{"id":9018,"date":"2019-05-28T07:00:46","date_gmt":"2019-05-28T11:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/venngage.com\/blog\/?p=9018"},"modified":"2025-12-03T03:50:48","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T08:50:48","slug":"visual-marketing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/venngage.com\/blog\/visual-marketing\/","title":{"rendered":"8 Ways Your Visual Marketing Assets Can Boost SEO"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Infographics:<\/a><\/p>\n

Most marketers know that their visual marketing<\/strong>\u00a0assets should serve a purpose beyond making a blog post or tweet look pretty. <\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, it\u2019s been proven time and time again that imagery is key if engagement is your goal. But, what a lot of marketers don\u2019t know is how to maximize their visual content to boost their website\u2019s performance in Google\u2019s organic search results.<\/p>\n

When you’re spending time and money creating impressive visuals, you want them to go the extra mile in supporting your wider content marketing goals, right? It’s also an added incentive to visualize your research and findings in blog posts and articles.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With a few tweaks, your images could actually be bringing more organic traffic to your website.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here are some visual marketing strategies<\/a> to boost your SEO:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Optimize your alt tags.<\/li>\n
  2. Don’t publish infographics without accompanying text.<\/li>\n
  3. Check your file image sizes.<\/li>\n
  4. Submit image and video site maps.<\/li>\n
  5. Use Reverse Image Search to identify backlink opportunities.<\/li>\n
  6. Use images to support PR pitches to get more coverage (and links).<\/li>\n
  7. Offer to provide influencers and publications with imagery.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Let’s get into it.<\/p>\n

    1. Optimize Your Alt Tags<\/h2>\n

    This simple step is easy to miss when you\u2019re uploading a blog post and time is of the essence (which, let’s face it, is pretty much <\/span>always<\/span><\/i> the case). But if you want to bring in additional traffic from Google\u2019s image results, then implementing and optimizing alt text is crucial.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u201cAlt <\/span>tag<\/span><\/i>\u201d is a common abbreviation for the ALT attribute within the IMG tag, and alt <\/span>text<\/span><\/i> is the text you add to that tag to describe the image. As search engines can\u2019t read images on web pages to determine what they are, adding alt text to your images can help a search engine to understand how the image contributes to the content on a page. <\/span><\/p>\n

    Alt text is also used by screen readers for the blind or visually impaired. In fact, you might have come across alt text if you\u2019ve ever been reading a page that hasn\u2019t loaded properly, and the images are replaced by text to add context for the user.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"Infographics:<\/a><\/p>\n

    Search engines can only rank your images in relevant search results if they\u2019re able to make sense of them. In the context of SEO, your alt tag essentially exists to describe your image so search engines like Google know <\/span>where<\/span><\/i> to rank it.<\/span><\/p>\n

    If you don\u2019t customize your alt text, you\u2019ll often find that it defaults to the file name in lots of content management systems (CMS). <\/span><\/p>\n

    So, for example, if your infographic about financing a business has the default filename of \u20182453467.jpg\u2019 as its alt tag, Google isn\u2019t going to think it\u2019s a relevant image to deliver when somebody searches \u2018how to finance a business\u2019. <\/span><\/p>\n

    See how you could be losing out on valuable traffic there? Don\u2019t worry, it\u2019s easy to fix.<\/p>\n

    If you\u2019re less technically inclined, most content management systems make it very easy to edit your alt tags. Usually, it simply involves clicking on the image and editing the alt text in the module editor. <\/span><\/p>\n

    Here\u2019s what that looks like in the <\/span>HubSpot landing page builder<\/span><\/a> (but if you\u2019re a WordPress user, it will be a similar process):<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"Infographics:<\/a><\/p>\n

    It\u2019s worth noting that the alt text of your images isn\u2019t an opportunity to cram another one of your keywords onto the page. <\/span><\/p>\n

    The alt text should be brief and describe what the image portrays. If it makes sense for your keyword to be in the alt text, then include it, but this won\u2019t always be the case.<\/span><\/p>\n

    2. Don\u2019t Publish Infographics Without Accompanying Text<\/h2>\n

    Publishing an infographic on your website without any accompanying text is a huge no-no from an SEO perspective, even if you\u2019ve optimized the alt text. Yet, it\u2019s something that I see a <\/span>lot <\/span><\/i>when browsing content myself.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Whilst your infographic itself might rank in the image search results, it\u2019s unlikely the URL the infographic has been posted on (e.g. venngage.com\/blog\/how-to-finance-a-business) will rank well in regular search results if there\u2019s no accompanying written content.<\/span><\/p>\n

    This is because there\u2019s not enough valuable written content on the page for Google to determine where to place it amongst competing pages from other websites. <\/span><\/p>\n

    For example, say someone else has written an in-depth article about how to finance a business, and you\u2019ve just uploaded an infographic to the page. Although the two might be equally valuable to a reader, Google can\u2019t read the text on your infographic. So the value you\u2019re delivering won\u2019t be credited with a top ranking spot for the relevant keywords in its search results.<\/span><\/p>\n

    To combat this issue, you should always accompany an infographic with comprehensive\u00a0SEO content.<\/span><\/p>\n

    The accompanying text shouldn\u2019t repeat what\u2019s included in the infographic word-for-word, as that doesn\u2019t add any additional value to your audience (which is always your primary goal). Instead, you might want to expand on some of the points featured in the infographic. <\/span><\/p>\n

    Want to take your infographic design to the next level? Download our interactive guide on The Dos and Don’ts of Infographic design!<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    There\u2019s some good examples of how to do this successfully on the Vengage blog <\/span>here<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"Infographics:<\/a><\/p>\n

    3. Check Your Image File Sizes<\/h2>\n

    You should always be aware of the file sizes of the images and videos you\u2019re using on your website. <\/span><\/p>\n

    There\u2019s nothing more frustrating than a website or blog that takes forever to load. It creates a bad user experience, and people are more likely to leave your website before the page has even finished loading. <\/span><\/p>\n

    Google acknowledges that site speed is an important factor for creating a positive user experience, and websites that load content quickly are consequently more likely to rank highly in search results and therefore receive more traffic. <\/span><\/p>\n

    What you might not have considered is that your images could be contributing to a poor site speed. <\/span><\/p>\n

    Amongst other factors, you need to make some changes to your images to ensure you\u2019re not losing out on traffic and conversions as a result of having a poor site speed. This is increasingly important considering around half of your traffic is likely to be coming from mobile users, who are browsing on-the-go with slower download speeds. <\/span><\/p>\n

    You can test your site speed using <\/span>Google\u2019s Page Speed Insights tool<\/span><\/a> or IsItWP Website Speed Test Tool<\/a>. It highlights whether your images could be the culprit for your site\u2019s slow page load speed and offers tips to help you rectify it. <\/span><\/p>\n

    Here are some solutions you could be implementing when it comes to images: <\/span><\/p>\n