Image Optimization - is changing the file name a good practice?

[moopy]

Hi all,

I've read in a few quality sources that image file names can impact keywords rankings.

If an image is called 123123.jpg for quite a while and this image is indexed by Google. Now, I would like to change the image name to widget-keyword.jpg. Do you reckon that this may create Google broken links or hurt me in any other way?

Thanks all!

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

I don't know about keyword rankings but Google image search can find your images through the file name. Try searching Google images for the unique name of an image on your website and it will probably be found, so Google does index image names.

[michaelj72]

I've changed a number of photo file names the past several months and they are now ranking quite well indeed, so i would recommend it. using a dash/hyphen between the descriptive keywords that help to identify the photo.

I don't know if that has any effect on the rankings of the page that the photo/s are on, but I suspect so provided there's clickthrough traffic with the images that come up in searches for the image-keywords you are targeting. I also didn't change them all in a short time, but did it over an extended period of time too

[AnkitMaheshwari]

I would recommend that you should use meaningful names than 123123.jpg,....
From personal experience, it should improve rankings in Google images

[moopy]

Thank you all for your replies (I've been skiing in Austria so I haven't gotten to this until now :))

The main question remains - will changing the image file names cause broken links in any way in Google?

[HuskyPup]

If you want images to do well then read my post #3963173 here:

[webmasterworld.com...]

will changing the image file names cause broken links in any way in Google?

They'll simply delete the old files with the re-named ones.

[moopy]

HuskyPup,

6. Complete the keyword with synonyms

Does this actually help with SEO? Any research was done that supports this?

Thanks!

[HuskyPup]

Does this actually help with SEO?

Yep, sure does.

Any research was done that supports this?

Yep, my experience:-) Just think of it this way.

You are SEOing for widget just like many other people however some people actually call it widgetX. Are you going to proud and say it should only be called widget or are you going to include synonyms widgetX, widgetY and widgetZ and give the SERPs and a potential user the chance to see your site?

I get thousands of referrals every month through synonyms, ignore them at your peril.

[levo]

Any suggestion for using CDN.. Does using cdn.domain.com instead of www.domain.com have any adverse effect?