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Shopify Image SEO: How to Add Alt Text and Edit SEO Images in Shopify

5 minutes

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. That expression is certainly the case in the e-commerce world. Getting images right can make the difference between an average Shopify store and a great one.

Nevertheless, there are ways to get images right. In particular, images have a considerable impact on search engine optimization (SEO). Images can play a huge part in boosting SEO. But they can also seriously hurt a Shopify store’s SEO ranking.

In this article, we’re going to discuss Shopify image SEO as a critical component of an e-commerce site’s SEO strategy. We are going to focus on how to add Alt text and edit SEO images in Shopify.

What is Shopify Image SEO?

Images play a key role in boosting your Shopify store’s SEO rankings. In addition to making your products look nice, the images make your Shopify store more visible to users.

How so?

One of the key factors in SEO is loading time. Loading time refers to how long it takes for your store to load. In essence, the longer it takes your e-commerce site to load, the greater the impact on SEO. Thus, keeping loading time down has a positive impact on SEO ranking.

But there’s so much more to Shopify image SEO than just loading times. Shopify image SEO focuses on using images as part of an overall SEO strategy.

Why is Shopify Image SEO Important?

In addition to loading time, images are crucial to a successful SEO strategy. Here are three key reasons why Shopify image SEO is highly important for your Shopify store.

#1: Improving readability

Search engines such as Google “crawl” or “read” websites to match a user’s keywords to the site. Therefore, using keywords in content is critical to ensuring a website’s readability.

However, using keywords isn’t just limited to on-screen content such as prod ads and information. Improving readability utilizes metadata. Metadata, such as image descriptions, is a key component of effective SEO strategies. Including keywords in image data helps search engines find websites more easily. As a result, image optimization helps boost SEO.

#2: Boost user experience

User experience is a key component of SEO rankings. Search engines measure the average time spent by users on a website to gauge its popularity. Consequently, high-quality images help boost user experience leading to more visits and longer stays on the site.

Please remember: the longer your visitors stay on your site, the better your SEO rankings will be.

#3: Image popularity

Image popularity can play a key role in boosting your SEO ranking. Using popular images (i.e., free stock photos) can boost your Shopify store’s popularity.

How so?

When an image is frequently used, Google can make cross-references to other sites and pages. This approach allows your e-commerce site to rank higher. The only caveat is using copyrighted images. Always make sure you use free stock photos or purchase licensing for the images you use.

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5 Quick Tips to Optimize Shopify Image SEO

Optimizing Shopify image SEO doesn’t have to be an overly complex endeavor. Here are five quick tips you can put into practice right away to boost your Shopify image SEO.

#1: Be careful with image size

Shopify recommends keeping the image file size under 20MB. Take their advice. If you use file sizes greater than 20MB, Shopify will automatically resize the file. Doing so can negatively impact your image’s quality and loading time.

#2: Use recommended dimensions

Like file size, Shopify recommends using images with 2048 by 2048 pixels dimension. While Shopify allows images up to 4096 by 4096, 2048 by 2048 makes great images and fast loading times.

#3: Use an image compressor

If your images exceed the recommended file size or dimensions, using an automatic resizing tool such as TinyPNG can help you preserve high-quality images while scaling down their dimensions and file size.

#4: Use keywords in file names

Image filenames are also a great opportunity to include keywords. Filenames such as shoes1.png, while useful, don’t do much to boost your SEO rankings. Instead, filenames such as men’s-shoes-casual.jpg can go a long way toward helping rank your Shopify store much higher.

#5: Test your site

Testing your site’s loading time is a crucial component of SEO. You can use free tools such as testmystorespeed.com to get a fairly accurate idea of how fast your Shopify store loads. If you detect slow loading time, check your images. Chances are you can reduce your Shopify store’s loading time by focusing on the tips mentioned in this section.

What is Shopify Image Alt Text?

Alternative text or Alt text is a type of metadata used to describe the appearance of the function of images on a website. Consequently, Alt text allows website creators to tell search engines what the image is for. Additionally, Alt text can help improve SEO by including keywords that relate the image to search queries.

For instance, a fashion brand specializing in athletic footwear may use keywords such as “men’s shoes” or “kids’ athletic footwear” to help Google and other search engines relate your Shopify store’s images to relevant search terms.

Additionally, screen readers such as Microsoft Narrator use Alt text to describe images to visually impaired users.

Consider this example:

This example shows how an effective Alt text description provides a coherent depiction of what an image contains. The description mentions words such as “phone,” “camera,” and “screen.” These words are indicative of a product description using keywords to highlight its content.

Using AI-generated Alt text can be a timesaver. These tools can create Alt text descriptions in seconds. However, these tools may not include relevant keywords. Therefore, checking to ensure descriptions include keywords and phrases is important.

Why is Alt Text Important on Shopify?

Leaving Alt text blank is a wasted opportunity. Alt text provides your Shopify store with an opportunity to engage search engines. That is why image Alt text Shopify SEO is one of the most powerful yet simple things you can do to boost your Shopify store’s visibility.

Let’s consider three additional points underscoring Alt text’s importance on Shopify.

How to Add Alt Text to Images on Shopify

Using Alt text for your images on Shopify is very simple. Let’s go over how to SEO images on Shopify:

1. Go to your Shopify admin

2. In Products, you’ll find “All products.”

3. Choose the product or item you want to edit

4. Once in the product details section, choose one of the product images

5. The Preview page will popup

6. Click on “Add Alt text.”

7. Write your Alt text image description and save

Voila! That is all there is to it! How to edit SEO images in Shopify is fast and easy. Here is a look at what you can expect when editing Alt Text:

Things can get a little tricky when adding Alt text to collection images. Unfortunately, there is no direct way to add Alt text to images within collections. The use of a third-party app can solve that issue. Fortunately, you can use various free apps to work around that problem.

Additionally, including Alt text descriptions to images in a blog is another helpful way to avoid getting your store’s blog flagged as spam. You can follow the same procedure as the one before. The following photo shows how you can add Alt text to blog images:

Using Alt text to boost your Shopify store’s SEO ranking is a straightforward process. All it takes is time and practice. Before you know it, you’ll be a whiz at writing your product image’s Alt text descriptions.

How to Write Alt Text Image Descriptions for Shopify

Up to now, we have discussed why Alt text is important, how to edit SEO images in Shopify, and what to do about certain issues. But we haven’t discussed how you can actually write Alt text descriptions. Here is a handy guide to writing great Alt text image descriptions for Shopify:

Being brief but descriptive is highly important
Avoid phrases such as “a picture of” “this is an image of”
Use any many keywords as possible as long as they are relevant
Avoid keyword stuffing - Google heavily punishes this tactic
Avoid using hyphens even if a word is hyphenated; it may confuse AI
Keep Alt text brief and concise for decorative or background images

Let’s look at what a solid Alt text description would be like:

Alt text description: Casual men’s shoes in red, blue, and grey, sizes from 8 to 12.

This description focuses specifically on the product (men’s shoes) and offers additional details such as colors and sizes. Please note that these details are important since they include relevant keywords that users would type into a search engine query.

Shopify stores with large catalogs can greatly benefit from using AI-based tools to generate Alt text for images. However, users must be careful to double-check AI-generated descriptions to ensure they include keywords and maintain an overall sense of linguistic logic.

SEO image optimizer Shopify tools such as TinyIMG can be quite useful. The Shopify app store offers some free and paid Alt text tools worth checking out.

Shopify Image SEO: Final Thoughts

Using Alt text to boost SEO on Shopify is one of the most effective yet overlooked tactics. Alt text provides a unique opportunity to boost your Shopify store’s SEO rankings without breaking the bank.

Additionally, AI-generated product description tools can significantly reduce the overall time and effort needed to produce killer Alt text descriptions.

So, don’t forget to use Alt text to boost your Shopify store’s SEO. It’s an extremely cost-effective way to make your store and brands visible to users and search engines.