Image SEO for Photographers: Alt Text, Filenames, WebP, Sitemaps
- 6 days ago
- 8 min read
As a photographer, your images are the core of your website’s content and appeal. But beautiful photos alone won’t guarantee a fast, discoverable site. To improve your search visibility and user experience, you need to optimize your images for SEO and performance. Image SEO involves making your pictures easy for search engines to understand and ensuring they load quickly. It also means making them accessible to all users.
In this guide, we’ll walk through how to write effective alt text, name your image files properly, leverage modern image formats like WebP, include images in your XML sitemap, and other pro tips for image SEO and accessibility.
TL;DR
Why image SEO matters for photographers
Your photos are the star. Search engines and users still need help to see them fast and understand them.
Performance: Images are usually the heaviest assets on a page. Smaller, well served files increase speed and improve Largest Contentful Paint (LCP).
Visibility: Better context and metadata improves relevance in Google Images and standard search.
Accessibility: Good alt text helps people using screen readers.
Business impact: Faster pages reduce bounce rate and increase conversions, portfolio inquiries, and shares.
Alt text for images: write for people, reward your SEO
What is Alt Text?
Alternative text or “alt text” is a written description of an image in the HTML <img> tag (e.g., <img src="photo.jpg" alt="Description of the photo">). It serves several important purposes:
It displays in place of the image if it fails to load.
It’s read aloud by screen readers for visually impaired users.
It gives search engines context about the image’s content.
In short, alt text improves both accessibility and SEO. Google even uses alt text (in combination with image recognition algorithms and page context) to understand what an image contains
Tips for writing great Alt Text
Describe the image clearly: Summarize what the image shows or its essential context. Focus on details relevant to your page.
Keep it concise (around 125 characters): Many screen readers will stop reading alt text after ~125. Aim to convey the image in a brief sentence or phrase.
Avoid “image of” phrases: Do not start alt text with “image of …” or “picture of …”. Screen readers already announce an image before reading the alt text.
Include keywords only if relevant: It’s fine to mention a keyword or location if it naturally fits the image description, but do not keyword-stuff your alt attributes.
Use empty Alt for decorative images: Not every image needs alt. If an image is purely decorative or not relevant to the content (e.g., a flourish, border, or background graphic), you should give it an empty alt attribute (alt="") so that screen readers skip it.
Common mistakes:
Stuffing keywords or locations that are not in the photo.
Describing text that is already next to the image.
Reusing the same alt on multiple different images.
Omitting alt on informative images.
Best practices for naming image files
Before your images even get to the page, their file names can influence image SEO. While not as critical as Alt Text, a good file name gives search engines a clue about the image subject matter and can factor into image search rankings. It also makes your media library easier to manage. Here’s how to name your image files for maximum benefit:
Use descriptive, relevant names: Rename your photos from the default camera or stock photo filenames to something meaningful. A name like DSC_0035.JPG or image1.png is not helpful to humans or Google. Instead, use keywords that describe the image’s content. The file name doesn’t need to be a full sentence, just the primary subject or context of the image.
Include keywords (but don’t overdo It): It’s beneficial to include a relevant keyword or two if it genuinely describes the image. For a photographer’s site, this might be the location, subject, or style (e.g., mountains-at-sunset.jpg or macro-flower-water-drop.jpg). This can marginally help SEO by associating the image with those terms. Avoid stuffing the file name with too many keywords or super long names.
Use hyphens to separate words: Always use hyphens (-) between words in your file names, not underscores or spaces. Search engines treat hyphens as word separators, so sunset-over-lake.jpg is parsed as “sunset over lake” which is great. For clarity and professionalism, stick to lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens in your image filenames.
By following these file-naming best practices, you make it easier for search engines to interpret your images and ensure your site stays organized. As one guide notes, using clear, concise filenames with relevant keywords can improve your images’ visibility. In summary: describe, hyphenate, keep it short, and no fluff.
Formats: speed wins with WebP
One of the biggest advances in image optimization in recent years is the advent of modern file formats such as WebP (and others like AVIF). As a photographer, you’re likely familiar with JPEG and PNG. WebP is a more recent format (developed by Google) that often can significantly reduce file size with minimal quality loss. Smaller files mean faster-loading pages, which improves user experience and crucial performance metrics like LCP.
We’ve already discussed this topic in another article. Check out WebP vs JPEG vs AVIF: Best Format for Web Photos in 2025 to see how these formats compare and which one’s best for your images.
Sitemaps: help search engines discover your images
Including your images in an XML sitemap is a smart way to help search engines discover and index all the visuals on your site. An XML sitemap is basically a file (usually named sitemap.xml) that lists the URLs of your site’s pages. You can extend this to list images as well, using the special <image> tags supported by Google and other engines. This is especially beneficial if some images are not directly embedded in HTML or are loaded via JavaScript, as they might otherwise be missed by crawlers.
Two easy approaches
SEO plugin: enable “include images in sitemaps”.
Dedicated image sitemap if you prefer to separate images.
Why image sitemaps matter
Google’s documentation states that providing image information in sitemaps ensures none of your important photographs are overlooked. If you run a photography portfolio with extensive galleries or use lazy-loading (where images load as the user scrolls), listing those image URLs in a sitemap guarantees Google knows they exist. This can lead to more of your images appearing in Google Images results and better SEO for those images.
Additional tips to improve image SEO and accessibility
Beyond alt text, file names, formats, and sitemaps, there are several other techniques to ensure your images boost your SEO and make your site more user-friendly. Here are some additional best practices for image SEO and accessibility:
Compress images for faster loads
Large image files are one of the top reasons for slow pages. Always compress your photos to reduce file size without sacrificing quality. This can be done in photo editing software (export for web) or using dedicated tools or online compressors.
After compression, test that the image still displays nicely; if you see artifacts, adjust quality settings slightly up. When done right, compression is virtually invisible to viewers but makes your site much snappier.
Resize images to appropriate dimension
Serve images at the dimensions they will be displayed. If your website design shows a photo at 800px wide on desktop, don’t upload a 5000px wide image and rely on HTML/CSS to shrink it in-browser. Resize it to 800px (or maybe a bit higher for retina screens, e.g. 1600px) before uploading. Uploading unnecessarily large dimensions wastes bandwidth because the browser still has to download the full file. Many content management systems (CMS) will create multiple sizes of an image for you; use those or configure the sizes to match your needs. This practice reduces file size and improves load time significantly.
Additionally, use responsive images (<img srcset> or <picture> sources) so that different devices get appropriately sized images
Lazy load below the fold
Lazy loading is a technique that defers loading images until they are needed – typically, images off-screen won’t load until the user scrolls to them. This can greatly improve initial page load speed, especially if you have many images. Implementing lazy load is often as simple as adding loading="lazy" to your <img> tags in modern browsers.
However, do not lazy-load images that appear at the top of the page (above the fold), such as your header/banner or featured image. Critical images should load immediately; otherwise, users might see blanks where an image should be, and it can actually worsen your LCP because the browser waits to load that content. So, use lazy loading for gallery images, thumbnails, or content further down the page – but keep hero images eager.
Specify width and height (or aspect ratio)
Whenever possible, include the width and height attributes in your image HTML, or define the dimensions via CSS. This helps browsers allocate the correct space for the image as it loads. By reserving space, you prevent the page content from shifting around once the image appears, which improves visual stability (important for the Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) metric).
The key point: define some dimensions to avoid layout jank. This makes your pages feel more professional and user-friendly, and it gives a small performance boost by helping the browser render faster.
Accessibility tips photographers actually use
Decorative images: alt="" so screen readers skip them.
Complex visuals: ensure the explanation is in nearby text or caption.
Captions: add when they provide context users will value.
Consistent language: write alt text in the same language as the page.
Test and monitor performance
After optimizing your images, regularly test your site’s performance and accessibility. Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or Lighthouse to see if there are any remaining image-related suggestions (like serving next-gen formats, sizing properly, or deferring offscreen images). These tools will highlight if an image is too large or slowing down your page. Also, use Google Search Console to monitor your Core Web Vitals, especially LCP. If LCP is poor on some pages, images are the first thing to check.
For accessibility, try navigating your site with a screen reader or use automated checkers (like Lighthouse) to ensure all images have appropriate alt text and none are causing issues. By monitoring, you can catch any missed optimizations or new images that need attention.
Quick publishing checklist
Clear, contextual alt text for images
Descriptive hyphenated filenames
WebP for key assets with JPEG fallback
Images included in XML sitemap
Correct size, compression, and srcset
loading="lazy" below the fold only
width and height set on every <img>
Hero image prioritized for LCP
Tested in PageSpeed Insights and Search Console
FAQ
Do I need alt text on every image?
No. Add descriptive alt text for images that convey information. Use alt="" for decorative images so screen readers skip them.
How long should alt text be?
Aim for a short sentence, about 8–16 words. Describe what matters in the page context. Avoid keyword stuffing.
Do filenames affect image SEO?
Yes, a little. Use short, descriptive, hyphenated names like iceland-waterfall-sunset.jpg. Avoid DSC_0043.JPG, spaces, and long keyword chains.
Will WebP hurt my SEO or image quality?
No. WebP often reduces size 25–35 percent with similar visual quality. Keep a JPEG or PNG fallback if needed. Faster loads help SEO.
Should I lazy load all images?
Lazy load images below the fold only. Do not lazy load your hero or Largest Contentful Paint image. Prioritize the hero with fetchpriority="high".
What sizes should I export for the web?
Export close to the display size and provide responsive variants via srcset. Typical targets: 1200–1600 px for full-width, 600–900 px for content images, smaller for thumbnails.
Do I need an image sitemap?
Not required, but helpful. Include images in your XML sitemap if you use lazy loading, JS galleries, or a CDN domain, so crawlers discover everything.
Image SEO may involve some extra effort, but it pays off in multiple ways. Your site can achieve faster load times (improving user satisfaction and SEO rankings), better accessibility compliance, and greater visibility in image search results. As a photographer, you want people to discover and appreciate your work – optimizing your images ensures that neither search engines nor users face any barriers in doing so. From writing an informative alt text to choosing the efficient WebP format and structuring your sitemap, each step helps your images work harder for you.
