The following is yet another article in a series that is derived from my notes taken during Dave Taylor's session at BlogWorld 2008 entitled Ten Things You Need to Know About Search Engines & Find-ability.
"The Name Game" - The SEO of Blogging (Simple, Effective, and Overlooked)
(For Your Listening Pleasure While You Read: "The Name Game" by Shirley Ellis)
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One of the most overlooked elements of a well-crafted and well-searched blog post is incorporating good, relevant images. You'd be amazed at the amount of traffic being generated by people who are looking for pictures that convey a sense of the community they're interested in.
One of the more entertaining yet meaningful suggestions that Dave Taylor emphasized during his session was to 'leave a trail of clues' for the Search Engines, meaning that by employing all of these various elements in your blogging strategy, it serves to reinforce their combined relevancy to your content, thereby enhancing your overall search ranking.
One such element that is simple, effective, and typically overlooked, is naming your images.
Let's say that you've just published an article on a new residential development in your local market, Harbor View Estates. You went out and took some great shots of the area, and have imported them into your blog post. When the spiders crawl your page and come across an image, chances are this is what they see:
<p>Introducing a stunning new residential development, Harbor View Estates, situated along a picturesque bluff overlooking Seagull Bay and the adjoining harbor community of Tidewater.
<p><img src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/4/5/6/7/3/DSC3594039.jpg" height="221" alt="" style="margin: 5pix; float
Now, by naming your images, you've effectively increased your keyword density, and have made the image relevant to your content:
<p>Introducing a stunning new residential development, Harbor View Estates, situated along a picturesque bluff overlooking Seagull Bay and the adjoining harbor community of Tidewater.
<p><img src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/4/5/6/7/3/DSC3594039.jpg" height="221" alt="harbor-view-estates-kingston-wa" style="margin: 5pix; float
When publishing articles to your ActiveRain blog, you can name your images using the Image Editor, and entering your keyword-enriched name into the Image Description box. You can also enter a 'Title' as well that will show up when people scroll over the image.
Prolific Blogger, Steve Scheer, of RE/MAX Masters in Denver CO, recently published an article entitled: "Is Google Having A Sudden Love Affair In Regards To Traffic From Google Images?" In this article Steve shares a literal 'explosion' of traffic to his blog coming through Google Images. This hefty increase in valued traffic can be directly attributed to Steve simply taking the time to name his picture files. These names include good, relevant geo-targeted
For other articles in this series, check out the following:
"Start with Good Content" - The SEO of Blogging (Simple, Effective, and Overlooked)
"Tantalizing Titles are Tantamount!" - The SEO of Blogging (Simple, Effective, and Overlooked)
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