How to Optimize Photos for SEO for Your Squarespace Website
Photos are ALL important when it comes to boosting SEO on your Squarespace site. They can help…
Boost Google image search traffic
Engage users visually on your website
Encourage social sharing
Provide more keyword opportunities to boost your ranking on Google
And if you clicked on this, you probably know this already… and are trying to figure out how in the world to set up photos on your website to best rank on Google for SEO.
Well, I’m here to answer that question just for you!
Resize Images to Be Web-Sized
The first thing you’ll want to do when getting images set up to your site is resize them to be an appropriate size for the web.
Why? Well, the larger your file size is, the longer it takes for your webpage to load - which Google hates. An image that takes a while to load can negatively affect your SEO ranking on Google - because they simply want whoever can share information to their users the fastest.
So what size exactly should your images be on your website? I (along with many other experts) usually recommend images sizes to stick around 300KB or less, if possible.
So how can you resize your images quickly? Use my favorite site, compressjpg.com, to quickly downsize your images and get them ready for your site.
Rename Your Images Before Uploading to Your Site
The next step is to rename your images to be SEO-friendly before uploading them to your Squarespace site.
So, how should you choose what to name your images?
Well the key is to think of keywords that you want your site to be found for on Google.
In plain words, choose a keyword phrase that you would imagine people looking up on Google that you would want your page to rank for.
For example, if someone searches, "Fall Wedding in Colorado Photos" on Google (and you want to be found for this search), you can rename all your images for the page "colorado-fall-wedding-photos-1.png".
Try to choose different keywords for different pages so you can widen the amount of Google searches that your webpage and images can show up for!
Include Your Keywords in Your Alt Image Text
After you’ve uploading your image to your Squarespace website, you’ll be able to fill out one more field for SEO - the alt image text.
This is another great space for you to include your keyword phrase (similar to the filename you chose) for a bit more of an SEO boost.
One important thing to note is that the alt text field is used for screen readers used by visually impaired users - so you will want to make sure that this text also accurately describes the image you have uploaded.
For the example above, let’s say you’ve uploaded a photo of the couples’ wedding invitation suite. You could enter in the alt text field “navy blue wedding invitation suite - Colorado Fall wedding photos.”
This helps provide accurate context to your image AND include your keywords to help with SEO!
So, to wrap it all up…
Optimizing images for SEO on your Squarespace website might seem tedious, but it will totally be worth the work in the end!
Just remember - optimize the size, rename, alt text - and make sure you choose good quality images that reflect the professionalism of your website!