Search Engine Optimization (or SEO) is necessary to get people to find you on sites like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. These search engines crawl through webpages like a blind spider—meaning that they can read text but they are unable to see pictures. This is why it’s so important to label the images so that bots know what they are looking at.
Give your images descriptive names. When you upload a picture to your blog or website, try not to use the default camera dump name (does “IMG00.jpg” sound familiar?) but label it something like “pesto-and-garlic-spaghetti.jpg” instead. No one will search for a generic “IMG” image, but recipes are always popular (and pinnable!) which is why you’ll want to make it easy for users to find yours in the pack. Be sure to use hyphens in between words because bots are unable to separate characters, and hyphens serve as spaces.
It’s also important to give your images an ALT (Alternative Text) Attribute. This is the text that describes the image to bots and is the text you’ll find when you hover your mouse over a picture. It’s easy to add alt text on both Blogger and WordPress but use different text for both your alt text and image title (this is known as “keyword stuffing” and can actually hurt your online presence).
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