Creating the right file name for your photos and PDF files will help improve your website SEO. By using keywords in your file names, you are helping Google understand what your file is about.
Camera File Name
Don’t upload files with the default name assigned by your camera (DSC4567.jpg). Since WordPress uses the file name to create an image title for you, your file name should describe the image with keywords.
Hyphens Between Each Word
When you’re naming your photos, use hyphens (-) to separate the words in your file name. Since search engines use hyphens as markers between words, this helps them read each word separately.
- Good: abuzz-creative-web-design-photo.jpg
- Bad: abuzzcreativewebdesignphoto.jpg
The bad example is just one word that makes no sense to the search engines.
In the good example, they see “abuzz-creative-web-design-photo” as “abuzz creative web design photo” with spaces.
Be sure to use keywords that are relevant to the subject in your photo or graphic.
Underscores Do Not Help
Do not use underscores (_) between words. Search engines don’t recognize underscores as markers between words.
They see “abuzz_creative_photo.jpg” as “abuzzcreativephoto” which doesn’t mean anything, and certainly won’t help your web page SEO!
Files Names for SEO
Name all of the files that you upload to your website with search engine optimization in mind.
The same is true with photos and graphics you will be using online and on your social profiles.
Relevant keywords in the file name will help Google determine the topic of an image file without even looking.
