When it comes to a hotel website, many hoteliers don’t give enough weightage to image SEO. And I understand why. After all, I was one of them too.
NB: This is an article from eZee Absolute
During my initial days as a blogger for the hospitality industry, I used to add some of the intriguing images on my blogs and spend hours editing those.
However, things weren’t working out the way I wanted. There was something amiss!
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My focus was only on the way the image looked and never on the optimisation of the images for SEO.
(Well, I didn’t have much knowledge about image SEO either.)
And to be brutally honest, I still regret it!
So, I have taken it upon myself to help you all hoteliers understand how to make images SEO friendly and increase your hotel website ranking.
Why Content Needs Amazing Images?
Before we talk about how to optimize images for SEO, let me address this sixty-four-thousand-dollar question.
People love visuals. Period. And why not! They are easier to digest, as well as easier to remember.
According to a source, since 2007, there’s a 9900 percent increase in the use of visualized information.
That’s not all.
- Research by Dr. Richard Felder in the 1980s suggests that the proportion of visual learners is significantly higher compared to the other learning styles.
- Another research shows that people can remember more than 2,000 pictures with at least 90% accuracy.
#FunFact
And let’s remember the basics we were taught as kids:
“A picture is worth a thousand words.“
So, if you have been turning a blind eye to images, it’s time to rectify that. Try to make your content as intriguing as possible with images, videos, embedded social media posts etc.
But, is that enough?
Like I said in the beginning, you need SEO. It always plays a crucial role here.
And this brings me to the next point.
What is Image SEO?
I am sure you all know what is SEO and its role in the hotel industry. If not, then we have a detailed blog on it. You can read it here: SEO for hotel websites.
In terms of website image SEO, it is the process of optimising readability, indexability, and quality of images on a website or a webpage. It provides search engine crawlers with more information about the image and helps in ranking the content higher.
But is Image SEO Really Important?
The answer is an absolute YES!
There was a time when people could quickly download an original image from search results without visiting the host webpage. But in February 2018, Google removed the “View Image” button from its image search results. Now, every time you click on an image on Google image search, it redirects you to the corresponding website.
And this is where image SEO comes into the picture. The better you optimise your graphics on your website, the more chances you have of ranking higher.
If you have been thinking that optimizing website content for SEO is enough, then it’s time to change that mindset. The algorithms keep changing and to stay competitive, you have to keep abreast to all the latest updates.
