Story Based Question
You’re working on an SEO strategy for a large real estate website that features thousands of images. These images include property photos, maps, and infographics spread across various pages of the site. You want to make sure that search engines crawl the most important images first, ensuring they’re indexed properly and contribute to the site’s SEO. How do you prioritize these images in your sitemap for better crawlability?
Exact Answer
To prioritize images in your sitemap for better crawlability, you should categorize them based on their importance, use the <image:image> tag to provide image-specific metadata, and include images that are crucial for content in high-priority pages. Additionally, ensure that the images are properly linked and not hidden behind JavaScript or in unindexed areas.
Explanation
Prioritizing images in a sitemap is important because it helps search engines focus on the most valuable images first, ensuring they are indexed and contribute to your site’s overall SEO. Search engines like Google use image sitemaps to understand which images should be crawled, and how important they are in relation to your content. Here’s how to prioritize your images for better crawlability:
- Categorize Images Based on Importance: Identify which images are critical for your content. For example, images directly related to your core product, like property photos on a real estate website, should be prioritized. On the other hand, decorative or background images should be secondary.
- Use the
<image:image>Tag: In your image sitemap, use the<image:image>tag to include metadata for each image. This can help search engines understand the context of the image, such as its caption, title, and geographic location (if relevant). Including metadata will help search engines better evaluate the relevance of your images.
Example:
<url>
<loc>https://www.example.com/property1</loc>
<image:image>
<image:loc>https://www.example.com/images/property1.jpg</image:loc>
<image:title>Luxury 3-Bedroom Home</image:title>
<image:caption>Spacious living room with a view</image:caption>
</image:image>
</url> - Prioritize High-Value Pages: Include images from pages that are most important for SEO. If certain property listings or pages are generating the most traffic or conversions, make sure those pages’ images are included in the sitemap with higher priority.
- Ensure Images Are Accessible: Images that are crucial for SEO, such as product photos or infographics, should be properly linked to relevant content pages. Ensure that these images are not hidden behind JavaScript or other elements that search engines may have difficulty crawling.
- Use the
<priority>Tag (Optional): While the<priority>tag is typically used for URLs in a sitemap, it can also be used with images to signal the importance of an image relative to others. However, keep in mind that Google and other search engines give priority to content and URLs, so the<priority>tag for images might not be as influential as it is for web pages. - Update Your Sitemap Regularly: As new images are added or older ones are removed, ensure that your image sitemap stays up to date. Regularly updating your sitemap helps search engines crawl and index the most relevant content
Example
For a real estate website, let’s say you want to prioritize images from high-conversion pages like those showcasing properties for sale. You organize your image sitemap as follows:
- Important Pages with Key Images: The listing page for a luxury home is one of the highest-converting pages, so you include its images in the sitemap with relevant metadata.
<url>
<loc>https://www.example.com/luxury-home</loc>
<image:image>
<image:loc>https://www.example.com/images/luxury-home.jpg</image:loc>
<image:title>Luxury Home with Stunning Views</image:title>
<image:caption>Modern 5-bedroom house with a panoramic view of the city.</image:caption>
</image:image>
</url> - Less Important Decorative Images: On the about page, you may have background images that don’t add any significant SEO value. These images should still be included in the sitemap, but with a lower priority.
<url>
<loc>https://www.example.com/about-us</loc>
<image:image>
<image:loc>https://www.example.com/images/about-bg.jpg</image:loc>
<image:title>About Us Background Image</image:title>
</image:image>
</url> - Regular Sitemap Updates: Every time a new listing goes live, you update your sitemap to include its images, ensuring the most up-to-date content is crawled first.
By prioritizing your images, you ensure that search engines focus on the most relevant ones first, helping improve your site’s crawlability and SEO performance.
Prioritizing images in your sitemap ensures search engines can crawl the most important images on your site first. By categorizing images, using the <image:image> tag, and keeping your sitemap up-to-date, you improve both crawlability and SEO.