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The Impact of Background on Product Photos for SEO

When it comes to product photography, the choice of background can significantly impact not only the visual appeal but also the SEO performance of your online store. Here’s how:

Plain Backgrounds: Using a plain background allows the product to stand out, making it the focal point of the image. This clarity can enhance user experience, leading to lower bounce rates and longer time spent on your site—factors that search engines consider for ranking. Plain backgrounds also make it easier for search engines to crawl your images, which can help improve your visibility in image search results.

Step and Repeat Backgrounds: While these backgrounds can add a creative touch and brand consistency, they may distract from the product itself. If the background is too busy or complex, it can confuse both users and search engines, potentially impacting the image's SEO. It’s essential to strike a balance between aesthetics and clarity to ensure your products are the center of attention.

In conclusion, while both background styles have their merits, a plain background is often more effective for SEO, enhancing user experience and visibility.

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For product photos, background choice affects SEO, particularly in image search optimization and user experience. Here’s how each type can impact it:

1. Plain Background

   • Load Speed & Optimization: Plain backgrounds (like white or neutral) typically have smaller file sizes, which aids in faster load times—a ranking factor for search engines.
   • User Focus: Plain backgrounds keep focus on the product, improving user experience and potentially reducing bounce rates, which can benefit SEO.
   • Image Indexing: Simple, clear backgrounds help Google categorize images, enhancing potential search results.

2. Step-and-Repeat Background

   • Brand Visibility: Using a background with your logo reinforces brand identity but may detract from product focus.
   • File Size & Complexity: Patterned or logo-based backgrounds usually mean larger files, impacting load speeds unless optimized.
   • Alt Text: Be sure to use alt text focused on the product.

Best practice: use plain backgrounds for eCommerce, with step-and-repeat for brand-centered campaigns.

@Friday Night Funkin said in How does the background on my product photos impact SEO - step and repeat vs. plain background:

@pix1234 Here's the link of the Photo Editing app I suggested: https://airbrush.com/

This is a very good article!

As a freelance digital marketing consultant, I'd say the background of your product photos impacts SEO indirectly. A step-and-repeat background enhances brand recognition but can distract from the product. A plain background keeps the focus on the product, ensuring clarity and professionalism, which can improve user engagement and thus, indirectly boost SEO.

@pix1234 Here's the link of the Photo Editing app I suggested: https://airbrush.com/

@pix1234 Here's the link of the App that I use: https://airbrush.com/

Hey! SEO is a maze, right? For product photos, a plain background might keep things clean for Google's scanners. But if you're all about branding, a subtle logo backdrop could work too. Just make sure it's not too in-your-face. I usually use an app called AirBrush to quickly remove and change the background. There are plenty of other ai photo editors too, get one and Good luck!

I actually wrote something relatively recently which might be of interest to you:

https://searchnewscentral.com/blog/2019/07/12/what-might-ai-machine-learning-image-experiments-teach-us-about-search/

The conclusion I basically came to was:

"If I were working on an eCommerce store selling rolls of fabric, I’d say that an image of a rolled up bit of fabric would be good for a mechanical mind to interpret. A zoomed in image of just the fabric’s texture, would also be pretty good! A lady standing by a fireplace with a wine-glass in one hand and a fabric-roll in the other? That would be very difficult for a mechanical mind to interpret."

Play with Google images. Type in your product (or competing products) and see which types of image gain the most prominent positions. That will give you an idea on, how advanced Google is in terms of interpreting certain objects. Do the images need to be super obvious with cut-outs against a blank background? Can you be more adventurous?

Also look at the image thumbnails for your products (or competing ones) on Google Shopping. See what's doing well there

IMO obvious is better for search algorithms, but then again may not have such good conversion rates as more adventurous creative