Faisal Mustafa

<p>If you interact with AI-powered voice search assistants such as Siri or Alexa or with generative AI bots like ChatGPT, you know how they stand out compared to traditional search engines like Google.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The difference exists due to the type of answer each category presents. This is because AI-powered tools are answer engines. Businesses use what is known as Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) to appear on such engines.&nbsp;</p>

<p>AEO is a strategy that is used to place content as the main source for direct and accurate answers to users&rsquo; questions. So, in this blog, we discuss what AEO is, its importance, and how it works to help your content get more exposure and traffic.&nbsp;</p>

What Is AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)?

<p>Answer engine optimization (AEO) is a digital marketing strategy where content is optimized to appear on AI-generated responses when any query is made. These include appearing on answer boxes, virtual assistants, voice search results, and featured snippets. This will naturally bring more organic traffic and establish brand authority and credibility.</p>

What is Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)?

<p>From the surface, AEO shares some features with the traditional search engine optimization (SEO) we are so familiar with. However, both of their main goals are significantly different. SEO&rsquo;s target is to optimize content to appear higher on search engines. Whereas, AEO follows a similar strategy to appear on answer engines such as AI-generated texts and responses.</p>

<p>AEO does this by focusing solely on providing relevant and concise answers to users&rsquo; queries, unlike SEO, which revolves around keyword usage. So, instead of focusing on keyword rankings, AEO prioritizes appearing on <a href="https://sachsmarketinggroup.com/what-is-answer-engine-optimization-aeo/">AI-generated responses</a>.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Other than this, AEO and SEO are the same in terms of the strategies being used for content optimization. In other words, if you want to optimize content for AEO, you should follow a similar pathway used for SEO. Due to this, AEO is known as the subfield of SEO.</p>

How Does AEO Differ From Traditional SEO?

<p>The answer is quite straightforward. The more we turn to AI for its features, the more popularity and importance AEO is gaining. This is because a lot of us now use AI-generated answers to learn something basic or for in-depth research.&nbsp;</p>

<p>At one point search engines like Google or Bing were frequently used. However, there has been a gradual shift towards answer engines now. People find it more convenient to find the answer they are looking for in one place rather than exploring multiple pages.</p>

<p>It is through using AEO that your content will have a chance to get featured on these AI-generated answer pages. If your website is used as a source here, it will benefit your business largely in terms of increasing your online visibility and adding to your credibility.</p>

Why is AEO important?

<p>Now, if you want to optimize your website content using AEO, there are a few crucial strategies you need to follow. You may be familiar with some of the steps from your SEO journey. So, optimizing content for AEO includes:</p>

<h3>1. Write Good Quality Content</h3>

<p>First and foremost, you need to remember that producing good quality content is key for AEO. To achieve this, your content needs to answer user queries in a clear and concise manner. In doing so, it has a higher chance of appearing in voice search results and in answer boxes. They also need to be informative and backed up with thorough research on the topic.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Similar to SEO, you need to use relevant keywords naturally in your content. However, you need to make sure that it remains engaging and comprehensible. To ensure that your target audiences stay engaged, you should follow traditional SEO techniques such as headings, bullet points, and short paragraphs. This will not only promote readability but it will also help answer engines to grasp what your content is about quickly.</p>

<h3>2. Focus on the Search Intent</h3>

<p>Similar to how search intent plays a fundamental role in SEO, it has the same effect in AEO. Before you even start to optimize your content, you should consider why someone is looking up a question. Based on this, you should modify the content that specifically addresses their search intent. After this is done, when a query is asked, AI tools will use information from your site to answer it.&nbsp;</p>

<h3>3. Establish Authority</h3>

<p>Establishing your authority on a topic is more important for AEO than targeting keywords. So, if you are aiming for answer engine optimization, you need to focus on this aspect.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Authority comes when you write about a topic in-depth and in detail. If you are dealing with a broad topic, you should ensure that you are covering every small and relevant topic surrounding it. As a content writer, if you produce your content this way, it has more chances to become an answer engine optimized successfully.&nbsp;</p>

<h3>4. Optimize for Featured Snippets&nbsp;</h3>

<p>Featured snippets are short answers that pop up when you look up a query in Google searches. So, you should optimize your content to appear on feature snippets through AEO, as it will bring more traffic to your site.&nbsp;</p>

<p>In order for you to achieve this, your content should have precise and clarified answers to specific questions. This is because answer engines provide easy and straightforward answers to any questions. So, it is natural that they will choose the content written in a similar format.&nbsp;</p>

<h3>5. Optimize for Voice Search Results</h3>

<p>Another answer engine you should optimize your content for is voice search results. These engines use machine learning to understand and reply to any questions asked in a natural, conversational language.&nbsp;</p>

<p>So, by using AEO, your content should have a conversational style in the sentence structure and word choices. This not only highlights your website content for voice search engines but also makes your content more engaging and user-friendly.</p>

<h3>6. Include Informative FAQ Pages</h3>

<p>FAQ pages consist of answers to questions that are commonly asked in an organized manner. You should include an FAQ page that is high in quality and addresses a range of questions that readers may have. Not only that, but you should also ensure that these questions are answered in a concise manner.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Organized and structured FAQ pages will allow search engines to know properly what your content is about. As a result, the chances of your website appearing on featured snippets will increase.</p>

How to Optimize for AEO?

<p>It may seem quick and easy to incorporate AEO in your content writing strategy as it shares some similar features with SEO. However, there are some specific and important things you should keep in mind before proceeding with AEO. Some of them are:</p>

<h3>Focus on Answering Questions</h3>

<p>Before optimizing your content, you should set your priorities. As mentioned earlier, for AEO, you should target users&rsquo; questions rather than popular or high-search volume keywords. This is because while keywords play a significant role, they don&rsquo;t fully capture what people may talk about or ask questions about.</p>

<p>So, by prioritizing answering questions instead of incorporating keywords, your content will truly fulfill your audience&rsquo;s needs. As a result, your website will be able to attract a lot of visitors when they appear on search engines.&nbsp;</p>

<h3>Start Your Content With a Clear Answer</h3>

<p>When creating AEO content, remember that you are writing for two main audiences. The first is for people who just need a quick answer. The second is for those who want an answer and are curious to explore the topic further.</p>

<p>To satisfy both groups, as well as answer engines, it is best to start with what they are looking for. Provide the answer right at the start in a clear and straightforward way. Avoid keyword stuffing or overly complicated language. Your main focus should be on being helpful.</p>

<p>Once users get their immediate answer, they can choose to dive deeper into the rest of your content if they are interested. This approach not only keeps readers engaged but also signals to answer engines that your content is relevant and useful.</p>

<h3>Stand Out from the Competition</h3>

<p>When you are answering questions in your content, your information should cover more than merely answering. This is known as writing for information gain. This is important because you may have competitors who are aiming for the same question. So, you need to stand out.&nbsp;</p>

<p>You can do this by, first of all, answering the question directly. Secondly, you can include insights, ideas, and information that your competitors did not discuss. Extra details like this will make your content more thorough and useful. Here, you are not only meeting user&#39;s expectations but exceeding them. In doing so, your content becomes the preferred choice for both readers and answer engines.</p>

What to Keep in Mind Before You Take on Answer Engine Optimization?

<p>As the world is becoming more and more digitally progressive, answer engine optimization (AEO) is no longer a luxury. It has become a necessity. AEO is a strategy used to optimize website content in a way that will provide users with direct and concise answers to their queries on answer engines. So, by implementing AEO, businesses can benefit by expanding their online exposure and gaining credibility.</p>

Final Words

Everything you need to know about Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is here. Learn how it differs from SEO and how to optimize content for answer engines.

What Is Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)?

<h3>What are off-page SEO ranking factors?</h3>

<p>Off-page SEO factors are elements outside your website that impact your ranking in SERP. The most important off-page SEO ranking factors are Backlinks, Social Signals, Brand Mentions, Online Reviews, Domain Authority, Local Citations, and Content Sharing. They signal relevance, trust, and authority to the search engine.</p>

<h3>Why is off-page SEO important?</h3>

<p>The most important reason is that off-page SEO plays a vital role in the online presence of your website. It improves the authority, credibility, and trust of your website. Off-page SEO boosts your website ranking through earning backlinks, social engagement, and brand mention.</p>

<h3>What is a backlink in off-page SEO?</h3>

<p>According to off-page SEO, a backlink is a link from another website that directs visitors to your website. It signals the search engine that your content is valuable and trustworthy, working as a vote of trust. Backlinks bring referral traffic to your website and improve its search engine ranking.</p>

FAQs

Off-page SEO covers a large ground and can be overwhelming. So, here are 15 off-page SEO techniques that will help you focus on the important factors.

Off-Page SEO Checklist: 15 Off Page SEO Optimization Methods

Digital Marketing

<p>Content marketing is one of the best ways to connect with your audience, build trust in your business, and make growth that lasts in today&#39;s digital world. Building a content marketing strategy is not as easy as it sounds. Businesses could waste time and money on content that doesn&#39;t connect with customers or help them reach their goals if they don&#39;t have a clear plan. Mastering the basics of a well-rounded content marketing strategy is important whether you run a small business, are new to marketing, or want to make your brand&#39;s voice heard.</p>

<p>This beginner&rsquo;s guide is meant to make it easier to develop a content marketing plan that works. We&#39;ll make it easy to follow each step, from getting to know your audience and setting goals that you can reach to making interesting content and keeping track of how it&#39;s doing. When you finish this guide, you can make a plan that fits your business goals and keeps your audience interested.</p>

<p>A <a href="https://viserx.com/blog/creative-content/what-is-content-marketing">content marketing</a> strategy is a detailed plan for making, publishing, and sharing useful and interesting content to attract and keep the attention of a certain audience. Content marketing is more than just writing content. It also means that your content fits with your business goals, meets the needs of your audience, and encourages actions that lead to measurable results like more traffic, leads, or sales.</p>

<p>At its core, a content marketing strategy ensures that your work is consistent, has a purpose, and is done efficiently. To start, you need to know who your audience is, what they want, and how your material can support those needs. It also means setting clear goals, like raising brand knowledge, making customers more loyal, or boosting sales. A good strategy also includes picking the right platforms for distribution, making a content calendar, and looking at performance data to make improvements.</p>

<p>In the end, a well-thought-out content marketing plan is what makes content creation work, making sure that every piece of content supports your business goals.</p>

What Is a Content Marketing Strategy?

<p>Any business or content marketer who wants to be successful in the long run in today&#39;s digital world needs to have a content marketing strategy. If you don&#39;t have a clear plan, your efforts to create content may become disorganized and useless, wasting time, money, and other resources.</p>

<p>One of the main reasons to have a content marketing plan is to stay <a href="https://www.contentoo.com/blog/reasons-why-you-need-content-strategy-services">on track and consistent</a>. If you have a clear plan, you can ensure that your content aligns with your business goals. This way, each piece of content has a clear purpose, like increasing sales, traffic, or leads. This connection makes sure that your work leads to results that can be measured, which increases your return on investment (ROI).</p>

<p>A b2b content marketing strategy also helps you to understand your target audience deeply. By finding out what they want, need, and are having trouble with, you can make content that is useful and important to them, which will build trust and engagement. This connection not only makes people more loyal to your brand but also makes your company look like an expert in its field. It helps you plan ahead, choose the right platforms, and set a regular publishing routine so you don&#39;t have to rush at the last minute.</p>

Why Do You Need a Content Marketing Strategy?

<p>To see how a b2b content marketing strategy works, let&#39;s look at a small business that sells skincare items that are good for the environment. Their goal is to get more people to know about their business, visit their website, and buy things. This is how they could make their content marketing plan:</p>

<p><strong>Identify Target Audience</strong>: The company identifies its audience as eco-conscious individuals between the ages of 25 and 40 who care about natural ingredients and sustainability.</p>

<p><strong>Set Clear Goals: </strong>Their primary goals are to get 30% more people to visit their website in six months and see a 20% rise in online sales.</p>

<p><strong>Develop Quality Content:</strong> They choose to write about things like &quot;The Benefits of Eco-Friendly Skincare,&quot; &quot;How to Build a Sustainable Beauty Routine,&rdquo; &quot;Ingredient Spotlights,&quot; and many more articles to engage customers.</p>

<p><strong>Choose Content Formats:</strong> The company wants to make blog posts, educational videos, and infographics for social media. They also try to share customer success stories for trust.</p>

<p><strong>Select Distribution Channels:</strong> They chose that their content would be shared on their website, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and in a monthly email magazine to reach and engage more customers.</p>

<p><strong>Track Performance:</strong> To improve their approach, they monitor website traffic, engagement rates, and conversion rates using content marketing tools like Google Analytics and social media insights.</p>

<p>This organized method ensures that each piece of content helps them reach their goals, making a content marketing plan that works well and gets results.</p>

Content Marketing Strategy Example

<p>In 2024, you need to know your community, your goals, and the newest digital content marketing trends to make a <a href="https://viserx.com/blog/creative-content/how-do-you-develop-a-content-strategy-for-a-website">content marketing strategy</a> that works. Make a plan that gets real results by following these steps:</p>

<h3>Define your Goals</h3>

<p>First, make clear, measurable objectives. Do you want to get more people to your website, get more leads, keep more customers, or make more sales? Your plan should be based on SMART goals, which stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.</p>

<h3>Know your Audience</h3>

<p>Look closely at your <a href="https://mailchimp.com/marketing-glossary/content-marketing/">target audience</a> to determine their wants, needs, and problems. You can make specific buyer personas using b2b content marketing tools like customer surveys, analytics platforms, and social listening to represent your ideal customers.</p>

<h3>Conduct a Content Audit</h3>

<p>Look at the information you already have to find gaps, strengths, and opportunities. Find out which topics and formats have worked well in the past and which ones fit with your goals.</p>

<h3>Choose Content Themes and Formats</h3>

<p>Come up with <a href="https://mailchimp.com/marketing-glossary/content-marketing/">content ideas and formats</a> that your audience will relate to and align with your brand. Try using different types of material, like blogs, videos, podcasts, infographics, and social media posts, to meet the needs of a wide range of readers.</p>

<h3>Choose the Channels of Distribution</h3>

<p>Find out where your audience spends time online and ensure your content fits those platforms. Depending on how your audience likes to spend their time, you should focus on social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok, as well as blogs, emails, and YouTube.</p>

<h3>Create a Content Calendar</h3>

<p><a href="https://copyblogger.com/content-marketing/#:~:text=Long%20Form%20Written%20Content%20(Blogs,your%20ideal%20customers%20may%20search.">Make a content calendar</a> for the next three to six months&#39; worth of content. A plan helps you stay consistent and makes sure you post timely, useful content. For themed content ideas, include important dates, holidays, and events in your business.</p>

<h3>Focus on SEO and Keywords</h3>

<p>Use best practices for search engine optimization (SEO) to ensure people can find your content. Find out what keywords your audience is searching for and use them naturally in your writing. As a result, <a href="https://viserx.com/blog/creative-content/how-do-i-write-seo-friendly-content">SEO-driven content</a> increases its lead for a wider audience.</p>

<h3>Make use of Data and Analytics</h3>

<p>To see how well your content is doing, use content marketing tools like Google Analytics, SEMrush, and social media insights. Track things for content marketing statistics​ like traffic, contact, and conversion rates to see how well your plan is working and make changes as needed.</p>

<h3>Stay Agile and Adapt</h3>

<p>The digital world changes quickly, so be ready to change your plan when you need to. To keep your approach, keep up with content marketing trends like AI-powered content creation, interactive content, and user-generated content.</p>

<p>You can make a content marketing plan for 2024 to engage your target audience if you follow these steps and keep your audience&#39;s wants in mind.</p>

How to Create a Content Marketing Strategy that Works in 2024?

<p>There is no doubt that content marketing services are still the most important thing in the digital world. Statistics show that it is very good at increasing connection, brand loyalty, and sales. Here are some important facts on content marketing statistics​ that show how important it is to have a good content marketing strategy:</p>

<h3>Content Marketing Drives Engagement</h3>

<p>According to HubSpot, companies that publish blogs <a href="https://offers.hubspot.com/lessons-from-marketing-stats">get 55% more website</a> visits than companies that don&#39;t blog. Also, businesses that publish 16 or more blog posts a month get almost 3.5 times more traffic than businesses that post 4 or less blog posts a month. This shows that regular, high-quality material makes people much more interested.</p>

<h3>Impact on Lead Generation</h3>

<p>Demand Metric informs that digital content marketing services generate three times more leads than traditional marketing while costing 62% less. This shows how cost-effective strategic content marketing is.</p>

<h3>Influence on Purchasing Decisions</h3>

<p>There was a study by the Content Marketing Institute that found that <a href="https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/articles/buy-in-conversation-content-marketing/">61% of people say they are influenced by custom content</a> that affects their choice to buy. Making content that is personalized and relevant can have a direct effect on your sales.</p>

<h3>Dominance of Video Content</h3>

<p>Networking company Cisco says that by 2022, <a href="https://www.streamtvinsider.com/video/video-will-account-for-82-all-internet-traffic-by-2022-cisco-says#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20company's%20newest%20Visual%20Networking,devices%20and%20connections%20will%20be%20video%20capable.">82% of all online traffic</a> will be from video content. Some of the most interesting formats are short videos, live streams, and tutorials. As a result, it makes video an important part of any strategy.</p>

<h3>Email Marketing Works</h3>

<p>4 billion people use email every day. According to Campaign Monitor, segmented email campaigns can bring a <a href="https://emailmastery.org/resources/what-is-email-segmentation/">760% increase in revenue</a>. Combining email with valuable content enhances customer retention.</p>

<h3>SEO and Content Marketing</h3>

<p><a href="https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2020/08/19/get-on-first-page-google#:~:text=In%20fact%2C%20the%20first%20page%20of%20Google,important%20the%20first%20page%20of%20Google%20is.">71% of search traffic clicks</a> on the first page of Google results (Backlinko). Using SEO techniques to improve your content makes it more visible and brings free traffic to your site.</p>

<p>These numbers show how important it is to have a digital content marketing strategy that includes blogging, video, SEO, and email marketing to meet the needs of current customers and grow your business.</p>

Content Marketing Strategy Statistics

<p>A good digital content marketing strategy needs to be carefully planned, put into action, and then improved. Here are some content marketing tips that you can use to make a plan that works:</p>

<h3>Set Clear Objectives</h3>

<p>Figure out what you want to achieve with your content. Having clear goals helps you stay focused and track your progress, whether you&#39;re trying to raise brand knowledge, get more leads, make more sales, or make customers more loyal.</p>

<h3>Know your Readers Well</h3>

<p>Discover what your community wants, what they need, and what hurts them. Make <a href="https://www.outbrain.com/blog/8-priceless-content-marketing-tips-and-strategies/">detailed buyer profiles</a> to help you decide what content to write. Your content will be more relevant and engaging if you know your readers better.</p>

<h3>Focus on Quality over Quantity</h3>

<p>Instead of sending a lot of information to your audience, focus on making <a href="https://e9digital.com/6-top-content-marketing-tips/">valuable, high-quality content</a>. Make content marketing tips that are well-thought-out and based on study, and build trust and authority in your field.</p>

<h3>Variety of Content Formats</h3>

<p>Use various content types, such as blogs, movies, infographics, podcasts, and social media posts, to meet the needs of your audience. Try different forms to find the one that your audience responds to most positively.</p>

<h3>Make it SEO-friendly</h3>

<p>To make your content easier to find, use focused keywords and <a href="https://viserx.com/blog/creative-content/how-to-use-ai-for-seo-content-writing">follow best practices for SEO</a>. Make sure that search engines can read your headlines, meta descriptions, and images. A b2b content marketing plan that is based on SEO can help you get to the <a href="https://surferseo.com/blog/content-marketing-important/">top of search results</a> for your target keyword.</p>

<h3>Use Social Networks</h3>

<p>Share your information on sites where people who are interested in it are most likely to be. Use interesting images, captions, and hashtags to get more people to see and connect with your posts.</p>

<h3>Don&rsquo;t Sell Your Brand</h3>

<p>It&#39;s not the point of content to sell your brand or product. Let the copywriters take care of that. Digital content marketing is a way to make people want to buy something. Good content should make people more interested, curious, and involved. You can add more value to your content by having guest bloggers and experts from within your business contribute.&nbsp;</p>

<h3>Track and Analyze Performance</h3>

<p>Track things like traffic, engagement, and sales with analytics tools. Check in on your plan often and make changes based on what works.</p>

<h3>Stay Updated with Trends</h3>

<p>To keep your plan fresh and up-to-date, keep an eye on what&#39;s happening in the industry and use new technologies like AI tools, personalized experiences, and interactive content.</p>

Tips for Your Content Marketing Strategy

<p>VISER X is a renowned company in digital marketing and software creation, and they make custom content marketing plans that drive results. They have a team of experienced digital marketers, strategists, and content makers who ensure that your content fits perfectly with your business goals and the needs of your audience. VISER X can help you make a good content marketing plan in the following ways:</p>

<ul>
	<li>VISER X begins by analyzing your business goals for getting more visitors, getting more leads, or making more sales.&nbsp;</li>
	<li>The agency does in-depth audience research to make very specific buyer personas.&nbsp;</li>
	<li>VISER X makes a content plan that fits with the vision of your brand and the latest content marketing trends in your business.</li>
	<li>They use advanced tools to make your content search engine-friendly.&nbsp;</li>
	<li>They ensure that your content matches the personality and ideals of your brand.&nbsp;</li>
	<li>VISER X monitors important success indicators like traffic, engagement rates, and conversions.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>

<p>With VISER X&#39;s help, you can get a complete content marketing plan that not only makes your online profile better but also gets real business results. Partnering with VISER X ensures your brand stands out in today&rsquo;s competitive digital landscape.</p>

Build a Content Marketing Strategy with VISER X

<h3>What is content marketing?</h3>

<p>Content marketing is a strategic approach to creating and sharing valuable, relevant content to attract and engage a target audience. It aims to build trust, foster brand loyalty, and drive profitable customer actions.</p>

<h3>What are the four pillars of content marketing?</h3>

<p>The four pillars of content marketing are</p>

<ul>
	<li>Valuable content</li>
	<li>Promote content through distribution channel</li>
	<li>Consistent publishing schedule</li>
	<li>Analyze content performance</li>
</ul>

<h3>How do seo and content marketing work together?</h3>

<p>SEO ensures content is discoverable through search engines, while content marketing provides value to the audience. Together, they boost website visibility, drive organic traffic, and enhance audience engagement by aligning high-quality content with relevant search queries.</p>

Build a results-driven content marketing strategy with VISER X. From audience research to SEO, we create strategies to boost engagement and traffic.

How to Create a Content Marketing Strategy that Works [Beginners Guide]

How to Create a Content Marketing Strategy that Works

<p>In today&#39;s digital world, companies always seek new ways to connect with their customers. SMS marketing lets you connect with people in a direct, immediate, and very personal way. Text messaging has a huge reach because billions of mobile phones are used worldwide. It is an important part of modern marketing tactics.&nbsp;</p>

<p>In 2024, SMS marketing will improve by adding more advanced automation, personalization, and data analytics. This complete guide will teach you everything you need to know about SMS marketing, including its benefits, tactics, and tools, whether you run a small business or have been marketing for a long time.</p>

<p>SMS marketing, or Short Message Service marketing, is a way to send promotional or informative messages straight to customers&#39; cell phones. Businesses use it a lot to send short and instant updates, deals, reminders, or alerts to their customers.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Emails can get lost in a crowded inbox, but over 90% of people who receive and read SMS texts do so within minutes. This marketing strategy takes advantage of the fact that so many people use mobile devices, which makes it a direct and personal way to connect with buyers. It&#39;s flexible, cheap, and great for getting to know your customers better.</p>

What is SMS Marketing?

<p>Today, SMS marketing is an important tool for marketers and businesses of all kinds. One of its best features is that it works right away. With open rates as high as 98%, SMS texts are read within minutes of being sent, making them a much better choice for marketing than email. This will ensure your message gets to customers quickly, which is great for deals that end quickly, flash sales, or important announcements.</p>

<p>One more reason to use SMS message marketing is that it has the widest reach. Since billions of people have cell phones, you can reach customers no matter where they are, even if they don&#39;t have access to the internet. Unlike email or social media, SMS doesn&#39;t use algorithms to decide who can see your message. This means that your message will always reach the right people.</p>

<p>Another great benefit is that it can be personalized. Businesses can send texts that are more relevant and interesting to customers based on their likes, dislikes, past purchases, or behavior. SMS marketing is also very cheap, and you can get a good return on your investment with little work.</p>

<p>SMS is also very flexible and can be used for many things, such as marketing, meeting reminders, surveys, and customer service. It&#39;s even more powerful because it can be used with other marketing tools and is automated. Businesses that want to get their customers more involved should use SMS marketing. It is quick, cost-effective, and reaches a lot of people.</p>

Why SMS Marketing?

<p>Text messaging is used in SMS marketing to send promotional, informative, or business messages straight to a customer&#39;s cell phone. Usually, the process has a few main steps:</p>

<h3>Building a Subscriber List</h3>

<p>When a customer signs up for something, an opt-in form, or a reward program, the business gets their phone number. It&#39;s important to note that laws like General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) require clear permission, which makes sure that customers want to receive texts.</p>

<h3>Picking an SMS Platform&nbsp;</h3>

<p>To run campaigns, companies use SMS marketing platforms or softwares. These platforms let you send many messages simultaneously, automate tasks, set times, and keep track of success metrics.</p>

<h3>Creating Campaigns</h3>

<p>When campaigns are being made, messages are crafted to be concise, engaging, and relevant. This could include messages about flash sales, promotions, updates, or reminders. Personalization, like calling people by name, makes them more interested.</p>

<h3>Segmentation</h3>

<p>The subscriber list can be divided into groups based on demographics, behavior, or interests. This makes sure that messages reach the right people.</p>

<h3>Sending Messages</h3>

<p>The SMS tool can be used to send scheduled or instant messages. Another way for businesses to brand their texts is to use shortcodes or numerical sender IDs.</p>

<h3>Tracking and Analysis</h3>

<p>Platforms provide information about open rates, click-through rates, and sales. This information helps make efforts work better in the future.</p>

How Does SMS Marketing Work?

<p>The benefits of SMS marketing are immense. These are -&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>High Open Rates:</strong> More than <a href="https://www.smscomparison.com/sms-statistics/">98% of SMS messages are opened</a>, which means that your messages are seen almost right away. This makes SMS one of the best communication methods compared to email or social media.</p>

<p><strong>Immediacy:</strong> Most SMS texts are read within minutes of being sent, which makes them perfect for promotions that need to be seen quickly, flash sales, appointment reminders, or urgent updates.</p>

<p><strong>Wider Reach:</strong> Because so many people have cell phones, SMS lets companies reach customers everywhere, even in places where internet access is limited.</p>

<p><strong>Cost-effective:</strong> SMS marketing has a <a href="https://mailchimp.com/resources/sms-marketing-strategy/">high return on investment (ROI)</a> for a relatively low cost. Businesses of all kinds can afford it because it lets them send messages in bulk.</p>

<p><strong>Direct and Personal:</strong> SMS goes right to the recipient&#39;s phone, which makes the connection more direct and personal than with other marketing channels.</p>

<p><strong>Versatility:</strong> It can be used for many things, like polls, promotions, transactional updates, and customer service.</p>

<p><strong>High Engagement:</strong> Messages that are short and to the point get people to act quickly, which increases engagement and conversion rates.</p>

Benefits of SMS Marketing

<p>SMS marketing costs vary based on the service provider, the number of messages sent, and any extra tools like automation or analytics. Businesses usually pay for each message. In the U.S., the price of an SMS can range from $0.01 to $0.05, based on how many are sent. For<a href="https://www.omnisend.com/blog/sms-marketing-pricing/"> international SMS</a>, each message offers ranges from $0.25 to $0.50.&nbsp;</p>

<p>When you buy in mass sms marketing​ packages, the prices often go down a lot, which makes it more cheap for bigger campaigns. There may be extra costs, like monthly fees for SMS marketing platforms, that can be anywhere from $20 to $200, based on their features, like the ability to divide audiences into groups, track performance, or connect to other apps through APIs.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Even though it costs money, SMS message pricing has a high return on investment (ROI) because it works so well at getting people to engage and buy.</p>

How much does SMS Marketing Cost?

<p>You can make powerful SMS campaigns that engage your audience well by following these tips.</p>

<p><strong>Get Clarified Consent:</strong> To follow rules like TCPA, GDPR, or local privacy laws, you should always get clear &quot;opt-ins&quot; from recipients. This helps people believe you and makes sure you&#39;re reaching people who are interested.</p>

<p><strong>Divide Your Audience: </strong>Based on demographics, interests, or behavior, divide your subscriber list into groups. Customized texts get more attention and improve engagement.</p>

<p><strong>Craft Clear and Concise Messages:</strong> Write messages that are clear and to the point. SMS only lets you use 160 characters. Make sure your <a href="https://sproutsocial.com/insights/sms-marketing/#best-practices">message is short, clear, and interesting</a>. Include a strong call to action (CTA) to help people know what to do.</p>

<p><strong>Personalize Your Messages:</strong> You can use customer information to call people by name or bring up past conversations. Relevance and reaction rates go up when you personalize.</p>

<p><strong>Timing is Important:</strong> Send messages at appropriate times to maximize impact. Don&#39;t text late at night or early in the morning. When you run a sale, make sure your messages fit with how people usually buy things.</p>

<p><strong>Offer Something of Value:</strong> Make your messages worth reading by giving away discounts, special deals, or useful information. Don&#39;t send too many texts that aren&#39;t necessary.</p>

<p><strong>Use Automation:</strong> To save time and work more efficiently, use automation for texts that you send over and over, like birthday offers, appointment reminders, or follow-ups.</p>

<p><strong>Track and Improve:</strong> Keep an eye on measures like open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates. Use what you learn to improve your campaign&#39;s performance and make your plan better.</p>

How to Use SMS marketing: Best practices

<p>The following methods show how SMS can be used in a wide range of fields to get people involved, build loyalty, and get results.</p>

<h3>Exclusive Promotions and Discounts</h3>

<p>Retailers often use SMS to offer flash sales or deals that are only good for a short time. This creates a sense of urgency and increases sales. For instance, a clothing brand might send, <em>&ldquo;Flash Sale: 20% off all items for the next 24 hours! Use code SAVE20. Shop now: [link].&rdquo;</em></p>

<h3>Cart Reminders</h3>

<p>E-commerce companies use SMS to get back sales that were lost by reminding customers of things that were left in their carts. For E-commerce businesses, the <a href="https://sproutsocial.com/insights/sms-marketing/#strategies">abandoned cart average rate is 70.19%</a>. <em>&ldquo;Hi [Name], you forgot something in your cart! Today is the last day to get 10% off your order: [link].&rdquo;</em></p>

<h3>Appointment Reminders</h3>

<p>To reduce no-shows, service-based companies like salons and healthcare providers use automated reminders. <em>&quot;Remember that your appointment at Luxe Spa is tomorrow at 3 p.m. Respond with CONFIRM or RESCHEDULE.&quot;</em></p>

<h3>Personalized Birthday Messages</h3>

<p>To make a personal link, businesses send birthday greetings along with special deals. Say something like, <em>&quot;Happy Birthday, [Name]! Enjoy 15% off your next order as a thank you. &quot;[link] Use code BDAY15.&quot;</em></p>

<h3>Event Alerts and Updates</h3>

<p>People who are planning an event send SMS messages to let people know about changes, new information, or special perks. Say something like, <em>&quot;Your show starts at 7 PM! Show this message to get a free drink.&rdquo;</em></p>

<h3>Requests for Customer Feedback</h3>

<p>Businesses use SMS polls to get customer feedback, which helps them improve their services. For instance: <em>&quot;We value your feedback! Please rate your time with us at [link].</em></p>

Examples of Successful SMS Marketing Strategies

<p>You need to pick <a href="https://ddiy.co/sms-marketing-software/">SMS marketing software</a> that fits your business goals and budget because each one is different. Let&rsquo;s find out -&nbsp;</p>

<h3>SimpleTexting</h3>

<p>This app is great for people who are just starting out because it is easy to use and has features like group texting, automation, and two-way messaging. Its simple dashboard makes it easy to make a campaign in just 20 minutes.</p>

<h3>Omnisend</h3>

<p>Designed for online shopping, Omnisend combines SMS, email, and other methods to make campaigns that work well together. It&#39;s great at automating, segmenting, and tracking, which helps businesses get more sales.</p>

<h3>EZ Texting</h3>

<p>It is a popular choice for small to medium-sized businesses because it has easy-to-use tools for making campaigns, scheduling texts, and dividing audiences into groups. It is a good choice because it has templates, analytics, and connections with CRMs.</p>

<h3>ClickSend</h3>

<p>It is a flexible tool for voice, email, and SMS marketing. It has features for global messaging, automation, and detailed reporting. Its easy-to-use platform makes managing campaigns a breeze.</p>

<h3>Twilio&nbsp;</h3>

<p>Twilio is a developer-friendly tool with powerful APIs for SMS marketing. It is known for being flexible and scalable. It&#39;s great for businesses that need solutions that can be changed to fit their needs. It also supports foreign messaging, automation, and analytics.</p>

<h3>Textmagic</h3>

<p>API Gateways and Zapier integrations allow businesses to connect SMS marketing with other software platforms. With two-way SMS, companies can engage in real-time conversations with customers. Also, you can send bulk SMS online to reach a large audience quickly.</p>

Best SMS Marketing Software in 2024

<p>In conclusion, SMS marketing is still one of the fastest and most effective ways to connect with customers in 2024. It&#39;s a great way for businesses to get more sales and build strong ties with customers because it has a high open rate, a direct reach, and low costs.&nbsp;</p>

<p>SMS marketing can be changed to fit the needs of any business, no matter how big or small. This will help you connect with customers better and make more money. In this mobile-first world, no business should miss this approach.</p>

<h2>Is SMS marketing effective?</h2>

<p>Yes, SMS marketing is highly effective because so many people open them (often over 90%). It allows for instant contact, so messages are seen right away, which is great for promotions, reminders, or alerts that need to be seen quickly.</p>

<h2>What is the market for SMS marketing?</h2>

<p>Retail, healthcare, finance, real estate, and e-commerce sms marketing are just some of the businesses that use SMS marketing. It&#39;s especially popular with businesses that want to reach customers who use their phones first. There is a growing need for SMS-based customer engagement and automated communication options.</p>

<h2>When should I use SMS marketing?</h2>

<p>SMS marketing works best for important alerts, limited-time deals, reminders, and custom offers. It&#39;s great for giving direct messages to customers right away, like reminding them of an appointment, letting them know about a flash sale, or letting them know about an emergency.</p>

<h2>What are the disadvantages of SMS marketing?</h2>

<p>One problem with SMS marketing is that messages can only be 160 characters long, which makes it hard to send detailed information. Also, if businesses don&#39;t get the right segmentation or permission, they risk annoying people, which could lead to opt-outs or legal problems.</p>

<h2>Is email or SMS marketing better?</h2>

<p>It depends on the goals and context of the campaign. Email is better for newsletters, long-form material, and detailed communications, while SMS marketing is best for getting people to respond quickly and get involved. Using both methods together may be the best way to reach many people.</p>

Explore the power of SMS marketing in 2025 with our complete guide. Learn best practices to boost customer engagement and drive conversions effectively.

What is SMS Marketing? The Complete Beginner’s Guide for 2025

<p>When you search for images, you get the most related images on Google. You may wonder how Google knew what to show you. Actually, you can have this experience on behalf of image optimization SEO and image alt tags SEO. Therefore, if you want to know how to optimize images for SEO for your website, our guide will help you. Let&rsquo;s discuss image SEO and its indexing process before some of the best SEO practices for images​.</p>

<p>Image SEO is the art of optimizing your website&#39;s images to increase their visibility chances in search engine result pages. After combining images and SEO together, you can attract more organic traffic to your website. Besides, you can provide information to readers through high-quality images on Image Search results.</p>

<h3>The Key Image SEO Optimization Tactics</h3>

<p>After every <a href="https://viserx.com/blog/seo/google-august-2024-core-update">core algorithm update</a>, search engines like Google want us to publish more people-friendly content while keeping the natural SEO practice. Image SEO is one of the natural practices without manipulating the search engine with over-SEO.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>The key tactics for image SEO are&mdash;</strong></p>

<ul>
	<li>Reducing image file size without compromising quality.</li>
	<li>Providing alternative text descriptions is important for users and search engine crawlers.</li>
	<li>Use clear and relevant names for your images.</li>
</ul>

<h3>Why Image SEO Optimization Matters</h3>

<p>Image optimization helps search engines better understand and index your images. So you get the higher rankings for your website alongside top-notch user experience. Even if the user turns off images in their browser, they will know what the image area is about through the alt text.</p>

<p><strong>Without image SEO, websites can lose their business, too.</strong></p>

<p>In 2014, there was a <a href="https://www.gigaspaces.com/blog/amazon-found-every-100ms-of-latency-cost-them-1-in-sales">report on Amazon</a> saying that it lost 1% of sales for every 100 ms latency due to large web pages with non-optimized images. So, optimizing smaller image file sizes contributes to faster website loading speeds without losing revenue.</p>

What is Image SEO?

<p>Many users turn directly to <a href="https://images.google.com/">Google Images</a> to find specific visuals. Again, billions of searches are conducted monthly on <a href="https://lens.google/">Google Lens</a>, an app that allows users to perform visual searches using their camera or an uploaded image. Furthermore, Google frequently incorporates images into standard search results.&nbsp;</p>

<p>For instance, in April 2024, a significant portion of standard SERPs in the U.S. included an <a href="https://www.gsqi.com/marketing-blog/image-pack-rankings-in-google-web-search/">image pack</a>. These types of image results are highly effective in capturing user attention and driving clicks. So, image SEO will positively impact your overall search rankings.</p>

Where Can Images Appear in Search?

<p>Search engines, like Google, discover images by crawling web pages and extracting information such as metadata and file names. To understand the context of an image, Google considers various factors&mdash;</p>

<ul>
	<li>Surrounding text</li>
	<li>Image file name</li>
	<li>Alt Text</li>
	<li>Captions</li>
	<li>Page Content</li>
</ul>

<p>In addition, Google utilizes image recognition technology now to analyze the visual content of the image itself. So, no one can provide the wrong alt text to rank up a wrong image nowadays. When Google sees you have an optimized web page with all the best on-page SEO activities, you are most likely to rank.</p>

How Do Search Engines Index And Understand Images?

<p>Images are a powerful tool for storytelling. It helps defend the bounce rate of any web page because of offers a more visually appealing and engaging way to convey information. If we list down the major benefits of Image SEO, it may look something like this&mdash;</p>

<h3>Higher Search Engine Rankings</h3>

<p>Search engines like Google crawl and index your website to determine its relevance to user queries. When you add relevant and optimized images to your web pages, you provide additional contextual information that makes the page more reader-friendly. So, the ranking criteria are fulfilled.</p>

<h3>Increased Website Traffic</h3>

<p>Improved image SEO leads to better discoverability by the crawlers. Crawlers can simply know there is much more explained context hidden beneath the content. In turn, this results in higher SERP rankings and increased landing page and <a href="https://viserx.com/blog/seo/increase-blog-traffic">blog traffic</a>.</p>

<h3>Enhanced User Experience</h3>

<p>As we mentioned earlier, well-optimized images contribute to a better user experience. The moment search engines understand that your images are of the correct file type, size, and resolution, you can improve page load speed and overall website performance.</p>

What are the Benefits of Image SEO?

<p>here are no barriers to the optimization process. But we will give you 15 tips that all the top-ranked websites use in order to level up their ranking.&nbsp;</p>

<ol>
	<li>
	<h3 style="color:#434343; font-style:normal">Choosing the Right Image File Type</h3>
	</li>
</ol>

<p>The first process of image SEO optimizations is selecting the appropriate image file format for optimal website performance and user experience. Google can index JPEG, PNG, WebP, SVG, BMP, and GIF formats better than other formats.</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>JPEG:</strong> Suitable for photographs with little quality loss.</li>
	<li><strong>PNG:</strong> Ideal for images with transparent backgrounds.</li>
	<li><strong>SVG:</strong> Best for logos, icons, and simple graphics.</li>
	<li><strong>WebP</strong>: Offers excellent compression in reduced file size.</li>
</ul>

<p>In addition, you will see <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVIF">AVIF</a> compressed images being used by top authority websites to optimize image size. But general users cannot download and view that sort of image in their default apps. But you can use GIF images to illustrate any infographics universally.</p>

<ol>
	<li>
	<h3 style="color:#434343; font-style:normal">Reduce the Image File Size</h3>
	</li>
</ol>

<p>To ensure the best website performance on search engines, you have to resize images to a small size while keeping the appropriate dimensions. Large images can significantly slow down page loading speed, but small images will not fit the width of the content.</p>

<p>As a solution, you have to export files in the right resolution and later resize them using lower PPI settings.&nbsp; Also, choose which format contains the same image information in less size. For example, JPG is smaller in size than PNG images.</p>

<p>The key considerations for Image resizing are:</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>Image Dimensions:</strong> Resize images to match the intended display size on your website.</li>
	<li><strong>Image Resolution:</strong> A standard resolution of 72 PPI is sufficient for web images.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>

<p>If you do not have enough software, you can use any of the <a href="https://tinypng.com/">online image resizer tools</a> to transform the size.</p>

<ol>
	<li>
	<h3 style="color:#434343; font-style:normal">Write Meaningful Alt-Text</h3>
	</li>
</ol>

<p>Alt text serves as a textual description of an image, which is crucial for both search engine optimization and readability. So, you have to provide context for search engines and screen readers inside it. A well-crafted alt text is the best practice of SEO.</p>

<p>The best practices for effective Alt-Text are&mdash;</p>

<ul>
	<li>Describe the image accurately and concisely.</li>
	<li>Adding relevant keywords to improve search engine visibility.</li>
	<li>Prioritizing the needs of visually impaired users.</li>
</ul>

<p>An example of effective Alt-Text is&mdash;</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>Poor Alt Text:</strong> &quot;Image of a cake&quot;</li>
	<li><strong>Good Alt Text:</strong> &quot;A slice of chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and sprinkles&quot;</li>
</ul>

<p>To identify suitable keywords for your alt text, use one of the <a href="https://viserx.com/blog/seo/what-are-the-best-tools-for-the-seo-analysis">best keyword research tools</a> like, <em>Semrush</em>. Premium tools will help you discover relevant keywords to optimize your image descriptions.</p>

<ol>
	<li>
	<h3 style="color:#434343; font-style:normal">Help UX with Image Captions</h3>
	</li>
</ol>

<p>Image captions are not a direct ranking factor, so publishers often ignore this. But you will see news portals publish captions to give readers perfect reference for the image.</p>

<p>After providing context just beside the image, the users can relate the image with the right context. Also, the search engine knows the image contains a similar context to the paragraph above or below. So, while it&rsquo;s engaging users, it is also helping in indexing the image separately for the same <a href="https://backlinko.com/hub/seo/search-intent">search intent</a>.</p>

<p>Follow this practice for the best SEO results for effective image captions&mdash;</p>

<ul>
	<li>Keep captions clear, concise, and easy to understand by removing unnecessary text.</li>
	<li>Provide additional context, historical information, or timestamps to enrich the user experience.</li>
	<li>Use relevant keywords to improve search engine visibility.</li>
</ul>

<p>Use captions judiciously, focusing on images that benefit from additional context.</p>

<ol>
	<li>
	<h3 style="color:#434343; font-style:normal">Get Benefit from Schema Markup for Images</h3>
	</li>
</ol>

<p>Using <a href="https://schema.org/ImageObject">ImageObject</a> schema markup, you will leverage structured data to search engines for better ranking opportunities. It will influence Google to know the context and content of your images.&nbsp;</p>

<p>But always remember to provide detailed information about your images, including the&mdash; title, description, URL, author, and date of creation. On the other side, the markup won&rsquo;t be much effective for your image SEO optimization.</p>

<ol>
	<li>
	<h3 style="color:#434343; font-style:normal">Turn on Browser Caching</h3>
	</li>
</ol>

<p>Browser caching is a technique that stores static files like images on a user&#39;s device to reduce load times and server requests. When a user revisits your website, the web browser can load cached files directly. So you get faster page load speed for them.</p>

<p><strong>The benefits of browser caching are&mdash;</strong></p>

<ul>
	<li>Faster Page Load Times</li>
	<li>Reduced Server Load</li>
	<li>Improved User Experience</li>
</ul>

<p><strong>How to implement browser caching&mdash;</strong></p>

<p>Set cache expiration headers. To do it, configure your web server to set appropriate cache expiration headers for images. Then, use a CDN (Content Delivery Network) that can store static assets like images closer to users. An expert <a href="https://viserx.com/services/web-development/website-development">website developer team</a> can do this for you within days.</p>

<ol>
	<li>
	<h3 style="color:#434343; font-style:normal">Avoiding Copyright Checks</h3>
	</li>
</ol>

<p>Using copyrighted images without permission can lead to significant legal trouble. From the recent <a href="https://apparelresources.com/business-news/retail/skechers-files-lawsuit-l-l-bean-alleged-shoe-design-infringement/">news on copyright lawsuits</a>, we know that companies like the <em>Postal Service</em> and <em>Skechers</em> have faced costly lawsuits for copyright infringement.&nbsp;</p>

<p>To avoid such issues, always ensure you have the right to use an image. This includes obtaining licenses from stock photo providers or creating your own original content. Do not forget that ignoring copyright laws can result in DMCA takedown notices and potential legal action.</p>

<ol>
	<li>
	<h3 style="color:#434343; font-style:normal">Never Hiding Images with Text</h3>
	</li>
</ol>

<p>Hiding text behind images is one of the <a href="https://viserx.com/blog/seo/black-hat-seo-techniques">black-hat SEO practices</a> that can bring in penalties from search engines. It&rsquo;s true that using images creatively can enhance your website&#39;s design and user experience. But you must make sure to avoid hiding important text elements like H1 headings.&nbsp;</p>

<p>If you have no other options to exclude texts from contents, instead of hiding texts, consider using long-tail alternative text for images to optimize them for search engines.&nbsp;</p>

<ol>
	<li>
	<h3 style="color:#434343; font-style:normal">Include Image in Sitemaps</h3>
	</li>
</ol>

<p>To improve image visibility in search engine results, consider adding images to your sitemap. You need it for a few reasons:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Search engines are more likely to discover and index your images when they are included in a sitemap.</li>
	<li>Improved indexing can result in increased organic traffic.</li>
	<li>WordPress users can utilize plugins like Yoast or RankMath to generate sitemaps.</li>
	<li>Non-WordPress users can employ tools like Screaming Frog to create sitemaps.</li>
</ul>

<ol>
	<li>
	<h3 style="color:#434343; font-style:normal">On-page SEO for Image Optimization</h3>
	</li>
</ol>

<p><a href="https://viserx.com/blog/seo/on-page-activities-in-seo">On-page SEO</a> can impact the visibility of your images in search results. For instance, you can optimize your pages for both text and image-based searches. Just add the following:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Craft clear and concise title tags that accurately reflect the content of your page and the images it contains.</li>
	<li>Write compelling meta descriptions that entice users to click through to your website.</li>
	<li>Employ tools like Semrush&#39;s On-Page SEO Checker to receive tailored recommendations for optimizing your pages.</li>
</ul>

<p>The meta description often comes beside the image after the searchers clicks on it and zoom it. If you write everything in 50 characters, it makes higher chances to see the meta texts beside images.</p>

<ol>
	<li>
	<h3 style="color:#434343; font-style:normal">Add a Lazy Loading System to Keep Readers</h3>
	</li>
</ol>

<p><a href="https://youtu.be/hJ7Rg1821Q0?si=HYXybYNbiQsacPr6">Lazy loading</a> is a technique that delays the loading of images and other resources until they are about to be viewed by the user. Many of us call this grey box simulation.&nbsp;</p>

<p>You can get enhanced page load times through it, especially for pages with many images. Here is the process to implement lazy loading.</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>HTML Attribute:</strong> Add the loading=&quot;lazy&quot; attribute to image tags: &lt;img src=&quot;image.jpg&quot; loading=&quot;lazy&quot; alt=&quot;Alt text&quot;&gt;</li>
	<li><strong>JavaScript Libraries:</strong> Use libraries like LazyLoad or Intersection Observer for more complex lazy-loading scenarios.</li>
</ul>

<p>But there are some important considerations. You should only apply lazy loading to images that appear below the fold to avoid negative impacts on performance.</p>

<ol>
	<li>
	<h3 style="color:#434343; font-style:normal">Responsive Images for Mobile Devices</h3>
	</li>
</ol>

<p>Given the prevalence of <a href="https://explodingtopics.com/blog/mobile-internet-traffic">mobile devices used</a> by 64% of people to visit websites, now we need to optimize every image for smaller screens. Here, the responsive image techniques ensure that images display appropriately on different devices.</p>

<p><strong>How to make responsive images:</strong></p>

<ul>
	<li>Follow responsive design principles to adapt your website&#39;s layout to various screen sizes.</li>
	<li>Select appropriate formats like JPEG, PNG, or WebP based on image quality and file size requirements.</li>
	<li>Reduce image file size without compromising quality to improve loading times.</li>
	<li>Use plugins in <a href="https://viserx.com/blog/web-development/what-cms-is-a-website-using">CMS platforms</a> like WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal to simplify the process.</li>
	<li>Delays the loading of images that are not immediately visible to the user, further improving performance.</li>
</ul>

<ol>
	<li>
	<h3 style="color:#434343; font-style:normal">Differentiate Righr Keyword &amp; Phrase</h3>
	</li>
</ol>

<p>You might have known that effective image SEO starts with deep keyword research. So, your main job should be to identify relevant keywords and phrases while doing the image SEO.&nbsp; Just make sure your target audience might use it to search for images related to your niche.</p>

<p>Use <a href="https://viserx.com/blog/seo/how-to-find-low-competition-keyword">keyword-finding systems</a> to uncover valuable insights. Always add keywords strategically into your image file names, alt text, and captions to improve your website&#39;s visibility in search engine image results.</p>

<ol>
	<li>
	<h3 style="color:#434343; font-style:normal">Write Body Content with an Image</h3>
	</li>
</ol>

<p>The body content also plays a special role in image SEO, just like content SEO. Imagine you are primarily a visual artist, and you upload your photography and paintings. But uploading those images just with Alt tags is not enough.</p>

<p>Instead, you can add a small paragraph beside the image to increase the image value to its top. Remember to align your written content with the theme of your images. This helps search engines understand the relevance of your content and improve your website&#39;s visibility.</p>

<ol>
	<li>
	<h3 style="color:#434343; font-style:normal">Share Images on Social Media</h3>
	</li>
</ol>

<p>Do you know that social media and forum discussions have the most domain authority? If you upload your image with the right alt text, your image can rank better.&nbsp;</p>

<p>In 2024, Google is prioritizing LinkedIn, Facebook, and Reddit posts. So, if you share your content on one of these sites, you are most likely to rank the content.&nbsp;</p>

15 Tips to Optimize Images for SEO

<p>5 ways to identify all the issues with image optimization for SEO. They are&mdash; broken image links, missing alt-text, improperly sized images, mobile optimizations, and <a href="https://www.interodigital.com/blog/how-to-optimize-your-website-for-google-lens-searches">image optimization for Google Lens</a>. Even a semi-professional expert in SEO can do this without any special tools. Let&rsquo;s discuss how to do the fixes!</p>

<h3>Method 1: Checking Broken Image Links</h3>

<p>Broken images can negatively impact your website&#39;s SEO and user experience. It can diminish the sales of an e-commerce website.</p>

<p><strong>How to identify:</strong> Use tools like Semrush Site Audit to find broken image links.</p>

<p><strong>How to Fix:</strong> Update the broken links with correct URLs or remove them altogether.</p>

<h3>Method 2: Finding Missing Alt Text</h3>

<p>Missing alt text blocks the accessibility for visually impaired users and reduces the visibility of your images in search engine results.</p>

<p><strong>How to identify:</strong> Use tools like Semrush Site Audit to find images without alt text.</p>

<p><strong>How to Fix:</strong> Add descriptive alt text to each image, focusing on relevant keywords.</p>

<h3>Method 3: Detecting Improperly Sized Images</h3>

<p>Large image file sizes can slow down your website&#39;s loading speed and negatively impact user experience and SEO.</p>

<p><strong>How to identify:</strong> Use Google PageSpeed Insights to identify large images.</p>

<p><strong>How to Fix:</strong> Compress and resize images to optimize their file size.</p>

<h3>Method 4: Checking Mobile-Friendliness</h3>

<p>Mobile-unfriendly images can negatively impact your website&#39;s mobile performance and user experience.</p>

<p><strong>How to identify:</strong> Use Google&#39;s Mobile-Friendly Test Tool to check your website&#39;s mobile compatibility.</p>

<p><strong>How to Fix:</strong> Ensure images are responsive and optimized for all probable screen sizes.</p>

<h3>Method 5: Completing Image Optimization for Google Lens</h3>

<p>Optimizing images for Google Lens can increase the visibility of your website in visual searches.</p>

<p><strong>How to Optimize:</strong></p>

<ul>
	<li>Provide high-quality, high-resolution images.</li>
	<li>Use descriptive file names and alt text.</li>
	<li>Add IPTC metadata to your images.</li>
	<li>Use Google Merchant Center to list your products.</li>
</ul>

How To Identify Issues With Your Images

<p>If you cannot manage an intentful, unique image design from a graphic designer for optimization, do not worry at all! There are AI-powered <a href="https://www.adobe.com/products/firefly/features/text-to-image.html">image generator</a> from <em>Adobe</em> that can help you create marvelous designs through &ldquo;<strong>text to images</strong>&rdquo; within seconds. What you have to do is give proper commands for the image dimension, color palette, and subject details.</p>

How to Design Unique Image without a Graphic Designer Team?

<p>Now, if you are still unsure about the image optimization process or if you have a large website with image optimization issues, of course, you cannot do it yourself. In such cases, you can contact us to get your things done most accurately.</p>

<p>At <a href="https://viserx.com/about">VISER X</a>,. Our team of expert researchers, content creators, and graphic designers work synergistically to deliver exceptional image SEO solutions.</p>

<h3>How We Enhance Your Image SEO</h3>

<ul>
	<li>In-Depth Keyword Research</li>
	<li>Compelling Visual Content Creation</li>
	<li>Strategic Image Placement</li>
	<li>Technical Image Optimization</li>
	<li>Comprehensive Image Metadata</li>
	<li>Regular Image Audits and Optimization</li>
</ul>

Start Optimizing Your Images for SEO

<p>So, that was pretty much everything about image alt tags SEO or Google image SEO in broader terms! Following our tips, you can identify the issues and get all the benefits of image SEO. Image SEO is nothing but makes the image fit for the search intent. For professional business websites, it is always better to appoint a digital marketing agency to complete all your optimization processes.</p>

Conclusion

<h3>Do I need copyright permissions to use any images on my website?</h3>

<p>Yes, you need copyright permission to publish on your website. Otherwise, your image could be considered a duplicate. There are many copyright-free images you can find online. But, the best practice is publishing a unique image that does not match other sources. You can visit paid sites like iStock to get licensed images.</p>

<h3>What happens after using too many images on a page?</h3>

<p>Your web page may look baffling after using too many images. It can reduce the page loading speed at the same time as causing confusion to the visitors. So, when you have to upload a lot of images, ensure you have provided enough spacing among them for a clean user experience besides compressing them.</p>

<h3>Should I create shareable images for social media?</h3>

<p>Yes, you must create an image shareable on social media. Images have more views compared to text-based content. If you can create images according to the right aspect ratio, social media users are going to have the best viewing experience, resulting in more reactions and responses.</p>

As images are the most engaging factor in a website, we listed 15 image SEO tips that solve issues like broken images, alt-text missing, and slow load time.

15 Image SEO Optimization Tips for Best Practices

Image SEO: 15 Image SEO Tips for More Organic Traffic

<p>While shopping online, have you ever noticed that the website has a smart filter system that lets you filter through products? It is a lifesaver when you need to narrow down your desired products based on various facets like brand, price, color, size, and others. Rather than scrolling down endlessly, you can find what you need, depending on your necessities. The filtering results also update in real-time, so you get the latest product according to what you need.</p>

<p>This filtering system is faceted navigation, saving your time and effort, especially when you are shopping online. Sounds interesting, right? So, let&rsquo;s go deep into it and explore how faceted navigation impacts SEO.</p>

<p>The first question is, &ldquo;What is faceted navigation?&rdquo; You already have a rough idea of faceted navigation from the introduction section. In simple terms, faceted navigation is a user-friendly navigation feature that helps your visitor narrow their preferred product list rather than scrolling through a long list of items. The filtering is based on several variables called &ldquo;facets,&rdquo; like product price, category, brand, etc. This feature allows visitors to find what they want quickly.</p>

<p>Let&rsquo;s look at faceted navigation examples to make it easier to understand. Suppose you are looking for a monitor, and your budget is 20 - 30 thousand. If you go to any online shop, there will be hundreds of monitor options, ranging from 10 thousand to more than 100 thousand. Now, scrolling through hundreds of items is a hassle. If there is an option where you can filter the monitors based on their price range, you can narrow the options from hundreds to 5-6. It will make the selection process easier and save you time. And, this filtering option that makes your shopping easier is faceted navigation.</p>

What Is Faceted Navigation?

<p>The fundamental functionality of faceted navigation allows the users to filter the search results based on multiple facets. It is used to let the user narrow down a large amount of options in a structured manner. Here is a step-by-step breakdown of how faceted navigation works.</p>

<h3>1. Data Categorization</h3>

<p>The products or items on the website are tagged using different and specific attributes or metadata. These attributes can contain different information about the item, like brand, color, prize, or publication date. These tags are the foundations of the facets.</p>

<h3>2. Displaying the Facets</h3>

<p>The website shows a set of filtering options as the visitor starts browsing or searching for anything. The options are based on the available facets for that particular set of items. For example, if you are looking for processors, you might see the price, brand, generation, core count, and other related filtering options.</p>

<h3>3. User Selections</h3>

<p>The visitors can select one or multiple filtering options in the offered facets. Continuing from the previous example, the visitor can select Ryzen, 5 series, and APU. It will show them the Ryzen 5 processors with built-in APUs like Ryzen 5 5600G. It helps the users to specify their search using multiple factors to get an accurate and minimal result.</p>

<h3>4. Dynamic Updates</h3>

<p>As the visitor applies the filtering options, the results automatically update in real-time without reloading the whole web page. It has a great visual impact as the user can see the filter option working, and it helps them refine or filter more specifically.</p>

<h3>5. Handling Dependencies</h3>

<p>Sometimes, the filtering option depends on each other, and if one changes, the other may also change. It&rsquo;s getting too complicated, so let&rsquo;s look at an example for better understanding. Suppose you are looking for a PC case. Now, depending on the brand, the case may or may not have a cooling fan. The color and size can also change depending on it. In these cases, the system automatically adapts to the changes and shows relevant filtering options to the visitors after the initial selection.</p>

<h3>6. Managing Facet Hierarchies</h3>

<p>Some facets have hierarchies in the main category, like Electronics, and in the sub-category, they may have PC, Laptop, PC parts, or PC accessories. It lets the visitors go to a deeper section of the product through the item category structure.</p>

How Does Faceted Navigation Work?

<p>So, faceted navigation is a cool feature, but do you actually need this feature? You may also ask, &ldquo;What type of websites are suited to use faceted navigation?&rdquo;</p>

<p>To answer these questions, we have made a list of website types with examples that will give you a clear idea of what kind of websites use faceted navigation and whether you need it or not.</p>

<ol>
	<li>E-Commerce Websites like Amazon or eBay</li>
	<li>Search Engines like Google or Bing</li>
	<li>Real Estate Websites like Realtor</li>
	<li>Job Portals like LinkedIn or Glassdoor</li>
	<li>Travel Agencies or Booking Websites like&nbsp; Booking.com or Airbnb</li>
	<li>Library and Academic Websites like Google Scholar or JSTOR</li>
	<li>News Websites like BBC or CNN</li>
	<li>Online Marketplaces like Alibaba</li>
	<li>Streaming Platforms like Netflix or Hulu</li>
	<li>Fashion and Lifestyle Websites like Zalando or ASOS</li>
</ol>

What Types of Websites Have Faceted Navigation?

<p>Faceted navigation offers tons of benefits that will improve your website&#39;s overall user experience and make item discovery way easier. Here are some of the most impactful benefits of faceted navigation:</p>

<h3>1.&nbsp; Improved User Experience</h3>

<p>You can already guess that the highest impact of faceted navigation is on the user experience of your website. Utilizing this feature, the users can quickly filter their desired product and get what they want. It is way more convenient than scrolling through an endless list of unwanted or irrelevant products.</p>

<h3>2. Increased Search Precision</h3>

<p>Faceted navigation delivers a better and tailored search result by allowing the visitors to filter the items based on multiple values in a specific category. As we said earlier, they can use different variables, like brand, model, price, and other options, to get the exact items they need.</p>

<h3>3. Faster Decision Making</h3>

<p>Most faceted navigation system updates the search results in real time as the user inputs the filters. It saves a lot of time, where you do not need to go through a vast amount of items you don&rsquo;t really need. Ultimately, it speeds up the decision-making process, especially in e-commerce or job websites where the amount of data set is enormous.</p>

<h3>4. Enhanced Conversion Rate for E-Commerce Websites</h3>

<p><a href="https://advertising.amazon.com/library/guides/conversion-rate#:~:text=Conversion%20rate%20is%20a%20marketing%20metric%20(shown%20as%20a%20percentage,apps%2C%20or%20other%20digital%20formats.">Conversion rate</a> indicates how many visitors are finally purchasing on your website. It is a significant value because you get no benefits if the visitor doesn&rsquo;t buy anything. Without faceted navigation, the visitors will get bored and tired of scrolling through all the product listings and leave before making a purchase. From this perspective, faceted navigation also impacts your conversion rate, increasing revenue and profit.</p>

<h3>5. Flexibility for Different User Requirements</h3>

<p>Visitors come in various categories; they may be price-sensitive, loyal to a brand, or maybe they are interested in a specific feature in a product category. No matter what they need, using faceted navigation will allow them to filter no matter what category of visitors they fall in.</p>

<h3>6. Scalability</h3>

<p>This item-filtering system is an ideal solution to handle large scale data with high complexity. As you can manage the datasets based on multiple variables, the job becomes easier and more sorted. Especially for large e-commerce or academic libraries, this is an optimal solution.</p>

<h3>7. Enhanced SEO</h3>

<p>Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is also enhanced using the faceted navigation system. The faceted navigation can create SEO-friendly URLs as the filters are applied. It allows search engines to index filtered content or product pages. It greatly increases visibility and website traffic, helping with long tail keyword ranking on the <a href="https://backlinko.com/hub/seo/serps">Search Engine Result Pages</a> (SERP).</p>

<h3>8. Product or Item Discovery</h3>

<p>It is a technique that allows visitors to explore new products or content they didn&#39;t know about initially. If you have facets like &ldquo;Latest Blogs&rdquo; or &ldquo;Discount Product.&rdquo; Using this, the visitors can stumble upon unique or new products they didn&rsquo;t know about and make a purchase. Suppose you are looking for an HP monitor, and you use the Discount facet out of curiosity. There, you find a better ASUS monitor that is currently on a discount and end up buying the ASUS monitor.</p>

Benefits of Faceted Navigation

<p>There are tons of advantages of faceted navigation, but it can also cause some complex issues regarding the SEO of your website. You must be careful about these issues and address them to keep your presence strong and dominating on the SERP. It happenes when you ignore the faceted navigation best practices.</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>Duplicate Content:</strong> Using multiple filters, the website may generate URLs with the same or similar content on the web page, confusing the search engine and affecting the search rankings.</li>
	<li><strong>Crawl Budget Wastage:</strong> Search engines like Google have a &ldquo;crawl budget,&rdquo; indicating the number of pages of a website that will be crawled and indexed. Since faceted navigation generates similar web pages with slightly different content based on the filters, you may run out of the crawl budget of the search engine. As a result, the search engine may index identical or less important pages, leaving behind important ones.</li>
	<li><strong>Index Bloat:</strong> Even if all the combinations of the search filters are crawled, the index of the search engine can become bloated with less important web pages. It will reduce the quality of your indexed pages as they contain similar items or products, diluting the relevance and authority of your website.</li>
	<li><strong>Thin or Low-Quality Pages:</strong> Some filter combinations may generate web pages with very few results or content that are not relevant. In that case, there are chances that the search engine will consider these pages with &ldquo;Thin&rdquo; content. Search engines normally prefer web pages with depth and substance, which these pages lack. It affects the SEO performance of the entire website.</li>
	<li><strong>Canonicalization:</strong> As we mentioned earlier, faceted navigation can generate URLs with similar or the same web pages with different filter combinations. The search engine may consider these pages separate if you don&rsquo;t use proper canonical tags. It will fragment the overall ranking potential of the website.</li>
	<li><strong>Duplicate Title Tags and Meta Descriptions:</strong> Similar web pages generated by faceted navigation may sometimes have the same or similar title tags and meta descriptions. It will confuse the search engines, reducing the importance and visibility of important web pages. It can also have a negative effect on the CTR if the optimization is not up to the mark.</li>
</ul>

What SEO Problems Can Faceted Navigation Cause?

<p>Now you know what issues you may face using faceted navigation. But how would you know that the issues exist on your website? Or how can you identify which issue you are facing?</p>

<p>To answer these questions, here are some of the most significant issues and how to find them.</p>

<h3>Audit URLs for Dacet Combination</h3>

<p>Gather the URLs that are generated by faceted navigation using tools like Screaming Frog, Sitebulb, or DeepCrawl. Your target will be to find long and complex URLs with multiple parameters and identify if the contents on these pages are the same or similar. You can also use a filter in the crawling tool you use to identify URLs with specific parameters to make the task easier.</p>

<h3>Analyze Crawl Budget</h3>

<p>Use crawl analytic software like Screaming Frog&rsquo;s &ldquo;Crawl Stats&rdquo; or Google Search Console to check how much of your crawl budget is spent on the faceted navigation generated URLs. Remember to reduce the crawling of less important URLs and prioritize more important pages for crawling.</p>

<h3>Look for Duplicate Content</h3>

<p>You can utilize software like Siteliner, Copyscape, or the duplicate content checker offered by Screaming Frog to identify faceted navigation generated web pages with similar content. Identify these URLs and parameters to get a list of web pages with duplicate content.</p>

<h3>Inspect Canonical Tags</h3>

<p>Since the problems are with facet-generated web pages, you can inspect them manually or use Screaming Frog across them. You need to make sure that the web pages with similar or the same content are using proper canonical tags that point to the main version of the page.</p>

<h3>Analyze Sitemap and Robots.txt</h3>

<p>Explore the XML sitemap of your website and ensure that only the important web pages are included in it. Properly use <a href="https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/robots/intro#:~:text=A%20robots.txt%20file%20tells,web%20page%20out%20of%20Google.">Robots.txt</a> to guide the search engine crawler through only the important web pages and block any irrelevant URLs.</p>

<h3>Find Duplicate Title Tags and Meta Descriptions</h3>

<p>Use Screaming Frog or anything similar to the tool to crawl through your website and look for duplicate title tags and meta descriptions. You have to ensure that the pages are different with unique content.</p>

<h3>URL Parameter Handling in Google Search Console</h3>

<p>Log into Google Search Console and go to URL Parameters. You can find the option right under Legacy Tools. Here, you must define how Google treats the URL parameters while crawling your website.</p>

How to Check for Faceted Navigation Issues?

<p>The issues look really serious, and you may wonder, &ldquo;How can I solve these problems?&rdquo; Don&rsquo;t worry; we have prepared a list of actions you can take to solve such SEO issues caused by using faceted navigation.</p>

<ol>
	<li>Use Canonical Tags Properly.</li>
	<li>Use noindex and follow tags on pages that do not need indexing.</li>
	<li>Prevent unnecessary URLs, parameters, or facet combinations from being crawled by properly utilizing the Robots.txt file.</li>
	<li>Configure Google Search Console to specify how URL parameters will be handled. You need to indicate which ones change content and which are not necessary to crawl.</li>
	<li>Sitemap optimization is another vital task to do to get rid of faceted navigation related issues where you need to ensure that only the valuable, content rich, and unique web pages are included.</li>
</ol>

<p>Overall, the best way to do faceted navigation is to combine it with a <a href="https://viserx.com/services/digital-marketing/seo/seo-audit">technical SEO process</a>.</p>

How to Fix Faceted Navigation Issues?

<p>The bottom line is faceted navigation is a powerful feature that greatly impacts the user experience. Especially if you own a website with a large set of data, like e-commerce or real estate, this feature can be a lifesaver.&nbsp;</p>

<p>So, are you planning on using faceted navigation on your website? Then, you need an experienced SEO team; otherwise, your online presence will be in danger. To save you from all these issues, you can rely on VISER X, the ultimate SEO agency with almost a decade of experience. Contact us if you need any help, advice, or service regarding SEO.</p>

Final Thoughts

<h3>Which SEO aspect is connected to faceted navigation?</h3>

<p>Technical SEO is connected to the faceted navigation. The problems that arise from this filtering process, like crawling issues or duplicate content, and the solutions are all part of technical SEO.</p>

<h3>Which tools are most useful to find out faceted navigation related issues?</h3>

<p>You can identify almost all the issues in your website caused by faceted navigation using 2 major tools, Screaming Frog and Google Search Console. You can always use any other similar tool you are comfortable with, but in general, these two should be enough.</p>

<h3>What is the biggest impact of faceted navigation on a website?</h3>

<p>The biggest impact of faceted navigation is on the user experience. This one feature can significantly increase user satisfaction, especially if you have a large dataset of items and visitors have to search through them. It will also increase your conversion rate as the visitors can get anything they want fast and easily.</p>

Faceted Navigation is a filtering feature that allows website visitors to filter through many items to the specific product they want. Let’s learn in detail.

Let's Talk.

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