When was the last time you updated all the photos and videos on your company website?

Technically speaking, when was the last time you investigated how you uploaded them, tagged them, and named these images for some extra SEO value to your site?

As we close this series, we want you to think about when the previously went through and checked all the media on your site.

How long has it been? 6 months? 1-2 years? 5 years?

People tend to overlook the videos and images they post on their website, assuming that once it’s upload the media will never have to be touched again.

Uploading media is only the beginning

As we’ve expressed through the earlier posts in this series, websites are never finished, and constantly need to be updated and maintained like a living creature.

Part of this is due to how rapidly technology changes over the years. People are used to seeing videos in higher quality on YouTube, and pictures are expected to have a higher pixel and DP rate then from previous decades.

In the last few years alone, the quality customers expect in video resolution has risen. So, if it’s been a few years since you’ve overhauled the media on your website, it’s probably time for an update.

Where do you start with video?

First, find all the videos you have on your site and review them. Now is a good time to check and see if the video itself is still relevant to your site.

Second, check the quality of the video. Most viewers are used to watching videos in 720p or even 1080p. If you have anything lower than that, it will be noticeably pixelated to people watching it.

Chances are if it’s old enough, the audio could be outdated as well, and perhaps is difficult for your website viewers harder to listen. If you used a camcorder 10 years ago to film the video, you’re going to need to redo the video.

Thirdly, notice to see what the video is playing from. If you’re using an old link or website to host the video, you may want to consider switching to something more current.

How frequently should you change out your images?

This one, there’s no hard and fast rule for. Image’s can still remain nice looking for a few years, but as a good rule of thumb, if you have newer photos, use them!

However, if you have some images that are not high resolution, and aren’t holding up very well against the battle of time, you should look into redoing them. If the photo looks dated, or perhaps just has a high pixelated quality, you need to replace it.

Older images can dampen your website, and just make it look unprofessional. Have an annual review of your site, and work with your website design provider to make the changes.

Do your alt tags need to be updated?

If your company has opened a new branch in another town, and you want to use the same images for example, you’re going to have to rename all of those images if you want them to appear high up in the search engines.

Here’s an example:

A car-mechanic business is in Moorhead and then they decided to move their business to West Fargo, and all their SEO tags have the word Moorhead in them.

Now say someone is specifically looking for a mechanic in West Fargo, and they’re not going to take their car in Moorhead when they know there’s going to be mechanics in West Fargo. All of that businesses tags still say Moorhead, and when that potential customer searches, their business will show up for Moorhead, instead of West Fargo.

A business won’t show up in the new location if their alt tags remained unchanged.

Does this seem overwhelming?

It can be a bit of a time consuming processes to keep track of all of the ways your website needs to be maintained. It’s challenging, and frankly, if you don’t know much about web design, you’re better off leaving it to an expert.

You’re better off paying for a service plan with your website provider to do these changes for you.

And if your website is incredibly out-of-date, you should consider updating your website who will offer you a service plan.

Not sure if you site is fresh and up-to-date?

Give us a call, or shoot us an email, we’ll give you a free consultation and answer whatever questions you have.