images will help you rank for your keywords in more ways than one.
Armed with the 3-step procedure above, image SEO for manufacturers could not be any easier. By reducing the size of your files, naming them descriptively and strategically, and lastly, inserting optimized alt text, your pictures will be much more likely to appear prominently in online search.