Should you use the keyword for your page in an image?

[Jaybeamer]

Hi there!

I am currently working on building up the SEO ranking on a page using a specific keyword - dresses.

Within this page, we have an online image library full of dresses which are then added to multiple pages determined by brand, colour, type etc for people to search.

I am adding hundreds of images all of dresses - I wanted to know if I name these images using the keyword: for example 'dresses_1, 'dresses_2' - will that have a knock on effect on page I am trying to build up and optimise for the keyword 'dresses'???

Any help is appreciated.

[S_Curtis]

It is certainly good to use descriptive names and alt text for images.  Partly because of google images searches that can bring in traffic extra organic traffic.

[godreamvacations]

I might question adding the same keyword with just a number as an ALT tag to the images might be flagged as keyword spamming. If you have a full page (gallery) showing 20-50 dresses to the user all at once, you'd also have 20-50 ALT tags that are basically the same. - So I'd suggest watching out for that issue. Perhaps you can tell when reading from a database, how many dresses will be appearing on screen and then just program it so it shows the ALT tag on only 1/8 of them or 1/4 of them, or whatever works out proportionally.

[Travis_Bailey]

When it comes to alt tags, I always err on the side of descriptive. The alt is used when the image link is broken, or if a plain text browser/screen reader is in use. I tend to think about it as a usability/accessibility issue.

I would go with something like "brand-color-dresses". Say "gap-pink-dresses". If you're not doing a dictionary attack on the alt tags, you should be okay.

[kevpickup]

I agree with Travis here. I'd also add that it's important to use a wide range of descriptive language. i.e. summer dress; floral dress; vintage skirt etc. I find a richness and variety of language works really well rather than focusing too closely around a single dominant keyword like 'dresses'.

Build useful ALT tags for users who can't see images, rather than search engines, and I don't think you can go too far wrong.

[Jaybeamer]

This is great, thanks for your responses!

So putting my SEO 'best practise' foot forward - would you suggest only using the image name 'dresses' for a few of the images rather than all?

With the website I am using, the 'file name' also acts as the ALT tag. I've got hundreds of images to upload, but I don't want to use 'dresses' in every image name and ALT tag if this is going to have a knock on effect on the main dresses page I am optimising for this keyword..

Out of your suggestions - what do you think is the best way forward?

[katemorris]

You need to title the images what they are, not focused to SEO. So if the dress is called the Summer Green in Fields Dress, the file name should be summer-green-fields-dress.jpg (or something like it) and then the alt text be Summer Green in Fields Dress.