In the world of ecommerce, ranking first in Google search results is as crucial as securing a prime location on a high-traffic street in Manhattan for a brick-and-mortar store. The number one search result garners a significant 27.6% of all clicks and is ten times more likely to be clicked on compared to the tenth result.

However, appearing on the second page of search results is akin to having a shop in the middle of a desert, with only 0.63% of users bothering to click on anything. Falling out of the top 10 results for a search term can stack the odds against you. This is where search engine optimization (SEO) plays a critical role in driving traffic to your ecommerce site, with one effective method being optimizing your website’s images for search engine visibility.

Image SEO involves optimizing images on your website to make them more easily discoverable by search engines. This, in turn, helps improve your web pages’ rankings in search results and increases traffic to your site. Strategies for image SEO include using unique and high-quality images, giving descriptive file names, incorporating SEO keywords in image alt text, and resizing and compressing images for faster site speed.

By employing best practices for image SEO, such as placing quality images on every page, using straightforward file names, creating image sitemaps, using high-resolution photos, and optimizing load time with resizing, you can enhance your website’s visibility to search engines and improve your chances of ranking higher in search results.

Optimizing Images for Better User Experience

Huge photos often take a long time to load, which can be a terrible experience for your shoppers. That’s why optimizing images is essential for your website.

Optimizing Image File Sizes

Image file sizes should ideally be less than 100 kilobytes, with experts recommending less than 70 kilobytes. Many website-building platforms have maximum file size limits, such as Shopify’s 20 megabyte cap. You can resize images using your site-building platform or online tools like Squoosh or TinyPNG. When compressing images, make sure to maintain image quality by saving them in formats like JPG, PNG, or Google’s WebP.

Consider Different Screen Sizes

Optimizing images for various screen sizes and devices is crucial for a seamless user experience. Responsive images ensure quick loading and correct display on different devices, from smartphones to desktop computers.

Studies have shown that even a slight increase in page load time can significantly impact user behavior. A Google study found that a page load time increase from one to three seconds can cause a 32% increase in bounce rate. Another study revealed that websites with one-second load times have conversion rates three times higher than those loading in five seconds.

“Uploading large image sizes for thumbnails can slow down your site,” says Greg. “Even if the code resizes the image for users, the original large size still needs to load.”

Utilize Alt Text

Alt text is a text description of an image that aids visually impaired users in navigating the web with screen readers. While users don’t see this text, search engines evaluate it as regular text. It’s important to use descriptive alt text instead of keyword stuffing to improve accessibility and SEO.

For example, if your image is of a pink hat on a white background, your alt text can simply be “fuzzy pink hat on white background.”