Member Avatar for InsightsDigital

Though Bing may not necessarily out beat Google, it is now a preferred search engine for image search and verticals.

http://www.bing.com/visualsearch

So what do you think? Would you use images for your online communities and optimize it to increase traffic to your site?

  • 2 Contributors
  • 3 Replies
  • 208 Views
  • 3 Days Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by MktgRob

Dani AI

Generated

Good thread — flagged the image/vertical angle and is already testing with clients. Below is a compact, practical checklist to turn images into measurable traffic and better placement in verticals (technical steps first, then how to measure and prioritize).

Start with fundamentals: keep meaningful images in the page HTML (not only in CSS), use semantic markup (<img>/<picture>), descriptive filenames, and concise, human-readable alt text. Place images near relevant copy and add short captions when useful. Serve responsive variants (srcset + sizes), use native lazy loading (loading="lazy"), and deliver next‑gen formats (WebP/AVIF) with fallbacks to cut bytes and improve Core Web Vitals. Google Image best practices and practical image-format guidance are good references. (developers.google.com)

A small implementation example (use as a template and adapt sizes/paths):

<p itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject">
  <picture>
    <source type="image/avif" srcset="img/photo-800.avif 800w, img/photo-400.avif 400w">
    <source type="image/webp" srcset="img/photo-800.webp 800w, img/photo-400.webp 400w">
    <img src="img/photo-800.jpg"
         alt="Red wooden dining chair"
         loading="lazy"
         srcset="img/photo-800.jpg 800w, img/photo-400.jpg 400w"
         sizes="(max-width:600px) 100vw, 50vw"
         itemprop="contentUrl" />
  </picture>
  <meta itemprop="width" content="800" />
  <meta itemprop="height" content="600" />
</p>

For verticals and discovery: include image URLs in an image sitemap (or the image extension in your main sitemap), mark images with appropriate structured data (ImageObject, Product, Recipe, etc.), and submit product feeds where relevant. Use Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools to monitor impressions, index coverage, and CTR for image results, then iterate thumbnails/captions to lift clicks. See Google’s image-sitemap and schema guidance and Bing’s webmaster resources. (developers.google.com)

Quick prioritization: audit your site, fix the top 10 pages by traffic or conversion first, compress and add responsive variants, then measure image impressions and image-driven CTR for 2–4 weeks before scaling. Caution: avoid keyword-stuffed alt text or duplicate image URLs — aim for accessibility and real user context, which consistently performs best.

Recommended Answers

All 3 Replies

Member Avatar for MktgRob

Though Bing may not necessarily out beat Google, it is now a preferred search engine for image search and verticals.

http://www.bing.com/visualsearch

So what do you think? Would you use images for your online communities and optimize it to increase traffic to your site?

Absolutely, in fact I am exploring it right now with a few of my customers. And I would not discount Bing cutting into Google's turf because I have seen some reports around the web that Bing is growing faster than Google is.

Member Avatar for InsightsDigital

Yes, I have seen those reports as well that Bing is growing faster, but as everything else, such growth will plateau.

Member Avatar for MktgRob

Yes, I have seen those reports as well that Bing is growing faster, but as everything else, such growth will plateau.

True, but where that plateau will be will be interesting to see. If it double its share of SE traffic and Yahoo stays at between 10-15% of SE traffic then Google will be shown to be vulnerable. And if that happens it will be the SE equivalent of blood in the water for sharks.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.