Using images on the site

Pictures in the content of the site make it more informative and attractive in the eyes of users, and search engines take this into account when ranking.

Why do we need pictures on the site?

It is quite difficult to find a popular web resource without a graphic component: online stores are filled with images of products, blogs contain pictures of both decorative and informative nature. The exceptions may only be narrowly focused specialized web sites, the use of images in the design and content is not appropriate.

A Web site can be compared to a book: the site template - it's the cover of the book, and images in the content of Web pages - its illustrations. Even technical instructions and manuals in a literary format with images that clearly demonstrate certain actions will be much more preferable than the "dry" text. The same applies to websites, but even more so, because it is known that users, as a rule, do not read into the information content of web pages, and look through it fluently. Also, don't forget about the comprehensive backlink audit. 

Images as design elements

As elements of the layout of Web pages images can be applied in the form of:

• logos,
• backgrounds,
• icons.

Before you apply an image to a web page template, you should consider whether it is worth it, guided by the fact that image files take up much more memory than other alternative ways of presenting elements of web design, implemented through HTML, CSS and JS.

An alternative to icons in image format perfectly serve so-called icon fonts (Font Awesome, IcoMoon), and with the help of gradients, shadows and other features provided by CSS properties, you can implement many visual effects without using pictures.

Optimization of images used to style the elements of the make-up, is to properly implement them in the web page and reduce their weight.

To use images as elements of web design, it is advisable to apply CSS properties. This allows search engine crawlers to correctly identify the purpose of images. An exception to this rule may be logos, which is better to insert the tag img with an appropriate value attribute alt, so that users can find the logo on a relevant query.

Using images in site content

Images in the content contribute to the quality of the web page in the eyes of search engines and real users, increasing relevance, improving perception, thereby having a positive impact on behavioral factors and ranking.

Some informational content does not need illustrations. This can be legal, programming, or even search engine optimization content. In such materials, it is recommended to use so-called decorative content images.

Images as an insignificant part of content

The purpose of decorative content images is to decorate and dilute the text component of the web page to ensure it is better perceived by users. They do not have a semantic load, but unlike the design elements should be optimized for certain search queries that match the content of the page.

Images as a significant part of content

Certain textual materials on web pages simply need to be diluted with informative images. This can be product cards, which are clearly incomplete in the absence of corresponding pictures, as well as manuals, reviews and other materials that are much better understood if they contain illustrations.Informative pictures in the content can be targeted to users in searches. For example, a user may search exclusively for an image of a certain product without being interested in the description.

Images as the main part of content

Such pictures are often the target of a user's search (e.g., desktop wallpaper). On web pages they are presented as the main part of the content, the text component of which is insignificant, but clearly indicates that the page contains the target graphics.One might assume that a user entering the query "beautiful girls hd" in a search is not interested in informational content. But without ensuring relevance to relevant queries, targeted images will not make it into search results.

Conclusions

• images in the content of the site improve its perception by users,
• optimizing images on the site has a positive effect on the ranking of content,
• optimizing the weight of images can significantly reduce the overall weight of web pages.