“Content is king,” this is a phrase all search marketers are familiar with. There is no question having relevant and unique content is going to benefit your site, but have you ever thought about the importance of images? Sure, they can make a site interesting and add to the viewer experience but images can add to the value of your SEO as well.

Google continues to place value on images, especially if they are relevant to a given search. A person solely searching for them is the fastest growing vertical search and it continually sees growth in the number of searches each year.

How can you and your site become part of these searches? Simple, do your homework. It goes back to keywords and more important how they relate to what people are searching for these days. Whatever image you decide is important, but what is crucial is how you include the image in your content.

Here are 5 tips:

1. File Naming – Be specific and mindful of your keywords
2. Use Appropriate File Types – GIF or JPG
3. Secondary Alt Tags – Be sure to use them and include keywords
4. URL Structure is important – Below is an ideal structure http://southtexashomes.com/southpadrerealestate/southpadrebeachhome.jpg
5. Make Sure All Images Have Context – Don’t put an image of an apple on a site about oranges.

A site optimized for images will add to the strength of the site but more importantly benefit SEO in all levels of search. So if the phrase “Content is King” holds any truth images should be considered an equal partner.