How to optimize images in Ghost for SEO?

@genevieve_boehm 

Optimizing images in Ghost for SEO involves a few key steps to ensure your images help improve search engine rankings and load efficiently. Here’s a guide:

1. Use Descriptive Filenames: Before uploading an image, rename the file with descriptive keywords that reflect the content of the image. For example, instead of IMG_1234.jpg, use mountain-landscape-sunset.jpg.
2. Add Alt Text: When you upload an image in Ghost, you can add alt text by clicking on the image and selecting the "Alt" option. Use descriptive and keyword-rich alt text to provide search engines with context about the image.
3. Compress Images: Use tools like TinyPNG, JPEGmini, or ImageOptim to compress images before uploading them to reduce file size without compromising quality. This helps improve page load times, which is crucial for SEO.
4. Use the Appropriate File Format: Use JPEGs for photographs and images with many colors, and PNGs for logos or images with transparent backgrounds. Consider using next-gen formats like WebP for better compression and quality.
5. Set Image Dimensions: Specify the width and height attributes for images in your HTML to help browsers allocate space properly, preventing layout shifts and improving performance.
6. Implement Responsive Images: Ensure that your website uses responsive images so they adapt to different screen sizes. Ghost themes usually handle this automatically, but double-check to ensure images are displayed correctly across devices.
7. Lazy Load Images: Ghost has built-in support for lazy loading, which loads images only when they’re about to come into the user’s viewport. This improves load times and overall user experience.
8. Utilize Captions: When relevant, add captions to your images in Ghost. Captions can provide additional context for search engines and help users understand the relevance of the image.
9. Maintain Clear Image Sitemaps: Ensure your sitemap includes image URLs if applicable. This helps search engines discover and index your images more effectively.
10. Check Image Credibility:

• Use original images where possible or ensure that you have rights to use images to avoid any copyright issues that could potentially harm SEO.

By following these practices, you can effectively optimize images in Ghost for better SEO performance.