What is an infographic? And how is it used for SEO?

[NaHoku]

I've heard the term used in some of the webinars hosted on SEOMOZ and tried googling the term with no results. What the heck is this?  And how is it good for SEO?

[DanSpeicher]

Informational Graphics.

Part information. Part graphics.

Examples:

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/4-essential-seo-infographics

They're popular. They look good. They can convey complex information in a simple visual format. And you can attach alt keyword text.

[john4math]

It's the new form of what we like to call linkbait.  People love infographics, and they like to be the first to discover new ones and share them with their friends.  Then everyone tweets and retweets about them, posts Facebook statuses about them, links to them from their blogs, and before you know it, it's gone viral.

http://dailyinfographic.com/ is a site with just infographics.  Usually they contain a lot of related data, charts, and graphs, laid out in an eye-pleasing and engaging way, all in one gigantic image.

[ericpratum]

Visual Economics pretty much explains it all. 97th Floor is the king of infographics if you ask me.