The best use of stock photography is when there’s a strategy behind the use.
Does the Image Accurately Represent the Topic?
Sometimes images are used metaphorically and that’s not always the best choice.
For example, it is arguably a lost opportunity to use images of race cars in an article about the “race to succeed.”
That’s an instance of using an image that takes the word “race” in a context that’s different from the topic.
And really, that image does’t advance your goals for converting a site visitor to use a product, click a link or whatever action you want.
A better choice could be an aspirational image, one that shows the success that can result from using the product. That can be a successful holiday meal, a person graduating from college, whatever the outcome from the use of the product is can be a conversion-oriented image.
That’s a strategic use of an image to help a page convert a visitor into a consumer.
Would the Image Work Well In a Featured Snippet?
This is a good test of how relevant an image is to the topic. Studying the images used in featured snippets is a good way to improve your understanding of what it means for an image to be relevant to the topic of a web page.
Will a strategic use of a stock image help it rank in a featured snippet? That’s debatable.
I find that images with close ties to the topic, that can communicate an answer tend to work well for us. That means using original images or updating and improving on stock images.
Does the Image Help Conversions?
We were recently consulting with a Summer Camp for kids. Unfortunately, the camp did not have a lot of photos to use on their site. We found some terrific stock photography of kids having fun outside and used that for the images on the website.
By doing this, parents were able to imagine seeing their own kids running around outside, doing crafts and other super fun things. The conversiions on the site were through the roof.
If you would like to hear more about other great ways to increase your findability and conversions. Start a Live Chat wiith us or drop me an email at dwatts@waynation.com.