Infographics are a great way to get your message across—and the content marketing strategy of choice for many companies. But how do you make sure that readers take note? Here’s a guide on what to include and why it works. Infographics are incredible! They are not only one of the most excellent methods to quickly convey a complex subject, but they also bring knowledge to life. According to research, People who follow guidelines that include text and graphics perform 323 percent better than those who do not.
Perhaps this is why “infographics are ‘liked’ and shared 3x more than any other material on social media.” And the idea of using graphics to convey information isn’t new. Cave paintings and hieroglyphics going back to 30,000 BC did the same technique. They were significantly less sophisticated, but they showed how hard-wired visual information is into our brains. So it’s not difficult to understand why infographics have grown so popular in content marketing. In all of the document applications you use, you can find your infographics in three clicks or fewer. “Infographics are the most potent weapon in your content marketing armory,” according to Unbounce.
You’ll also want it to be SEO friendly, just like any other piece of content you publish. But here’s the thing: there’s a catch. When it comes to SEO for an infographic, you’ll need to take a slightly different strategy than you would for a regular blog article.
Essential aspects of infographic SEO:
The most difficult obstacle
First, I’d like to point out that infographics are simply visuals. Therefore, they’re usually stored in image formats like JPEG, PNG, GIF, etc.
Of course, they’re significantly more robust and contain far more information than a standard picture, yet Google sees them that way. This is significant because Google cannot “read” photos in the same way that it can text-based information like a blog post. Fortunately, there are a few more factors that you can improve.
Begin by doing keyword research.
Although you won’t be allowed to include keywords in the actual content of an infographic, there are a few places where you may do so. You’ll need to conduct keyword research to develop a significant keyword phrase and a few secondary keywords to target. Let’s pretend I wanted to make an infographic on productivity tips. A short Google Keyword Planner search reveals that “productivity hacks” have little competition, which is a good thing.
The only problem is that it’s a two-word short-tail keyword. However, I could make it work if I put “infographic” at the end of “productivity hacks.” There are a few options when it comes to secondary keywords.
The basic conclusion is that you should do keyword research the same way you would for any other piece of content. The only difference is how you go about putting those keywords into place.
Filename
It’s critical to choose the correct file name. This is one of the essential variables that Google considers when determining the topic of your infographic. Therefore, you must get it correctly. I shouldn’t have to tell you this, but you should avoid using something generic like Image001.png. This informs Google nothing and will result in a penalty for your infographic SEO. Instead, something like productivity-hacks-infographic.png might be a better option. It’s concise and to-the-point, and it tells Google precisely what your content is about. Just make sure you’re not keyword stuffing, repeating phrases, or doing anything that seems spammy. However, you are well aware of this.
Alt text
Your alt text is equally crucial. This is an image’s text alternative that lets someone know what the picture includes if it doesn’t load correctly. This text will be read aloud by screen readers for the blind and visually challenged, making your vision accessible. More significantly, this provides you another chance to describe what your infographic is about to Google. Follow recommended practices for alt text and explain your infographic as concisely as possible. For example, an “Infographic outlining 15 productivity techniques” could be appropriate in this scenario.
URL
For obvious reasons, your URL is crucial.
When it comes to the importance of URLs, as I said in an article from NeilPatel.com that cited Backlinko’s top 200 ranking determinants, here’s what we know:
- #46 is the length of the URL.
- #47 is the path to the URL.
- Finally, #51 is the keyword in the URL.
- Finally, #52 is the URL string.
I’m not going to go into the specifics of URL optimization right now. That information may be found in the previous post. However, I would advise you to strive for a short URL with three to five words and a maximum of 60 characters.
This advice came straight from a Matt Cutts interview, so you know it’s good.
Make sure to add one or two keywords in your URL when it comes to keywords. According to John Lincoln and Brian Dean’s research, this is the sweet spot, and it’s included in URL keyword best practices (at least for the time being).
H1 tag
Although you can’t use H1 tags (or H2s, H3s, or anything else) in the body of your infographic, you may use them above it so Google can “read” it.
Here’s an illustration:
Notice how the exact keyword phrase is utilized as an H1 tag at the top as it is in the actual infographic? This is a simple yet effective approach to boosting the SEO value of your infographic. While H1s aren’t as important in ranking as a few years ago, they still help. They’re handy for infographics when there’s a limited amount of text.
Description (meta)
Ah, the good ol’ Description (meta).
When generating one for your infographic, follow a few excellent practices.
- The length should be between 135 and 160 characters.
- It must include your keyword phrase (once).
- It should explain the content of your infographic correctly.
- It should include a call to action (CTA) at the Conclusion to encourage readers to click on your content from search engines.
Your infographic should rank higher on Google and bring in more organic visitors if you get it right. For more on creating a killer Description (meta), I recommend reading this post from Yoast.
Text to back up your claim
I’m a big fan of hacks, shortcuts, and loopholes. Whatever you choose to call them, little techniques like these help you acquire an advantage over the competitors. In terms of infographic SEO, there’s one particular technique I’d want to highlight. It’s simple. Add some text to back up your claim at the beginning. Here’s an excellent illustration of what I’m talking about:
It’s worth noting that it’s not anything special. Only a few lines explain the infographic and provide a short overview of its contents. This is beneficial in two ways. For starters, it gives a quick explanation to human visitors, which should spark their attention and encourage them to look at the infographic. Second (and more critically), it provides the extra text for Google to crawl and interpret. This makes it easier for people to find your infographic and enhances the chances of indexing for the correct keywords. As a result, it’s a win-win scenario. Of course, there’s no reason to go overboard and write 1,000 words of text to back up your claim, but 100 words or so can be a great help. You may also provide a few internal links to relevant pages on your website as a bonus. Try to include some internal connections, but don’t push it.
Load time
Google revealed that page speed was a ranking factor in 2010. Therefore, fast-loading content will be prioritized. Furthermore, a quicker load time equates to a smaller bounce rate, more excellent time spent on your site, etc. I’m trying to convey that you should be aware of how long your infographic takes to load. Remember that infographics are large pictures, so this may be an issue. PNGs, GIFs, JPEGs, BMPs, and TIFFs are the quickest to load in general, so bear that in mind when picking a file type. This free tool may also be used to evaluate the loading speed of your infographic. Put the URL into the address bar.
Then choose “Analyze” from the drop-down menu.
It will be analyzed and graded by Google. Then, if there are any problems, Google will give you specific recommendations for speeding things up.
Conclusion
SEO for an infographic isn’t dissimilar from SEO for any other content. Many of the same approaches and strategies are used. The primary issue you’ll have to deal with is that an infographic is a picture. Therefore, Google won’t be able to “understand” it as it does conventional text-based information. Fortunately, a few workarounds will guarantee that your infographic is optimized for search engines and people. You’ll position it to climb the ranks and obtain maximum exposure in the SERPs if you cover all the basics. Infographics are a great way to get your message across. They can be used for many things, such as raising awareness about a particular topic.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is infographic good for SEO?
A: Infographics are not suitable for SEO because they do not contain enough information to rank on the first page in a SERP.
How do you optimize content for SEO?
A: There are multiple ways to optimize content for search. One of these methods is adding metadata, which can be done automatically through tools like Google BigQuery or H2O. Another way would be to add relevant keywords and phrases in the meta description tag.
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