Are Image File Names a Factor in Searchability?

We all want to rank in the top 10, so we optimize everything. How much does optimizing our image file names help?

Video Transcript:

He asks: do image file names add a searchability factor? I try to label my photos similar to the alt tag to describe the actual photo or image. I’m wondering if it’s worth my time when optimizing images for the web.

I’d say it probably helps a little. But I would not want to go back and rename all my images. If it matters, it matters very little. So it’s probably not worth a ton of your time, but if you can do it quickly and it’s descriptive, there’s no problem. It’s better than having image-0567 dot jpg [or something like that], but it’s only going to help when it comes to the image. Not necessarily the page in which the image is embedded.

So if someone’s doing an image search on Google, It might help them?

I’d suggest it’s probably a very, very small factor. We’re getting into these granular things that maybe it helps, but there’s probably a lot bigger fish to fry.

It’s probably a lot better to have unique images. I’m guilty of this: it is perhaps better to have a unique and new image that no one else uses than to have a renamed stock photo with your keywords in it.

I typically named mine. When I’m looking in my file folder, I can see a little bit better what it was.

That’s a legitimate reason. However, I’ve seen others obsess about it. If your page is so competitive with other websites that the image file name is your ranking factor in outranking someone because you have named your file in the image with your keyword, and they didn’t like that means your SEO is perfect. There are a million other things that are probably more important than that.

Noted. So for organization-great!