Optimize Ecommerce Photos: An Easy Guide for 2024
In this article, we discuss the major image optimization techniques and how to optimize ecommerce photos without losing quality.
Content Writer
Sanketee Kher
October 12, 2023
It’s a no-brainer that the product images on your website need to be consistent, reflect the nature of your brand, and be of high quality. However, maximizing the impact of your ecommerce product photography requires additional effort — you must ensure that you optimize ecommerce photos for search engines.
To quote Mark Hayes, the Director of Communications at Shopify:
“Optimized images help both readers and search engines understand your website better and get your content seen online. Recent data shows that images are returned for 32% of search queries on Google”.
In this article, we discuss the major image optimization techniques and how to optimize images for the web without losing quality. We’ll also look at the SEO components you should consider next time you format your ecommerce images.
To quote Mark Hayes, the Director of Communications at Shopify:
“Optimized images help both readers and search engines understand your website better and get your content seen online. Recent data shows that images are returned for 32% of search queries on Google”.
In this article, we discuss the major image optimization techniques and how to optimize images for the web without losing quality. We’ll also look at the SEO components you should consider next time you format your ecommerce images.
What is image SEO?
Image SEO (Search Engine Optimization) entails formatting your images in a way that makes them rank higher in search engines.
But how to optimize images for the web without losing quality? Let’s find out.
But how to optimize images for the web without losing quality? Let’s find out.
How to optimize ecommerce photos?
There are various image optimization techniques you must consider to get the best results without losing quality. Here are the top ones:
File names matter
Before uploading your product photos think about image file names. Keep in mind that image names should describe the image clearly and accurately.
For example, let’s say you are uploading a photo of a hand wash bottle, name it “hand-wash-photo.png” instead of “image-001.png” or whatever other creative names you may give your files. The image file’s name will enable the search engines to identify what the image is of.
Also, dashes in file names are used to isolate words. Doing so can help you optimize ecommerce photos while letting search engines know what the product is.
For example, let’s say you are uploading a photo of a hand wash bottle, name it “hand-wash-photo.png” instead of “image-001.png” or whatever other creative names you may give your files. The image file’s name will enable the search engines to identify what the image is of.
Also, dashes in file names are used to isolate words. Doing so can help you optimize ecommerce photos while letting search engines know what the product is.
There’s no need to write long file names to optimize ecommerce photos, as this might have a negligible effect on SEO ranking. For a bigger impact, you should check your website data to determine which keywords your customers use for search. Find the most popular combinations of words.
Don't forget to compress
Have you ever visited a website that’s loading painfully slowly?
In such a situation, you won’t be patient enough to wait for the loading process to complete. However, compressing your product images is one of the most essential steps to optimize ecommerce photos for your store. It also has a good impact on search engine optimization.
Uncompressed images might increase your bounce rate by causing people to leave your site prematurely. A high bounce rate harms your search engine rankings since it indicates to the search engine that you aren’t offering enough value to your customers’ searches.
In such a situation, you won’t be patient enough to wait for the loading process to complete. However, compressing your product images is one of the most essential steps to optimize ecommerce photos for your store. It also has a good impact on search engine optimization.
Uncompressed images might increase your bounce rate by causing people to leave your site prematurely. A high bounce rate harms your search engine rankings since it indicates to the search engine that you aren’t offering enough value to your customers’ searches.
Alt text for image SEO
Adding alt text to your product images is another important step in the SEO process.
Alt text is the description of your product photo that gets recognized by the search engine. The search engine will in turn showcase your image when there is a match between the words used in the search and the words in your alt text. Clearly describing your photos is essential for your product photos to appear in Google image and web search results.
It’s better to use at least one keyword in the alt text, but keep in mind that using too many keywords may do more harm than good. If your products include model or serial numbers don’t be afraid of using them in alt attributes.
Here’s an example of how to use alt text correctly:
<img src=”liquid-soap-photo.png” alt=”Liquid soap product card”>
Alt text is the description of your product photo that gets recognized by the search engine. The search engine will in turn showcase your image when there is a match between the words used in the search and the words in your alt text. Clearly describing your photos is essential for your product photos to appear in Google image and web search results.
It’s better to use at least one keyword in the alt text, but keep in mind that using too many keywords may do more harm than good. If your products include model or serial numbers don’t be afraid of using them in alt attributes.
Here’s an example of how to use alt text correctly:
<img src=”liquid-soap-photo.png” alt=”Liquid soap product card”>
Improve your product images for SEO with Commerce3D
Improve your product images for SEO with Commerce3D
Understanding image optimization techniques is a demanding task. This, however, doesn’t apply to our users.
Commerce3D automates all of the tedious tasks of resizing, compressing, converting, and optimizing product images so that you can focus on what’s important — growing your ecommerce business.
Commerce3D automates all of the tedious tasks of resizing, compressing, converting, and optimizing product images so that you can focus on what’s important — growing your ecommerce business.
