In a recent discussion, Google’s Gary Illyes emphasized the often-overlooked potential of image and video search, urging SEOs to pay more attention to these areas.
Illyes participated in a Reddit AMA on February 8, where he initially mentioned: “Nowadays I’m focusing more on Google Images and Video.”
When a Reddit user inquired about developments in image search, Illyes mentioned that while he couldn’t pre-announce details, media search is “way too ignored,” even within Google.
To address this, Google plans to assign more engineers to improve media search this year.
In his own words, Illyes stated: “We simply know that media search is way too ignored for what it’s capable of doing for publishers so we’re throwing more engineers at it as well as more outreach.”
The topic arose again in the AMA when a user asked about common SEO oversights. Illyes pointed out that image and video search are often overlooked by SEOs.
He remarked: “Google Images and Video search is often overlooked, but they have massive potential.”
Additionally, the AMA revealed more about Google’s use of image recognition as a relevancy signal. When asked if this technology is part of the document selection algorithm, Illyes affirmed with a simple “Yea.”
For SEOs, this implies that using images clearly relevant to the content could be beneficial. While engaging visuals like memes and GIFs are popular, straightforward images might be more easily recognized for their relevance by Google.
Furthermore, web accessibility, such as alt text, though recommended for making images more accessible, is not considered a direct ranking factor.
Illyes confirmed this when asked if web accessibility would influence image and video rankings, responding with: “Unfortunately, no.”
For more insights from Gary Illyes, refer to the full AMA.
