Do file names affect SEO?

File names for images, documents or PDF files are often ignored and only entered at the last minute. However, as with ALT text, it makes sense to treat it carefully so that it is better indexed and recognized by Google and other search engines. In this blog post, let's look at the best practices for doing this and how you can apply them to your website!

There is a lot of work you need to do for each website you manage. The list that Google takes into account for ranking your website includes more than 200 factors. So the optimization work for this is an ongoing activity for many website owners. Most people are probably aware that alt texts are important for search engine optimization, but the file name itself also plays a role.

What should your file name contain?

As with the alt text of an image, it is important to specify what exactly the image or file name represents or what it is intended for.







For example, for an ebook or whitepaper, you could write: 14-tips-for-website-inside-google.pdf And for an image relating to a hosting package: Hosting-package-possibilities.png With the additional alt text, you can make it clear here what the purpose of the image is, making it easier for Google to index.



This also looks more logical for a customer or visitor than, for example, the file name: Agao132d-23ja.png This is a small adjustment, but can look much clearer for the sake of clarity. It is also much easier to search within your CMS for an image that you have used before. You can then easily search for terms to include related previous images.

Don't make file names too long and don't over-optimize them

As with other things, such as the page title or alt text, it is It is not advisable to make use of keyword stuffing here, i.e. artificial and excessive and excessive use of keywords for the sole purpose of passing them on to Google. to Google. This in turn is seen as a negative way to add value. more value.

You should therefore be brief and limit yourself to a few terms. Do not separate these terms with a space or any other character. Instead, use a hyphen - This ensures that the page can be loaded correctly by all browsers browsers and that this looks logical.

Should you implement this retroactively for all your images?

It is not necessary to implement this retroactively for your images, but consider it for the future. And for new content, you should also pay a little attention to it. After all, it doesn't have a deciding factor and will make a small contribution. As for previous file names, it's not worth spending hours of work on it, because you often have to adapt your existing posts for it as well and update some things, otherwise the files won't be found.

1 factor out of many

Google takes more than 200 factors into account to determine which websites appear first in search results, and the algorithm used for this is constantly evolving. So keep up to date with developments and follow our blog to stay up to date! We'll give you lots of tips to help you get the most out of your website hosting!