No Comments Written by Robert on August 12, 2008 – 6:33 pm

Google Images returns only images when a user enters a search query. This platform allows anyone searching for pictures to quickly browse and download images from all over the Web. Recently, Google began showing select image results as part of Google’s main search results. As a result, getting your images ranked by Google Images can result in significant supplemental Web site traffic outside of traditional search-engine marketing.

There are several ways to increase your rankings in Google Images. For example, make sure that the keyword you want the image to rank for is in the same table cell as the image. Another tip is to put the keyword above or below the image using a <div> or floating <div> tag.

You should also place the keyword in the Alt Image tag, the image name, and the image meta file summary. Finally, and most importantly, make sure you include the keyword in the same paragraph as the image.

Google’s Image Search is the most comprehensive image search on the Web. Although the results used to be limited to those users who used http://images.google.com, Google recently began to show its image results at the top of its regular, organic listings. As search results across the Web become more comprehensive, images have become a highly demanded end result for a search query.

As the saying goes, “a picture says a thousand words,” and this is true for users who want to know as much about a topic as they can in a short amount of time. For example, if you want to know where Iowa is on a map, would you rather read a 500-word article about it or just see an image of the United States highlighting the location of the state you searched for? Or maybe you are searching for an image for your social media site.

Images on Google Images

Just type what you are looking for into Google Images, and instantly you find a picture you like and link back to it from your site. The benefits of ranking well in Google Images are limitless. There are a few things you can do to increase your rankings in Google Images.

First, be sure your chosen keyword is in the same table cell as the image. Second, make sure that your image’s file name is descriptive of the image. Third, put the keyword above or below the image using a <div> or floating <div> tag.

Fourth, the keyword should be in the Alt Image tag, the image name, and the image meta file summary. Finally, and most importantly, make sure you include the keyword in the same paragraph as the image. This is an example of a well-formatted image:

   <div style=”float:right”><img

   src=”image/keyword.jpg” /><br>keyword,

   text, text, text, keyword, text, text,

   text, keyword, text, text, text,

   keyword.</div><p>text</p>

Another factor to consider when optimizing for Google Images is the size of the images you are displaying. Recommended image sizes are as follows:

• Small: 150 x 150 or smaller
• Medium: Larger than 150 x 150 and smaller than 500 x 500
• Large: 500 x 500 and larger

You should also be sure to keep an eye on the traffic that Google Images sends to your site. If you see that a particular image search is sending the wrong kind of traffic to your site, do not chalk it up as a loss right away. Think of a way to monetize that traffic or redirect it to another page of your site.

For example, you can add Google AdSense and an affiliate marketing advertisement related to the image to the page receiving the traffic or to another page on your Web site using a 301 redirect. Similarly, you can build out content around the image and sell advertising through advertising services such as Adbrite or Text-Link-Ads.com.

You should not optimize images that are unrelated to the content of your site. For example, you may have an image of a monkey on your site just because you think it looks good or fits your theme. Do not worry about optimizing this image; it is not going to send any quality traffic. This also goes for giving attributes to your navigation images.

Increase Exposure on Ask.com

In terms of overall search traffic, Ask.com is the fourth largest search engine next to Google, Yahoo, and MSN. Ask.com is quickly becoming a major search engine and along with Google appears to be capturing search-engine market share from both Yahoo and MSN.

Ask.com combines all the different forms of media on the Web into one visually pleasing results page that dynamically changes based on the term being searched for Ask.com is on the way to becoming one of the most used search engines on the Web, and you should get your site ranked early on this upand- coming search engine.