August 2nd, 2010 by Nick

Search engine optimization is a complex and evolving discipline. Take your eyes off it for a few weeks and you will slip behind. As SEO requires a fusion of theory and practice, confining yourself to either theory or implementation is counterproductive. Due to the fact that search engine optimization is a complicated combination of art and science, there are always issues which divide SEO professionals. Assessing which argument is more persuasive than another can be problematic, particularly for novices. There is no substitute for careful checking sources against one another and the gradual accumulation of knowledge through learning by doing.

A specific example of where expert opinion is somewhat divided relates to how well the major search engines can cope with images and image-based links. When optimising a site, it normally makes sense to focus on Google, Yahoo! and Bing because these search engines dominate the sphere of search. At Searchengineoptimization.co.uk we pursue targeted campaigns of a multifaceted style that are tailored to drive the sites of our clients up the search engine results pages. Emphasis is placed on getting more traffic and conversions for sites by improving their performance with a concentration on how the web crawlers of Google perceive them.

Some authoritative figures in the SEO world have claimed that the likes of Google cannot cope with image-based sites. Certainly, Google does like text and there is no point in maintaining that high grade content and long tail keywords are unimportant tools. In addition, the major search engines have traditionally had difficulties in appreciating images on sites. Users may have liked them more than the web crawlers. To be more specific, it has been maintained by reputable experts that image-based links do a site no favours whatsoever. It is therefore sometimes advised that images and image-based links are to be shunned so that sites can perform better in the competitive battle for higher rankings. Image-based links lack anchor text which is something that can work towards the progress of a site.

There are those who are unconvinced by the notion that image-based links should always be eschewed. They maintain that some users quite like links to be constructed out of images. If SEO is fundamentally about pleasing users, they indicate that compromises between what users and the search engines crave are sometimes necessary. It could perhaps be argued that if a site is too mundane it might not make the most of its traffic.

It is sometimes hard to make sense of arguments which are diametrically opposed to one another. However, in this case, evolution in the ‘search world’ means that it is possible to venture a reasonably balanced opinion on the matter under debate. Google and its less popular competitors are astute enough to spot that  image-based links are links. This means that a site will not be penalised for using image-based links in a direct manner. Unfortunately but obviously, using images as links means that you cannot seed keywords within links and thus adhering to the old pro-text bias still makes sense. The advocates of text-based links have sometimes been guilty of exaggeration, but this does not invalidate the thrust of their contentions.

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