Ensure visual content doesn’t affect site speed by using next-gen image formats and implementing lazy loading.
4. Distribute
Ensure content is consumed from one central location. Use cloud infrastructure and a CDN to host and distribute your assets efficiently.
5. Application, experience and infrastructure
Leverage entity search to gain a competitive edge by implementing a clear visual hierarchy and enhancing content scannability.
Well-structured, topical pages with relevant images and videos perform better. Develop snackable videos for your unique selling proposition (USP) and customer reviews.
Create content suitable for visual snippets, such as how-to guides and recipes. The goal is to optimize for Google’s multisearch feature, which combines image, video and text searches.
Infrastructure is one of the biggest gaps most businesses face.
Most DAM systems are designed only to store images and lack the capability to optimize them easily.
Having a DAM that provides real-time scoring of your asset quality and connects seamlessly with your websites and other channels is essential.
Dig deeper: Future-proofing digital experience in AI-first semantic search
6. Governance and checklist
Establish robust governance and checklists around quality, consistency and usage across all departments.
Continuously test which images are performing well in SERPs and conversions to refine your checklist.
7. Metrics and KPIs
Develop metrics to track SERP and rich snippet saturation, presence in AI overviews, overall click-through rates (CTR), clicks from visual search, engagement rates and page bounce rates.
As Google and other search engines incorporate conversational AI, short videos, images, and social media posts into search results – shifting away from traditional website listings – these strategies will help you effectively use visual content in 2025.
Success stories
Using the seven-step process as mentioned above, our clients were able to drive phenomenal success for their images on search.
A popular hotel in Georgetown saw a 104% increase in the number of times images appeared in search results versus the previous period.
Search results appearances lift:
A Massachusetts Resort and Spa saw a staggering lift in its visual search performance:
+ 871% increase in the number of times images appeared in search results versus the previous period.
+ 101% increase in overall image impressions versus the previous period.
Search results appearances lift:
Impressions lift:
Dominate visual search with well-optimized images and videos
Video and images are powerful tools for enhancing SEO and boosting online visibility. As LLMs become increasingly skilled at understanding and generating both text and visuals, you must prepare for more integrated visual-textual content creation and optimization strategies.
By prioritizing these areas, you can stay ahead of the curve in visual content and SEO for 2025. Embracing the latest technologies and features released by major tech companies will enable you to enhance your online presence and improve searchability.
Contributing authors are invited to create content for Search Engine Land and are chosen for their expertise and contribution to the search community. Our contributors work under the oversight of the editorial staff and contributions are checked for quality and relevance to our readers. The opinions they express are their own.