Are stock images or personal brand photos better for SEO? (EP20)

In this episode I share whether personal brand images or stock images are better for SEO, the pros and cons of each and SEO optimization tips for images.

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Hello. Hello. Today, we are going to talk about whether or not stock images or personal brand images are better for SEO. We’re going to dig into the differences between the two, and then you can decide which is better for your business.

You are listening to the small business sweet spot. My name is Barb Davids, and this is a place that gives you direct actionable advice around SEO and content marketing so that you can make better informed marketing decisions.

Now, which is better for SEO, personal brand images or stock images? The answer is personal brand images. And here’s why. Personal brand images give a aura of authenticity. I know that word is used and overused, but it does. It gives a air of trust, credibility, that there is a real person on the other side of the business.

And I get that some people don’t want to necessarily show themselves or do video, or maybe you’re a business that has multiple people, but for most small businesses, we are the brand. And

If you think about like when you land on websites and you see a stock photo versus somebody’s face or. Even some behind the scenes. Which one are you drawn to more? Probably the one with behind the scenes or the face, right?

Now technically speaking, do either work for SEO? They sure do.

However, Google tends to like unique images, and if we’re thinking about whether or not we want to use stock images or personal brand images, a personal brand image is going to resonate better with the person visiting the website, and also with Google because it is a unique photo.

In personal brand photo sessions, I feel like there’s a thought out there that they’re too expensive or they’re too complicated and maybe you just don’t know what to look for. But I would encourage you to take a look at doing a brand session.

And the reason being is because of the longevity of them, because of the uniqueness of them.

And remember, just like your business or your product, there are going to be varied packages, varied price levels that will fit your budget.

Now that all said, I wouldn’t say stock images are bad or that you shouldn’t use them. There are plenty of sites that rank well that have stock images throughout their website.

And sometimes stock images are the more budget friendly choice, especially in the beginning if you’re just starting out. But if you do use stock images, I encourage you not to use the popular ones.

So you might be wondering how it works with AI images and SEO. Google is able to read images. So it’s going to fall in the same bucket as being unique. If you want to use AI images, by all means, that is totally fine. You want to be as unique as possible.

I think the bigger question with whether or not to use AI images is, does it fit your brand? Can it? I’m going to put out an image that doesn’t look like somebody has 10 fingers on one hand, that kind of thing.

Another question might be well what if you don’t have a physical presence, or maybe you don’t have an office staff, or perhaps some of the The photos that you’re thinking of doing to support a blog post. There’s just not time even to do a personal branding session. In those cases, it’s fine to do the stock photography.

, but do try to find something that somebody hasn’t used before.

And how do you do that? You don’t use the popular images.

So whether you use stock images or AI images or even your own personal branding images, there are things that you can do to optimize your images for SEO. Now, the three top things that you have control over are the size of the image, The image file name and the image alt text. So the size of the image, I see this a lot with photographers or people who are downloading stock images.

They take the original, they download them to their desktop and then they upload them, but they keep them in the original size and it turns out to be way too large and that can slow down your page speed when the page is loading up for the visitor. The other one is the file name. So take your target keyword for the page that the image is going on and you add that to the file name.

So instead of it being like gobbledygook dash jpeg, you type in target keyword dash one or something like that dot jpeg or whatever the extension is. And then thirdly, the image alternative text. So image alt text. Technically, this is for screen readers. So if somebody has a screen reader and they’re coming across this image, the system picks it up and reads the words that are in there to describe the image.

That is the primary purpose of the image alt text. However, you can add your target keyword if it fits naturally.

Okay. That’s it for today’s episode on which images are better for SEO, which is what personal branding images. All right. Thank you. And stay tuned for more episodes on making your business thrive online. We will see you in the next sweet spot. Cheers.

Thank you for sticking around. I hope you enjoyed the episode. If you’re looking for SEO and content marketing help, consider joining the small business sweet spot. It’s a group coaching program where you can get answers to your questions about your business directly and clarity around the marketing strategies that you would like to implement in your business.

You can find all kinds of information at compassdigitalstrategies. com. And if you liked the episode, please tell a friend. Cheers.

*I am a tool geek. I love me a useful tool. I personally use, have used or review every tool recommended in my articles. I am an affiliate of some and earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

Barb Davids - SEO Consultant

Barb Davids is an SEO consultant and owner of Compass Digital Strategies. Driven by data and analytics, she works hard to get business-changing results for her clients, such as 256% more website traffic and 22% more leads. Connect with her: Instagram | LinkedIn | YouTube
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