Many business professionals in the indoor air quality (IAQ) and environmental industries view images on their company website as a means of drawing visitors' attention, enriching the experience and allowing them to impart their company look and feel (brand) to customers and potential customers.

These perceptions are correct, but website images can also help a company outrank their competition when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO).  Unfortunately few companies in our industry take advantage of this fact, but here is what you need to know to optimize your website and position your company above the competition.

When someone types in a keyword(s) on any of the major search engines they get results that are blended results. These blended results provide links to the keyword(s) that includes information, videos, news, blogs and images.  Also many people today conduct internet searches using such services as Google Image Search - so images are crucial to be found by your audience.

To optimize images on a company website and improve your ranking it is imperative to use images wisely and understand what allows them to be found by the search engines.  Because so few companies in our industry do this it could mean a huge advantage for your company.  After all if you don't appear on the first page during a search the odds of a potential client visiting your website drops dramatically.

Listed below are tips to help maximize website images for maximum SEO:

• Utilize images in formats preferred by search engines such as PNG, JPG and GIF
• Use recognizable names for images.  For example if you have images of microbial contamination don't use a file name that doesn't relate to the image, such as Picture2.png.  Instead use a name like Philadelphia-Mold-Remediation.png
• For image names use a dash (-) rather than an underscore (_) between words
• Include keyword optimized alt text with the "<img/>" tags
• When possible include relevant text above and below the image
• Include keywords in the webpage title and meta description
• Try to keep the theme of a page to specific keywords and images.  In other words don't  try to cover too many topics on a single page
• When designing a website stay away from link text such as "click her to view image" or "view full size image" and instead use terms such as "picture of residential mold contamination".
• Search engines don't like duplicate content so use unique images when possible or alter the image size, dimensions, file type and image name.
• Don't overuse images, maintain a high text to image ratio.

Cochrane & Associates works with clients to develop ways to create and maximize their web presence.   We hope you consider evaluating the use of images on your company's website to ensure it ranks the highest possible for maximum SEO and return on investment.  We also invite you to visit our newest venture, the IAQ Video Network www.IAQTV.com and submit any videos you may have for inclusion on the website.