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Creative Process

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SEO Creative Process

When you think about SEO, you’re probably not thinking that it requires much creativity. It’s just a few keywords, backlinks and sitemaps that are all semi-confusing for the uninitiated, but to the true SEO artist, SEO can be a great creative expression. The creative process in SEO marketing also helps increase search engine results page (SERPs) rankings, and can actually increase the level of traffic a site receives. But how? By providing, reworking and creating creative assets (images, graphics, files, etc.), an SEO campaign can get pushed to the next level. What most people underestimate when it comes to SEO is its power to branch through text, HTML code and also visuals and images. Many people neglect to edit their visuals and images when constructing their SEO campaign, but SEO Expert knows that the creative process involves great creative assets. If you’re wondering how we do it, check out our creative process below.

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Creative Process

First Steps in SEO Creative Process

As someone who is probably not well-versed in the ways of SEO, or why image SEO is so important, the first step in the creative process is ensuring that you know what direction you want to take your site in. For many people, creative SEO is the last thing on their minds when creating a site. If it is mostly informational, content-based or otherwise non-visual, you’re probably neglecting the creative aspect of your site as it is. SEO Expert will evaluate the overall visual appeal of your website with you, and discuss how image SEO can improve not only your rankings, but also how people find your site.

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Creative Process

Acquiring Assets

If your site already has a wide variety of JPG images, infographics, original artwork, etc., you are definitely already on the right track. What your SEO campaign manager will do is take these images and files from you and properly evaluate them in terms of how they benefit your SEO.

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Creating SEO-Rich Assets

Once your SEO campaign managers have acquired all of your existing creative assets (images, infographics, artwork, etc.) they will begin working on the quality and SEO capabilities each document provides. From there, SEO Expert can figure out which images are netting a better return on your SEO and SERP rankings, and decide which ones are not working for you. At this point in the creative process, meeting with you to discuss a variety of creative image options will help get you on track to drive the most traffic to your site. If you would like to take a different creative approach to your site (more graphics, different artwork, etc.), this is where that all comes into play. After acquiring all of your assets, the basic creative process goes a little something like this:

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Creative Process

Why Creative Content is Needed

You’re probably thinking that images are important, but is image SEO really that important? The answer, of course, is “Yes!” Consider this: Writing great content only provides a certain amount of returns on your SEO investment. Writing with keyword-rich, relevant content is better than writing content without keywords, but you’re also not going to get all the hits that you want. When you create image SEO, you’re essentially providing an entirely different sitemap for search engines to “crawl.” Think about how many people search through the Images section on Google, Bing, etc., rather than through the general search engine results page. Also consider how many people share things on social media that have the thumbnail attached to the description, or how many people use Pinterest, Tumblr, Instagram, etc. Without a creative content campaign, you’re essentially missing out on a large portion of traffic. Why not give yourself every tool you need to create the best SEO campaign possible?

When you’re involved in the creative SEO process with SEO Expert, you’re going to find the visual look you want for your site, and also increase its function. Not only do images look great, but they work for you and help increase traffic and SERP rankings. You also increase the odds that people will want to use your (visually-appealing, user-friendly) website, thus increasing the odds of a conversion. Don’t underestimate the power of SEO; it’s not as cut and dry as you thought!

First Steps in SEO Creative Process

As someone who is probably not well-versed in the ways of SEO, or why image SEO is so important, the first step in the creative process is ensuring that you know what direction you want to take your site in. For many people, creative SEO is the last thing on their minds when creating a site. If it is mostly informational, content-based or otherwise non-visual, you’re probably neglecting the creative aspect of your site as it is. SEO Expert will evaluate the overall visual appeal of your online presence with you, and discuss how image SEO can improve not only your rankings, but also how people find it. Depending on the nature of your site, the SEO campaign managers may suggest more (or fewer) images or higher quality images, different infographics, headers, thumbnails, etc. Then you can also discuss the style you want to achieve with your site and what message you want to send with your visuals and images. Many people are surprised by how much a creative review and edit can change the look and feel of their site. While SEO has a lot to do with keywords and sitemaps, it’s also important to consider how people are going to interact with the site once they’re on it. From here, the creative process gets slightly more technical.

Acquiring Assets

If your site already has a wide variety of JPG images, infographics, original artwork, etc., you are definitely already on the right track. What your SEO campaign manager will do is take these images and files from you and properly evaluate them in terms of how they benefit your SEO. For example:

JPGs will be evaluated for their “content support.” Do they support the header or the content, or are they fillers? They will also be evaluated in terms of their file names – are there keywords inserted within the image or within the file name, and is that indexed with a search engine? SEO Expert will also check the size of the JPG to ensure that it is the optimal size for SEO. This means that the image is the right size to be made into a thumbnail, regular size image, social media “preview” thumbnail, etc. Sizing is everything when it comes to JPG—no one wants to use an image that is too large or blurry.

PSDs are PhotoShop Document files. PhotoShop is one of the most popular ways to edit, enhance or create an image that people can use on their sites. If you’re new to PhotoShop, and just happen to have no idea how to fix a PSD file, don’t worry. SEO Expert will take your PSD files, and ensure that they’re probably formatted in both PhotoShop and other image editing software. PSD files are also great for editing the size of an image which helps to decrease the download time on mobile devices. This means that your site will have images with proper file names, but also a more user-friendly experience.

Original Artwork/Photos will definitely be acquired and evaluated for your SEO campaign. If you’ve had someone design artwork for your site, or even if you have an e-commerce site with multiple photos of your products, these images can dramatically increase your SEO rankings. SEO Expert will evaluate the size/dimensions of said images and artwork to ensure download times and usability are on par. Then, the images will also be made SEO-friendly with keywords in the file names and alt tags. Your original content will help generate traffic to your site because, well, nobody else has them!

Infographics are incredibly popular for any site, and especially those that are hoping to increase SEO results. If you’ve already created infographics, you’re well ahead of the curve. However, many people don’t really know how to create infographics. If this is the case for you, SEO Expert will acquire the information and statistics needed to create the best infographic possible. Then, your infographics will be evaluated for size, usability/download speeds, visual appeal and also (of course) SEO rankings. With infographics, there are a lot of keywords that can be used, so it’s important to narrow it down to the most applicable and most fruitful keywords to get the best return.

Editing and filing images in like ways.

The campaign managers will make sure that all file names are in the same general SEO category, with similar or complementary keywords and tags. Then, all images will be resized and checked for proper pixels, as well as how it presents on mobile/desktop/tablet devices.

Ensuring infographics are visually friendly and informative.

If the information on your infographics is outdated or not relevant to SEO, this will be one of the first things that needs to be fixed. SEO Expert will help create most visually and informationally sound infographics, while also ensuring they are the right size and have the right tags and keywords.

Creating original images.

If you do not have anything on your site that is original, the campaign managers will most likely seek to change that. To drive organic traffic, you need to have original images. Whether this is photos of your merchandise or just original photos as article images, it will dramatically increase your returns. Also important is that the original images reflect your content, and are not just placeholders or “pretty thumbnails.” Original images + proper SEO = higher SERP rankings.

Captions and alt tags.

Odds are, you haven’t inserted captions or alt tags into your photos and images. As with file names, inserting keywords into captions and alt tags can drastically improve SEO rankings.

Placement and look.

SEO Expert will also be able to consider how an image appears on the site, and edit accordingly. If a picture breaks alignment in the content, or doesn’t seem to visually appeal, it will either be replaced or edited appropriately.

Evaluating competition.

Just like with any good keyword analysis, considering the competition’s image SEO and their rankings is crucial to knowing exactly how to approach your own image SEO. If your competition is lower in the image rankings, this is a great boost for you. If your competition has a higher image SEO rank, there is a lot to learn from them and how they’re gaining ranks in the SERPs. Insight from analyzing competition can really change the creative process, and show you want you to do (or want to avoid doing).

Implementation.

Once the campaign managers are happy with the changes made to your image SEO, it’s time to use image sitemaps found on major search engines. This is separate from your website sitemap, and will ensure that your images are “crawled” and stored in image search databases. Without this very basic step, you’re going to really miss out on a lot of traffic that comes as a result of image searches.

Revision, revision, revision.

If you’re familiar with the SEO process, you know how much revision is required after a site “goes live.” Sometimes, keywords, file names, images, etc. do not perform as well as had you’d hoped, and another analysis is needed. SEO Expert will keep track of all analytics, and ensure that changes are made if something isn’t performing well. This may also mean a “back to the drawing board” creative meeting, where you and your campaign managers consider where you want to go with the site and the creative content.

Updates and refreshing.

Unlike written content, creative content is not usually “evergreen.” Images and files need updates, changes and new ideas to stay on top of the SEO game. This means that SEO Expert will discuss inserting new images, new headers, new file names, etc. every once in a while to stir up traffic and generate different organic clicks based on new keywords. It also means that images will need to be checked for the optimal use and social media thumbnails are on par with where they’re needed. Infographics may also need to be updated to include more relevant or current information, and new photos can be used to display merchandise differently.

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