The Axandra newsletter archive

18 March 2003

This week we're telling you how to optimize your Web site to rank highly on image search engines such as provided by Google, AltaVista and AllTheWeb.

One of the most interesting features of the major search engines is the image search option. You can find them at the following URLs:

• Google Image Search
• AltaVista Image Search
• AllTheWeb Image Search

To reach the image search engines, you can either use the links above or use the Images/Pictures option at the homepage of the search engines.

Image search is another opportunity to promote your Web site with search engines without much extra effort or cost.

Remember that search engines are incapable of reading text on graphics. They index the images on your Web pages by looking at the text around the images or by reading the attributes of the image HTML tags.

Here are 8 tips to get a good position in Google's image search (all tips also apply to the other image search engines):

1. Use the standard IMG tag.

The image search engines can only find images that are displayed by the <IMG SRC = "..."> tag. Don't use JavaScript, the OBJECT tag, image maps or dynamically created links to display your images if you want search engines to be able to find your images.

2. Use the ALT attribute of your IMG tags.

The <IMG ALT> attribute provides a short description of the image. It's used when the image cannot be displayed by the Web browser or when the Web page is displayed using assistive technologies like screen readers. Search engine software programs also read the ALT attribute.

Use descriptive, keyword-rich descriptions in your IMG ALT attribute, for example, if you sell dog food, write "Natural dog food with an exclusive combination of meat proteins from USDA inspected plants."

3. Use the TITLE attribute of your IMG tags.

Write the <IMG TITLE> attribute in the same way as the ALT attribute. Some Web browsers display the TITLE attribute as a "tool tip", a short message that appears when the mouse cursor pauses over a graphic or link.

If your image is also a link, you can use the TITLE attribute for your <A HREF> tag as well.

4. Image file name.

Instead of naming your images "image1.gif" or "welcome.jpg", use descriptive file names that include your keywords if possible.

For example, use the file name "dog-food.gif" for a picture that shows dog food. Use spaces or hyphens to name your image files.

It's also a good idea to put all images into a directory that is named after your most important keyword, for example "dog-food/dogs.jpg" or "natural-dog-food/dog- food.gif".

5. Surrounding text.

Google and other search engines use the text before and after the image to put the image into context. Make sure that the text the graphic is keyword-rich and relevant to the image.

6. Document title.

If possible, the title of your Web page should match the keyword, for example "Natural dog foods" would be a good Web page title for our dog food seller.

7. Links and link texts.

Links from other sites that point to the Web page with the image should use file names and link texts that include your keywords, for example <.A HREF = "http://www.dog-food-123.com/natural-dog-food.htm"> Natural dog food<./A>

8. Robots.txt file.

If available, check your Robots.txt file if it prevents search engines from indexing your images. Check if you have locked the access to your images directory or to gif/jpeg files in general.

Here's a complete example. Our dog food seller would like to get found for the key phrases "natural dog food" and a combination of "dog food" and "health", so he'll display a picture that shows dog food in the following way:

Our high quality natural dog food contains only the best ingredients to make your dog strong and healthy.

<IMG SRC = "natural-dog-food/healthy-dog-food.jpg"

ALT = "Our natural dog food significantly improves the health of your dog."

TITLE = "Natural dog food is important for the health of your dog.">

Improve the overall health and fitness of your dog with dog food from the natural dog food specialist.

As you can see, the keywords are mentioned before and after the image, as well as in the image file name and in the ALT and TITLE attributes.

Image search is another way to promote your Web site with search engines without a lot of extra effort or cost. With the tips above, you should get some extra visitors through the image search option of the search engines.

Best of all, all tips above also help you to improve your position for your keywords in the normal text search.

* Fastclick is serving Google ads

Fastclick is one of the leading online advertising services companies. They claim that its ad network of about 10,000 Web sites reaches 55 million unique Internet users each month.

Webmasters running Fastclick banner ads recently reported in an online discussion forum that Fastclick was sending them very targeted Google AdWords ads.

There are no official comments on this new partnership. Here's the discussion (registration may be required).

* Espotting denies rumor of sale to Yahoo

Overture dropped 9% on Nasdaq because there were rumors on Wall Street that Yahoo would acquire Espotting, one of the leading European pay per click search engines. Such a deal would threaten Overture's aim to partner with Yahoo's European operations. Espotting denied the report later.

* Google to establish European headquarters in Ireland

Google, Inc. has decided to establish its European headquarters in Dublin, the capital of Ireland. Google's new center will serve Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

* "Google Censorship - How It Works"

This report describes the system by which results in the Google search engine are suppressed.

Quote from the article: "Contrary to earlier utopian theories of the Internet, it takes very little effort for governments to cause certain information simply to vanish for a huge number of people."

* UK Search Engine Relationship Chart

Here's a chart showing the leading search sites and portals in the UK, and how they interact detailing pay per click (PPC), directory and search results.

* Google celebrated Einstein's birthday

* Great affiliate program

The Axandra.com affiliate program has a conversion rate of about 1.5% (for Web sites targeting webmasters), 35% commission (US$34.98 to US$174.98) and a refund rate of less than 1%.

Actually, it's quite simple: You recommend our award- winning software tools on your Web site and whenever you send a visitor to our Web site and the visitor buys one or both software programs within one year, you'll get 35% commission.

The Axandra.com affiliate program:

• used by more than 850 affiliates world-wide
• no fees whatsoever, you pay nothing
• no limit on how much you can earn
• monthly payout via PayPal
• start within minutes

http://www.axandra.com/affiliates.htm

PS: Your only job is to recommend our top rated software programs on your Web site. We will provide the downloads, the technical support and the sales support.

• Google's everflux and fresh crawl
  
  
• How to optatin a top 10 ranking for your web site
  
  
• How to make your Web site more effective
  
  
• Frames and the NoFrames tag
  
  
• The importance of robots.txt

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