A man uses his smartphone to take images and videos to boost his website's SEO

Do Images and Videos Boost Your SEO?

By: Lidia Hartle

Images and videos have become an essential part of search engine optimization (SEO) strategy. They not only make your website more visually appealing, but they also play a crucial role in improving your rank in search engines like Google. Here are some reasons why images and videos are good for SEO:

  1. Increased User Engagement
    Images and videos are more engaging than text-based content, which leads to increased user engagement on your website. The more time users spend on your website, the more likely it is that search engines will see your website as valuable and relevant, which can improve your rankings.
  2. Improved Click-Through Rates
    Images and videos can also improve your click-through rates (CTR) on search engine results pages (SERPs). When users see an image or video in the search results, they are more likely to click on it compared to a plain text result. This increased CTR can lead to higher website traffic and better search engine rankings.
  3. Optimized Image and Video Metadata
    Properly optimized metadata for images and videos can improve your search engine rankings. By including relevant keywords in your image and video file names, alt text, and captions, search engines can better understand the context of your content and show it to users searching for those keywords.
  4. Improved Page Load Speed
    Optimized images and videos can also improve your website’s page load speed. Large, unoptimized images and videos can slow down your website, leading to a poor user experience and lower search engine rankings. By compressing and properly sizing your images and videos, you can improve your website’s load speed and user experience, which can lead to better search engine rankings.
  5. Increased Social Media Shares
    Images and videos are also more likely to be shared on social media platforms compared to text-based content. When your content is shared on social media, it can increase your website’s visibility and drive more traffic to your site, which can improve your search engine rankings.

What are you waiting for? Images and videos are essential components of any SEO strategy, so start adding them to your website right away. You don’t need to hire expensive photographers or arrange for fancy photoshoots. The cameras on most smartphones can be employed to great result, and you can also leverage online stock photography databases for images or videos you can’t take on your own. By incorporating them into your website and optimizing their metadata, you can improve your search engine rankings, increase user engagement, and drive more traffic to your website.

When used correctly, images and videos can make your website more visually appealing and improve the overall user experience, leading to better search engine rankings and increased website traffic. When it comes to SEO, it seems a picture really is worth a thousand words!

Want more help with your website’s SEO? Get in touch with Propel and our team of digital marketers will employ all our tips and tricks to boost your website’s rank in search results.