Images – or more broadly, graphics – are an extremely important component of any WordPress website according to web design expert Peter Brittain. They are engaging, they can encourage people to explore your content, and they can help you claw your way up the search engine rankings.
As the old saying goes, “A picture is worth a thousand words”. If we extend the definition of picture to include things like infographics, GIFs, and other visually engaging content, we have a modern definition which applies to website creation.
However, images are good for more than just telling a visual story. Some of the most important functions of images on your WordPress website include:
Images can help you jump up the search engine rankings – when used properly:
Although a lot of beginners don’t realise this, images are actually a huge factor when it comes to search engine rankings and search engine optimisation. Search engine crawler bots will pay particular attention to your images, and you can win big ranking bonuses if they are labelled correctly with things like meta tags and captions.
If you aren’t sure how to do this a quick Google search will help you out. Although it can be confusing to start with, it is definitely worth learning how to label your images properly if you want to rank highly in search engine results.
They are great on social media:
Picture this scenario: one of your readers really enjoys what they are reading on your website, and they decide to share it on their favourite social media platform. Now, when a link is shared on social media, what is the most obvious thing that is shown?
The link’s feature image of course!
This point alone should be enough of a reason for you to make the effort to include high quality images in your website content. Think about it – links with high quality, appealing images are much more likely to receive the social media attention, right?
They make your content much more readable:
The internet has become an extremely competitive space in recent years. A lot of web entrepreneurs are trying to make their fortunes by creating high quality, engaging websites which attract a lot of visitors. Sure, it might take a lot of time and effort to include a decent picture in all of your posts, but it is worth it, I promise!
Pictures (or other types of visual content) are a great way to break up long pieces of written content. They will help readers stay engaged with your content, and will reduce the risk of people leaving your page soon after they arrive.
Why wouldn’t you include pictures?
As noted above, the internet has become an extremely competitive space. If you want your content read and your website to rank on search engine pages, you need to work hard on your images.
Really, there is no real reason why you shouldn’t include some pictures in your content. Make sure that they are relevant, high quality (but not too large, or they will slow your page load speed), and placed in strategic positions. Learn how to use captions and meta tags, and you will be well on the way to internet success!