How to Get Your Brand Photos Noticed by Google and AI
PHOTO OPTIMIZATION
You finally get your brand photos back. After all of the planning and waiting, you open your gallery, and (*sigh of relief*) they’re gorgeous.
You immediately upload them to your website, and you’re on cloud nine.
But here’s the thing nobody tells you about website photos: how you name and label your photos on the backend matters just as much as how amazing they look.
It’s not glamorous, but if you want to generate traffic so that people see your photos and connect with your brand, stick with me because you need to know this!
Optimize Your Photos for Search Engines
Does photo SEO actually matter?
The short answer is yes.
The longer answer is… Google and AI platforms, like ChatGPT and Claude, can’t “see” your photos the way you and I can.
These platforms rely on clues. Two of the biggest clues?
The file name
Something called alt text
Setting up your photo files correctly is like handing search engines a cheat sheet that says “here’s what this photo is and why it matters.”
If you skip these steps, your gorgeous photos that you’ve invested in are pretty much invisible to search engines. Yikes.
Two simple things every photo needs
If you haven’t optimized your photos (fancy language for making your photos visible to search engines), let’s make this super easy.
First, you’ll need…
1. A descriptive file name
Before you upload anything, take a look at your file name. If it looks like IMG_4521.jpg, that's a problem.
Cameras usually default to file names that are nothing more than a string of meaningless letters and numbers, as far as search engines are concerned. Let’s update your file names to include information that actually matters.
Here’s a simple formula:
[what you do] + [what's happening in the photo] + [your location] + [year]
For example:
brand-photographer-laughing-outdoor-headshot-irvine-2026.jpg
business-coach-working-at-desk-orange-county-2026.jpg
Some further tips: keep it lowercase, use hyphens between words instead of spaces, and don’t cram in every keyword you can think of. Just include the words that best describe the photo.
The next thing to update…
2. Alt text
Alt text lives inside your website, not on the photo file itself.
So, what is alt text? It’s a short description you add after you’ve uploaded the photo. Yep, pretty simple.
Most sites, including Squarespace (my recommended website platform), have a field for it in your image settings.
You can think of alt text as the photo caption a search engine reads to understand what the photo is about.
Your alt text might read something like, “Business owner smiling while working at a laptop in a bright home office.”
That’s it. Just describe what’s actually happening in the photo (don’t stuff it with keywords… Google doesn’t like that!), and you’re done!
So… now what?
Follow these easy steps:
Rename each file before you upload it following the formula above.
Upload the files to your website.
Go to the image settings and add a short alt text description.
Repeat for every photo you add to your site.
That's it. Easy peasy. Now you have photos that will generate traffic and work for you.
One final thing
Did you know that you can see how search engines are describing the pages of your website?
Yep, you can actually see what the internet is saying behind your back (sort of). All you have to do is right click anywhere on the page, click ‘inspect,” and then search for “alt.” It will show you exactly what text is associated with each image.
Pretty cool, right?
Follow these steps consistently, and your photos will do more than look good… they’ll also work hard to help the right people find your business.
Because that’s the whole point, right? Photos that not only look beautiful, but actually help your brand.
Need help aligning your website with your brand?
You’re going to want to check out The Website Edit! Let’s update your Squarespace site togetherL images and SEO. I’ll guide you to use your brand photos in the way that best tells your brand story! Learn more here!