Image Optimisation for SEO: What Actually Matters Now

If you’re still treating image SEO as “add alt text and move on,” you’re missing some critical opportunities. Google’s expectations around image optimisation have evolved—especially with visual search, AI integration, and now a new update around how image URLs affect crawl efficiency.

Whether you’re running a content-heavy site, an ecommerce platform, or a blog, image SEO is no longer just about compression. It’s about performance, context, and structure. Here’s what you should be doing now—and why.

1. Use the Same Image URL Across Pages

Google has updated its Image SEO best practices with a new recommendation:

“If an image is referenced on multiple pages within a larger website, consider the site’s overall crawl budget. In particular, consistently reference the image with the same URL, so that Google can cache and reuse the image without needing to request it multiple times.”

Why it matters: If your site uses the same image with multiple URLs, Google will crawl and index each one separately—wasting crawl budget and slowing things down.

How to fix it:

• Avoid duplicating image files across directories
• Use a centralised image path (e.g., /assets/images/logo.png)
• Check your CMS or builder for unnecessary image variants or rewrites

This is a quick win for large websites juggling repeated assets like banners, icons, or product thumbnails.

2. Optimise Image Delivery for Speed and UX

Images are usually the heaviest part of any page. That makes them one of the biggest culprits behind slow load times—and something Google’s Core Web Vitals will penalise if you don’t get right.

It’s not just about SEO, either. A slow site frustrates users and kills conversions.

The stats:

• As page load time goes from 1 to 3 seconds, bounce probability jumps by 32%.
• A 1-second delay can drop conversions by 7% (GrowthA).
• 53% of mobile users will bail if a page takes more than 3 seconds to load.

So yeah—getting image delivery right matters.

What to do:

• Use modern formats like WebP or AVIF—they’re smaller, cleaner, and better for performance
• Set responsive image sizes using srcset so mobile users aren’t loading huge desktop images
• Lazy-load anything offscreen to save bandwidth on first load
• Serve images via a CDN to speed things up globally
• Compress properly—don’t rely on Photoshop exports alone

This isn’t just technical cleanup. It directly impacts how users experience your site—and how search engines rank it.

3. Use Helpful Images (And Write Better Alt Text)

Alt text is still essential—for both accessibility and SEO—but it’s only one part of making your images work for your users.

Google increasingly values images that are contextual, useful, and meaningful—not just decorative placeholders.

Ditch Generic Stock Photos

A polished stock photo might look “professional,” but if it doesn’t add any real context or meaning to the content, it won’t help your SEO—or your users. Google wants images that support the purpose of the page, not just fill space.

Examples:

• If you’re writing about how to install a light fixture, a step-by-step photo is helpful. A generic picture of a smiling electrician is not.
• If you’re explaining a product, use real product images, not lifestyle filler unless it adds context.
• If you’re publishing a recipe, show the actual dish, ideally your version—not a stock photo of something vaguely similar.

Write Alt Text Like a Human

Instead of stuffing keywords, describe what’s in the image and why it matters:

“Red leather armchair positioned near a window in a modern living room”

“chair, red armchair, red leather chair, leather furniture”

The Basics Still Matter:

• Use descriptive file names like golden-retriever-fetch.jpg, not IMG0021.jpg
• Place images near relevant text—Google uses nearby headings and copy to understand image context
• Avoid decorative images in key content areas, or at least mark them appropriately (e.g., with role="presentation" or empty alt attributes)

The bottom line: if your image doesn’t help the user understand something more clearly or confidently, it’s probably not helping your SEO either.

4.Optimise Images for Visual Search (and AI Results You Can’t Predict)

Search isn’t just links anymore. Google Lens, multisearch, and AI-generated results are changing how people find content—and images are right in the mix.

That means your images can show up in ways you didn’t plan for:
• In AI answers (SGE)
• As search entry points (via Google Lens)
• In visual product listings or previews

But that only happens if your images are actually useful—and Google can understand them.

How to make that happen:

• Use real, high-quality images that actually show something useful
  Avoid glossy but meaningless stock photos. If you sell a product, show the product. If you’re explaining a process, show the steps. Google’s systems are getting better at spotting when an image is just filler.
• Give images proper context
  Put them near relevant headings and copy. Use real captions if they add clarity. And make sure your structured data (like Product, Article, or Recipe schema) points to the right image.
• Keep key images near the top
  If there’s one image that really matters—like a product photo, hero shot, or visual explanation—don’t bury it halfway down the page. What’s above the fold still matters, even in an AI-driven world.
• Use formats Google understands
  WebP is ideal, but whatever format you use, make sure the image is crawlable and not blocked by robots.txt, JS, or lazy-loading gone wrong.

This isn’t about “gaming” visual search. It’s about making sure your images actually help people—and giving Google the signals it needs to use them properly.

5. Track What’s Working (or Not) in Search Console

Optimising images is one thing—knowing if it’s actually working is another. Search Console won’t give you a complete picture of image performance, but there are a few key places to look:

• Use the Image Search filter
  In the Performance report, switch the Search Type to Image. This shows which pages and images are getting impressions and clicks from Google Images.
• Check the Crawl Stats report
  This helps you see how often Google is crawling your images—and if you’re accidentally serving the same image under multiple URLs (which wastes crawl budget).
• Watch the Indexing and Coverage reports
  Make sure your images aren’t being blocked by robots.txt, lazy-loading scripts, or broken links. If Google can’t fetch the image, it won’t rank the page properly.

These checks won’t take long—but they’ll tell you if your image optimisation is helping or just sitting there doing nothing.

Image SEO Today: Efficiency, Context, and Speed

Google’s latest guidance highlights a key point: image SEO isn’t just about metadata anymore—it’s about how efficiently your site handles visuals at scale.

If you:

• Reuse the same image URL consistently
• Deliver images fast and responsively
• Write meaningful alt text
• Add structured data where relevant
• And monitor performance…

…you’ll be ahead of the curve.

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