The latest search engine updates have recently made it very clear that the more images you have on your website, the more Google will ignore you. Seems pretty tough, doesn’t it? Before you get too discouraged, or take your feelings to the other extreme, and start overloading your web pages with irrelevant images, you better take a hard look at which steps will positively affect your SEO and which steps will hurt your SEO. Google’s most recent bottom line has made it pretty clear that unless your website has at least one high-quality, relevant image on every page, your SEO will bleed out, and fast.
For all you website owners who find it easier to put pen to paper than finger to flash, here’s the scoop on why Google loves images and why we’re better off doing the same. Before we get into the nitty-gritty, the last fact is that the images look good. The world is a very different place than it once was, and that journal is no longer filled with black and white text from column to column. Today, images feed our society. Capturing a different moment in time, these little frames captivate our minds, draw our eyes and mesmerize our senses. Most of today’s online society relies on a delicate juxtaposition of text and images to truly relate to what they see on screen.
To add to society’s ever-growing list of dependencies, “sharing” is a trend that has recently taken on new life. Sharing posts online has become so popular that a website without a sharing tool option is considered as outdated as parachute pants. The key to allowing website users to share your posts effectively is to attach each post with a relevant image. Ultimately, by leaving a well-written post without images, you are doing yourself a great injustice. All the time and effort you put into researching, writing, and editing will be wasted if no one can successfully share your post with others. Also, Google Almighty will discard that very post you worked so hard to write if the post lacks a high-quality image to complement it perfectly.
Since images have become the not-so-secret ingredient of website success, it makes sense that one of the biggest trends sweeping the internet today is “free images.” This most recent popular trend has earned the fame of its more direct counterpart; copyrighted image. It has simply become too risky for website owners to fill their pages with copyright-protected images, so the Internet world now follows a very simple rule: “take your own photos or spend your time looking for free images.” In Internet”. Unfortunately for those who don’t know their way around a Nikon, option ‘B’ is easier said than done. Getting proper copyright free images on the internet is now more difficult than ever, however the demand for these images continues to grow. On the other hand, website owners with a knack for photography have certainly cracked down on anyone wishing to hitchhike. So when Google closed the door and made it nearly impossible for someone to steal and republish copyrighted images, new services and developments appeared that opened a window.
Do you remember all those times your mother used to remind you that nothing good in life comes for free? With royalty-free images in such high demand, it was only a matter of time before new companies started popping up left and right to fill the void. Website owners were excited to sign up and gain access to a free library full of images they could use anytime, anywhere. The sad truth is that most of these image websites that advertise that they offer “Free Images”, are actually offering fake dreams. Most of the time, after signing up, a website owner will be hit with subscription fees and image costs. Some website owners will eventually pay the 99-cent fee for each image, but for the handful of website owners hoping to capitalize on their website before spending more cents on it, the 99-cent fee becomes the deciding factor. .
The usual next step for the outlaw looking for free images is to fill their web pages with whatever images they can find, but keep your horses there too, cowboy. Google is too smart for that. Nowadays, filling that well-written technical post with a photo of your furry cat, Pebbles, isn’t enough. Google is getting smarter by the megabyte and can now recognize the images you are using to fill your pages. The images you place next to your posts need to correlate for your pages to get the recognition they deserve.
The good news is that there are a select number of service providers that can be considered “the good guys” when it comes to searching for free images. Among them is Foter.com. This free stock photo website offers completely free stock images and is also available as a WordPress plugin. Unsurprisingly, though, with the good comes the not-so-good, and in that regard, Foter.com has a limited library of photos, some of which aren’t of the best quality. Website owners considering starting to browse Foter.com’s photo database should also keep in mind that any image they decide to use for their website requires attribution information in order to post it to their website.
PhotoDropper is another website that teeters between good and evil. PhotoDropper is also offered as a WordPress plugin and has an extensive photo library. However, before you set your sights on that all-important image, be sure to read the fine print. PhotoDropper has quite a large library of photos, the problem is that most of the good ones are only available in their “premium package”. You will surely find some useful images from your free photo collection, but in the end, going to the candy store only to find that it can only be filled with gummy worms will leave you out of the store with nothing but a toothache.
Stock.EXCHNG and Stock Vault also managed to place themselves firmly in the race to become key players in the provision of free images. Unfortunately, as with their adversaries Foter.com and PhotoDropper, these free image provisioning services are not without their downfalls either. Stock.EXCHNG requires that each image be accompanied by attribution information, and the service is not available as a WordPress plugin. However, on the other hand, Stock.EXCHNG offers a great selection of high-quality images, and you can use any of the images on your website, if you have the patience to scroll through their database, whose search options don’t work. allows you to narrow down your selection very easily. Stock Vault also prides itself on its high-quality image library, and this service is available to all WordPress users. However, there is a catch here, and it is one that may force many stakeholders to continue their search for the next best thing. Stock Vault is available for non-commercial use only, so if your game plan is to start selling homemade soap online, don’t bother wasting your time searching Stock Vault for bubble bath images.
So what does it all boil down to? You have great ideas, your content is well-written and witty, but without images, everything goes to waste. Fortunately for the many stuck in an SEO rut, there are two new kids on the block who could be the light at the end of the tunnel. Zemanta and imonomy are two relatively new services, which have been taking the web by storm one site at a time. Both Zemanta and imonomy are the first to provide an automated service that allows you to instantly add royalty-free images to your pages. Both services have the ability to scan the written text of your web pages and instantly find suitable related images. Before you rush out and click on the catchiest sound service, here’s a little breakdown of the do’s and don’ts of each of these free, automated image supply services.
Zemanta scans the written text of a website as it is posted and offers website owners a choice from a smaller selection of images, which Zemanta’s automated system pulls from the database. The automated system, for the most part, offers highly relevant images and a large enough selection to please most website owners. There are a few downsides to be aware of before jumping into Zemanta’s library of royalty-free images. Zemanta does not work retroactively, this means that when you start using Zemanta, all postings thereafter will have access to Zemanta’s automated image service. However, if you are the owner of a mature website, your older posts and archives will not be treated to the same makeover as your newer posts. On the topic of image changes, it’s important to note that Zemanta requires attribution information for each image. Also, these attributions are sometimes up to three or four lines long. Apart from providing free images, Zemanta’s secondary function is to insert external links related to its posts. Hyperlinks, depending on the location and number, will work to hurt or help your SEO. Links ultimately lead to other websites, so with Zemanta’s free images there is a risk that users will be redirected.
Zemanta’s matchmaking, imonomy, offers similar services with a twist. Unlike Zemanta, imonomy’s technology automatically scans the content of the entire website and instantly matches the most suitable image to each post. imonomy works retroactively and can refresh web pages with just a few clicks. Also, because imonomy is capable of scanning an entire website, it offers a secondary service that allows users to reconnect with other related posts on the same website. Requiring no attribution credits, imonomy’s royalty-free images become interactive components of the website and boost SEO by providing smart internal links. Free images have one drawback, regardless of the service you are using, and in that sense, imonomy inserts small ads along with free images. The ads are content related and the website owner takes most of the profit once all is said and done.
Having high-quality, relevant images to accompany your website posts is a must, and it seems that finding free images is the new name of the game. There are certainly some booby traps along the way, but finding that treasure chest isn’t impossible. For those of you still struggling with denial, it’s time to move on to that glorious stage called “acceptance.” Google has developed some really high standards when it comes to what a website should look like. Call it superficial all you want, but the new image laws are here to stay, and not to waste time, it’s time you start doing your homework on how you’re going to refresh your pages.