When it comes to the technical Search Engine Optimisation techniques for Local SEO, geotagging images is possibly one of the more contentious strategies, with some experts adamant that it has no positive impact on your Google Business Profile rankings, and others claiming that it can help and is an important aspect of any Local SEO work.
We’re more in the second camp than the first and, while we wouldn’t claim you can’t rank your GBP in the coveted Map Pack without geotagging the images and photos in your profile, we do believe it can help. After all, SEO in general is rarely about 1 thing improving outcomes 100%, and more a case of doing 100 things 1% better to improve the outcome. So when it comes to geotagging images for Local SEO:
- Is it likely to hurt your Local SEO? Doubtful.
- Is it hard to do? Not really.
- Does it take up inordinate amounts of time? No (see rest of this article).
- Could it help your Local SEO? Possibly.
With that in mind, we don’t really have a good reason not to geotag the images we upload to the Google Business Profiles we optimise, and would suggest it’s something you might want to consider doing when you optimise your own GBP. So whether you believe geo-tagging images is essential for Local SEO, or view it more as another box ticked on the optimisation checklist, here’s how to quickly and easily geotag images and photos for your GBP.
Geotagging & Image Optimisation
Before we look at geo-tagging in more detail, it’s quickly worth pointing out that it is just one aspect of optimising your images and photos for your GBP. One thing we would argue is always beneficial, to local or traditional SEO, is optimising the filenames and any meta tags of your images. You would always want your images to be optimised for the search terms you are trying to rank for – that is a hill we would die on!
So, for example, with local SEO, for the images and photos you upload to your GBP you might change the filename from /img-97833545.jpg to something like /grapefruit-london-seo-agency-logo.jpg. Similarly, you would want to add this keyword and location optimisation as the description/alt text for the image, too (we’ll show this when we add the geotags).
What is Geotagging & How Could It Help?
Basically, geotagging adds geographical details to the metadata of a photo or image in the form of longitude and latitude coordinates. This usually indicates where a photograph was taken but can also be added to images to provide some locational relevance which search engines could read and apply to the profile using the image. This additional relevance for a particular location could help Google determine which local business profiles may be more relevant for the map rankings for local search results in or near that location.
How to Geotag Images for Local SEO
If you’re taking photos for your Google Business Profile, your GPS Enabled camera or mobile phone should have the capacity to record and attach the location data of where the picture was taken to the photo. But as it will also likely save the photo with a decidedly unoptimised name you would want to edit anyway, and you may be using other images such as logos and graphics on your Google My Business profile, it can be easier to use a simple tool like GeoImgr to add the optimisation to your profile photos and images.
Using GeoImgr to Geotag Photos & Images for GBP
GeoImgr is a great geotagging tool and easy to use. If you only have a few images to optimise you should be able to do this with the free version, though if you want to upload a good number of images to your GBP you may need to upgrade to the PRO licence – but this is less than £10 for a month’s unlimited use.
As outlined in the geotagging tool, the steps for optimising and geotagging are very straightforward:
- Upload your images (the tools accepts jpg, png, and webp formats)
- Place the marker on the desired location or enter the latitude and longitude manually (if you struggle to locate the marker as the Search option isn’t available on the free plan, you can actually get your lat/long coordinates from the URL of your profile on Google Maps)
- Add additional keyword and location optimisation to the Keywords & Tags and Description/AlternativeText
- Press the Write EXIF Tags button to save the optimisation and location information to the image
- Download your newly geotagged and optimised image to upload to your GBP
And that’s it, you are now able to create geotagged and optimised images to use on your Google Business Profile, as well as the location-specific pages on your website. So while there may be some debate about whether geotagging has any influence on your GBP’s performance in the map rankings, when it’s almost as easy to do it as to not do it, it’s something we always do when we optimise for local search and just can’t see any reason why you wouldn’t – plus, the improved optimisation could help your images rank for any relevant image search.
Will geotagging on its own improve your performance in the search results – very doubtful. However, as part of a more comprehensive Local SEO strategy, it could be beneficial. Of course, geotagging is just one element of optimising your GBP for better performance in the local search results, so if you need assistance to ensure you have a fully-optimised business profile, just complete the callback request form below and we’ll get in touch to discuss how we can help.