Small business owners are always looking for a way to improve their website’s search engine optimization (SEO)—that is, how high up in the search results your website appears when people look for your product or services.
You’re probably not a web programmer. In fact, you probably don’t have the time to worry about SEO. So take a minute to review the ideas below, then contact your web programmer about updating your website to take advantage of these simple “tricks”.
Here’s how to optimize your website’s logo to improve your SEO:
Use the ALT Attribute
If you’re at all familiar with HTML, you’ve used image tags to place pictures or other graphics on your website. The code looks like this:
<img src=”http://website.com/images/logo.jpg”>
The HTML using the ALT attribute looks like this:
<img src=”http://website.com/images/logo.jpg” alt=”company name“>
Here’s what the code would look like with some real data in it:
<img src=”https://www.logomaker.com/images/lm-logo.jpg” alt=“Logomaker”>
The ALT attribute lets search engines know a little bit about what is in the image. It’s a bit like an image caption that search engines use to figure out what’s in the image (search engines like Google are very good at reading text, not so good at reading pictures).
But an ALT attribute can do more than just communicate your business name. You can add a short descriptor that says a little more. Something like this:
<img src=”https://www.logomaker.com/images/lm-logo.jpg” alt=”Logomaker: Do-it-yourself Logo Design”>
Note: be careful to use a descriptor that accurately describes the image. Don’t over optimize by stuffing a bunch of key words into it. The example above is close to the limit of what your ALT attribute might contain. Using too many key words may result in a penalty, rather than the optimization you are trying to accomplish.
One way to ensure that your optimized images aren’t penalized is to add the descriptor from the ALT attribute to the actual image, so your logo image would include your company name and the descriptor.
Optimizing the File Name
You can take your optimization to the next level by naming the logo file itself to include your company name and a short description of your company. A logo file simply called “logo.jpg” or “logo.gif” won’t do a lot of good as far as SEO is concerned.
Instead, rename your file with your company name and a descriptor like this:
<img src=”https://www.logomaker.com/images/Logomaker-Do-it-Yourself-Logo-Design.jpg” alt=”Logomaker: Do-it-yourself Logo Design”>
Image optimization is such a basic technique that many small businesses ignore it, or simply forget it. Which means you can gain an advantage over many of your competitors if you take the time to optimize your logo. Try it and let us know what you find.
