WordPress URL and Image SEO Essentials

Learning Objectives

By the end of this chapter, you'll be able to:

1. Create clean, keyword-rich URLs that boost your search rankings
2. Write effective alt text that helps both users and search engines
3. Choose the right WordPress plugins for image optimisation
4. Implement a consistent approach to technical SEO elements

Introduction

URLs and images are two technical elements that can make or break your WordPress site's SEO performance. Get them right, and you're giving Google clear signals about your content. Get them wrong, and you're missing out on easy ranking opportunities.

This chapter covers the practical steps to optimise both elements. You'll learn how to create URLs that actually help your SEO, write alt text that works, and use WordPress tools to make the whole process easier.

Lessons

Creating SEO-Friendly URLs in WordPress

WordPress automatically generates URLs from your page titles, but the default settings rarely give you the best SEO results. Here's how to fix that.

Setting up your permalink structure:

1. Go to Settings > Permalinks in your WordPress dashboard
2. Select 'Post name' structure (this gives you the cleanest URLs)
3. Click 'Save Changes'

Editing individual URL slugs:

1. Open any post or page in the WordPress editor
2. Look for the URL slug field (usually appears below the title)
3. Edit the slug to include your main keyword
4. Keep it short – aim for 3-5 words maximum
5. Use hyphens between words, never underscores or spaces

What makes a good URL slug:

• Includes your primary keyword
• Stays under 60 characters
• Uses simple, common words
• Avoids dates, numbers, or category names unless essential

Writing Alt Text That Actually Works

Alt text serves two purposes: helping visually impaired users understand images and giving search engines context about your visuals.

Adding alt text in WordPress:

1. Click on any image in your post or page
2. Select the image to open the settings panel
3. Find the 'Alt text' field
4. Write a clear, descriptive sentence about what the image shows

Alt text best practices:

• Describe what you see, not what you think it means
• Include relevant keywords naturally, but don't stuff them in
• Keep it under 125 characters (screen readers often cut off longer descriptions)
• Skip phrases like "image of" or "picture showing"
• Make each alt text unique, even for similar images

Examples of good vs poor alt text:

• Poor: "SEO image"
• Good: "WordPress dashboard showing permalink settings page"
• Poor: "Beautiful landscape sunset mountains nature photography"
• Good: "Mountain ridge silhouetted against orange sunset sky"

WordPress Plugins for Image SEO

The right plugins can automate much of your image optimisation work, but you need to know which ones actually help.

Essential image SEO plugins:

Yoast SEO – Handles technical SEO basics and gives you image SEO reminders:

1. Install and activate Yoast SEO
2. Go to SEO > General > Features
3. Enable XML sitemaps (includes images)
4. The plugin will remind you to add alt text when you forget

Smush – Compresses images without quality loss:

1. Install Smush from the plugin directory
2. Go to Smush settings
3. Enable automatic compression for new uploads
4. Use the bulk compress feature for existing images

ShortPixel – Alternative compression tool with better results for some image types:

1. Sign up for a free account (100 images per month)
2. Install and enter your API key
3. Enable automatic optimisation
4. Run bulk optimisation on your existing library

This is the bit most people miss: plugins won't fix poor alt text or bad file names. You still need to do the strategic work yourself.

Practice

Here's what to do right now:

1. Check your permalink structure: Go to Settings > Permalinks and make sure you're using 'Post name'

2. Audit 5 existing posts: Look at their URL slugs and rewrite any that are too long or don't include keywords

3. Review your latest 10 images: Check they all have descriptive, unique alt text

4. Install one compression plugin: Choose either Smush or ShortPixel and run it on your image library

5. Create a new test post: Practice writing a clean URL slug and adding proper alt text to at least one image

FAQs

Will changing my URLs after publishing hurt my SEO?
Yes, it can. If the page has been live for a while and has backlinks, set up a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new one. WordPress plugins like Redirection can handle this automatically.

How long should alt text be?
Aim for 125 characters or less. Screen readers often cut off longer descriptions, and you want to keep them concise for SEO purposes too.

Do decorative images need alt text?
If the image is purely decorative and adds no information, you can leave the alt text empty (but keep the alt attribute). This tells screen readers to skip the image.

Should I include keywords in every alt text?
Only when it makes sense naturally. Don't force keywords into alt text – describe what the image actually shows first.

Can I optimise images after uploading them?
Yes. You can edit alt text, compress images, and even change file names through your WordPress media library at any time.

Jargon Buster

Slug: The editable part of your URL that comes after your domain name. In WordPress, this is usually based on your page title but can be customised.

Alt text: Alternative text that describes an image for screen readers and search engines. Shows up if the image fails to load.

Permalink: The permanent URL structure for your WordPress site. This setting affects how all your page URLs are formatted.

301 redirect: A permanent redirect that tells search engines a page has moved to a new location and passes most of the SEO value to the new URL.

Image compression: Reducing file size while maintaining visual quality. Essential for page speed and user experience.

Wrap-up

URL and image optimisation might seem like small details, but they add up to make a real difference in your search rankings. Clean URLs help both users and search engines understand your content structure. Proper alt text makes your site accessible while giving Google more context about your pages.

The key is building these practices into your regular workflow. Set up your permalink structure once, then make URL and alt text optimisation part of your publishing checklist.

Ready to take your technical SEO further? Join our community of WordPress users who are serious about getting results: https://www.pixelhaze.academy/membership