Optimizing Images for Search
When you think of building a search engine friendly site you probably don't think of optimizing your images. Title tags and META tags probably come to mind first, but optimizing images can attract more visitors to your site and enhance their experience when they get there. Properly optimized images will decrease page load times, allow people with disabilities that use screen readers to understand the content that they can't see, and bring new visitors to your site from image searches.
There are several important factors to consider when optimizing images on your site.
File Names:
Giving pictures an appropriate filename will help search engines determine its contents, especially for image specific searches like Google's Image Search. For example, naming a picture of a butterfly "butterfly.jpg" is better than naming it "1234.jpg".
Image Size and Quality:
The fact that both image size and quality are important causes problems for site owners. Lower quality images increase loading speed, but hurt rankings in image searches and detract from the overall user experience. Higher quality images help in image search rankings and look great, but cause pages to load slowly, which can be a problem for visitors with slow connection speeds.
I've found that the best way to get the best of both worlds is to have a small, lower quality image on the page that links to a higher quality image file. That way the page can be loaded and viewed quickly, but users wanting a closer look can click the image, and image searches will have a high quality image to index (increasing your chances of ranking high). For example, on an e-commerce site, it makes sense to place small thumbnail images next to the description of an item and then link the thumbnail to a higher quality image of the item for potential buyers looking to get a closer look.
Alt Text:
All images should include short alt text that describes the image. Alt text helps search engine spiders understand what your image contains, which will help them to understand the context of your page better, and in turn pass you more targeted traffic via search and image search. Alt text also helps screen readers tell disabled visitors what the image contains, enhancing their experience on your site.
A properly formatted HTML image tag with alt text looks like this:
img src="image_title.gif" alt="Descriptive alt image text here"
Surrounding Text and Captions:
It is important that the surrounding text and image captions are consistent with the content of the picture. According to the Google Images FAQ.
"Google analyzes the text on the page adjacent to the image, the image caption and dozens of other factors to determine the image content. Google also uses sophisticated algorithms to remove duplicates and ensure that the highest quality images are presented first in your results."
Avoid Putting Text in Images:
There are some occasions where text in an image is necessary, but in general it should be avoided at all costs. It's common practice to use images with text in headers or other important parts of the page, usually because of the background or surrounding logos. While alt text certainly helps, it's best to have the text actually readable by search engine spiders and screen readers.
A simple alternative is to create your graphic with everything but the text, write the text by itself (formatted to your liking using CSS), and then make the graphic a background image of the text (also using CSS). This makes it look like the text is part of the graphic, when in reality it is part of the HTML.
About the Author: Adam McFarland
Affordable webhosting with Granite Belt Hosting Affordable Australian domain names
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Monday, October 02, 2006
Purchasing Domain Names - What You Should Know
Purchasing Domain Names - What You Should Know
There are a number of ways and locations to purchase domain names, and research and knowledge are keys to making the right decision. Therefore, it is important to know a number of things when purchasing a domain name.
1) Accredited Registrars
All domain names must be sold by accredited Registrars certified to do so by the governing body . Registrars are required to follow the procedures set forth by the governing body , giving consumers a dispute organization in the event one is needed.
Registars are required to pay a fee to the governing body for the purchase of each domain name. One of the areas that separate registars is the price charged to the consumer.
Domain name registration varies from $4.99 at the low end to $65.00 depending on which registrar you choose. And the only diference in the domain name at $4.95 to $65.00 mybe value added services.
Services offered with domain name purchases also vary depending on the registrar selected, such as DNS, forwarding, email, hosting and parked pages.
The services offered are just as important to purchasing a domain names as the name itself. If you own a .com domain name and purchase the .net name, then free forwarding would be a great deal. If you want to point the domain name by DNS then not only is free DNS pointing required, but if you have no experience with DNS the support to set up DNS records will also be required. All registrars are not created equal and some sell low cost domains but with limited support. Granite Belt Hosting offers low cost domain names and low cost hosting with full support.
When selecting a registrar look at your short term and long term needs, whether it is one domain or multiple domains. Although a low cost looks good up front, do your research and make sure all your needs will be filled. When looking for a domain contact the registrar and ask questions like: Do you have 24/7 tech support, does your support cover DNS record set up, advance record set up, what will you be expected to do and what will they do for you.
2) Domain Resellers
Resellers are partners of accredited registrars, reselling their products and services, but are not accredited to sell domain names. When purchasing a domain name from a reseller, be prepared to be patient. Most offer very little to no technical support or rely on the accredited registrar for support. Resellers like Granite Belt Hosting will give you the support you need and have a support network so if you need the support just log a help ticketThere are also times the reseller goes out of business without notifying the domain owner leaving them with little knowledge of who to contact if the domain requires DNS record changes or even simple renewals.
3) Domain Deals
Searching the Internet for a registrar will lead a surfer to many results. Beware of some of the results and domain gimmicks. Yahoo offers domains for a low price with their hosting, but is not an accredited registrar or a reseller. Yahoo uses a third party company that is an accredited registrar. Most consumers do read the Terms of Service when making a domain purchase, and doing so will allow you to see that Yahoo states that they assist you in purchasing your low cost domain.
Unless you read the Terms of Service, knowing that your domain will be registered somewhere else could lead to long term issues. These issues include domain renewal notifications or confusions when wanting to transfer the domain to a new registrar.
Check out all domain offers, read the fine print and make sure you know who your are really dealing with.
4) Domain Protection?
When you purchase a domain it is yours to use for the period your selected to register. Once purchased many registrars automatically put on a service to prevent your domain from being transferred to someone or somewhere else without your permission.
This service has different names depending on where your domain is registered, but may be called domain lock and domain protect.
Domain protection is a valuable service and should always be left on unless you intend to transfer your domain to a new registrar. Never allow anyone to tell you to turn off your domain protection for any reason but to transfer. Many times a hosting company or web designer will tell a client to turn off the lock so they can set up services, but this is not required to set up any service its only for transfering the domain to another registra.
5) Additional Domain Services
When going through your purchase flow you will be offered a number of additional services, none of which are required. Web hosting will be needed if you do not have your own server, but if you just plan on parking the domain or not using it then why get hosting. Email can be used for your domain with many Internet Host Providers like Granite Belt Hosting. Check with your provider and ask them if you can set up your domain and receive email using your current service. If so there is no need to buy the email service.
Domain registration with a particular registrar does not mean you must use all or any of the services they offer. You can purchase a domain with a registrar and host with a different company.
Private Registration is the only service that must be purchased form your registrar, this product will remove your personal information from the WHOIS database and make ownership of your domain anonymous.
Author: John Kinney
There are a number of ways and locations to purchase domain names, and research and knowledge are keys to making the right decision. Therefore, it is important to know a number of things when purchasing a domain name.
1) Accredited Registrars
All domain names must be sold by accredited Registrars certified to do so by the governing body . Registrars are required to follow the procedures set forth by the governing body , giving consumers a dispute organization in the event one is needed.
Registars are required to pay a fee to the governing body for the purchase of each domain name. One of the areas that separate registars is the price charged to the consumer.
Domain name registration varies from $4.99 at the low end to $65.00 depending on which registrar you choose. And the only diference in the domain name at $4.95 to $65.00 mybe value added services.
Services offered with domain name purchases also vary depending on the registrar selected, such as DNS, forwarding, email, hosting and parked pages.
The services offered are just as important to purchasing a domain names as the name itself. If you own a .com domain name and purchase the .net name, then free forwarding would be a great deal. If you want to point the domain name by DNS then not only is free DNS pointing required, but if you have no experience with DNS the support to set up DNS records will also be required. All registrars are not created equal and some sell low cost domains but with limited support. Granite Belt Hosting offers low cost domain names and low cost hosting with full support.
When selecting a registrar look at your short term and long term needs, whether it is one domain or multiple domains. Although a low cost looks good up front, do your research and make sure all your needs will be filled. When looking for a domain contact the registrar and ask questions like: Do you have 24/7 tech support, does your support cover DNS record set up, advance record set up, what will you be expected to do and what will they do for you.
2) Domain Resellers
Resellers are partners of accredited registrars, reselling their products and services, but are not accredited to sell domain names. When purchasing a domain name from a reseller, be prepared to be patient. Most offer very little to no technical support or rely on the accredited registrar for support. Resellers like Granite Belt Hosting will give you the support you need and have a support network so if you need the support just log a help ticketThere are also times the reseller goes out of business without notifying the domain owner leaving them with little knowledge of who to contact if the domain requires DNS record changes or even simple renewals.
3) Domain Deals
Searching the Internet for a registrar will lead a surfer to many results. Beware of some of the results and domain gimmicks. Yahoo offers domains for a low price with their hosting, but is not an accredited registrar or a reseller. Yahoo uses a third party company that is an accredited registrar. Most consumers do read the Terms of Service when making a domain purchase, and doing so will allow you to see that Yahoo states that they assist you in purchasing your low cost domain.
Unless you read the Terms of Service, knowing that your domain will be registered somewhere else could lead to long term issues. These issues include domain renewal notifications or confusions when wanting to transfer the domain to a new registrar.
Check out all domain offers, read the fine print and make sure you know who your are really dealing with.
4) Domain Protection?
When you purchase a domain it is yours to use for the period your selected to register. Once purchased many registrars automatically put on a service to prevent your domain from being transferred to someone or somewhere else without your permission.
This service has different names depending on where your domain is registered, but may be called domain lock and domain protect.
Domain protection is a valuable service and should always be left on unless you intend to transfer your domain to a new registrar. Never allow anyone to tell you to turn off your domain protection for any reason but to transfer. Many times a hosting company or web designer will tell a client to turn off the lock so they can set up services, but this is not required to set up any service its only for transfering the domain to another registra.
5) Additional Domain Services
When going through your purchase flow you will be offered a number of additional services, none of which are required. Web hosting will be needed if you do not have your own server, but if you just plan on parking the domain or not using it then why get hosting. Email can be used for your domain with many Internet Host Providers like Granite Belt Hosting. Check with your provider and ask them if you can set up your domain and receive email using your current service. If so there is no need to buy the email service.
Domain registration with a particular registrar does not mean you must use all or any of the services they offer. You can purchase a domain with a registrar and host with a different company.
Private Registration is the only service that must be purchased form your registrar, this product will remove your personal information from the WHOIS database and make ownership of your domain anonymous.
Author: John Kinney
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