Image filenames (for SEO)

[Arpeggio]

Is there any way of retaining filenames of images in WDPremium7? "Export website" changes the names to 1,2,3,4 etc. I can rename the file names in my index_htm_files folder then change the html to the same name so it recognises (that's about as much as I ever dabbled into html) but I can't see how to export seperate pages from Xara to avoid having to do it all over again for future updates. If no joy I'll just make the alt text for the images content relevant SEO freindly.

Any advice much appreciated!

[gwpriester]

I had to search for this one.

Name your image (click the yellow tag icon on the Infobar) and use this syntax filename="photo_name"

Enclose the name in quotes and change the name to the name you want to appear.

[Arpeggio]

I had to search for this one.

Name your image (click the yellow tag icon on the Infobar) and use this syntax filename="photo_name"

Enclose the name in quotes and change the name to the name you want to appear.

Thankyou very much indeed. I tested that with a couple pics and saw they were named accordingly in "index_htm_files" folder, will do rest soon.

Here's a couple of resources I found if anyone is interested...

http://www.toprankblog.com/2010/06/6-tips-image-seo/

http://www.feedthebot.com/tools/alt/

I read elsewhere the dimensions of the pics are a factor too although when testing my site in feedthebot it tells me the dimensions aren't included although in the HTML of my exported WD7 site they appear to be...

<img class="xr_ap" src="index_htm_files/6.png" alt="" id="LiveCopy:58AutoRepeat2.MouseOff" title="" style="left: 470px; top: 1289px; width: 314px; height: 90px;"/>

I can only tell that from the obvious of course such as "width:314px" I can't program HTML. I checked my high ranking competitors and they have random image names like "H56_2135j" etc. although I guess they don't need itso I'm already ahead in this respect despite this issue, the more the merrier. I guess medium to small competitors would be more relevant to me, they don't seem to do it either after a quick look around.

[gwpriester]

Another thing you can do so the content of the images is searchable, is simple give each image an Alt tag in the Website Properties > Image tabbed section.

This can be even more explicit. e.g. "Photo of James B. Smith, and John X. Dough, in front of the Placitas Baking Company"

So a search for James B. Smith, or John X. Dough, or Placitas, or Placitas Baking Company will all be covered.

[gwpriester]

My Xara coach reminds me that it is not Alt TAG but an ALT ATTRIBUTE.

I'm am still learning. Or forgetting.

[Arpeggio]

Thanks again. I forgot to ask; does the "_" matter in filename="photo_name" or could it be for example filename="guitar book" without the _?

I'm going to use alt text on all my pics, it looks to be included as a factor on http://www.feedthebot.com/tools/alt/ , although it still says "This image has no dimensions (height/width)!" for my Xara made sites even though they appear to have the dimensions in the html. I've recently been using Name.com SEO tutor which seems good so far.

[Drwyd]

I usually use hyphens (-). Two spaces look too similar to one and underscores are invisible if the text is underlined as in a link

[Soquili]

The use of a space within a filename can cause an OS on a server to be unable to find a file. The use of a hyphen or underscore can improve the ability to find a file. As Drwyd mentions the underscore can be missed by a human reading a filename so many search engines recommend the hyphen be used.

[Arpeggio]

Thanks both, very interesting. In that case I think I might go on hyphen rampage and use hyphens for all my image file names, alt-txts, URL's and page names. There's a lot of talk about this and it seems to be that hyphens are good for URL page names. Otherwise I can't see why SEngines would discriminate hyphens, so at worse it will simply not make any improvment, making SEO worse is what I don't want.

Just found this discussion about it...

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/archiv...t-1025520.html

According to this an underscore is not the way to go, I'm just watching the video now...

http://www.ecreativeim.com/blog/2011...-for-seo-urls/

[Drwyd]

Alt attribute text can be in plain un-hyphenated text.