Developer forum

Hey Ferri

Quick disclaimer, I'm not an SEO expert, but I can help answer these questions.

Jump to the end to see concrete answers, but here's a preface.

Two elements to consider: content and performance.

Content:

The alt and title attributes on the img tag are relevant elements when talking about images and SEO. For product images, you have fields to set them as shown in this screenshot. Note that if you were to add an image to a webpage using a item type like Poster or Image, there are fields that let you set the alt attribute as well.

Performance:

Performance is, let's say, relevant to the SEO discussion, and relevant to your user experience certainly. 

Take a look at this screen shot and note that aside from the alt and title attributes, there are different URLs for different sizes of the image, and depending on the device, the server will generate the version that is relevant. 

In other words, we're optimizing the image that is served up so it isn't larger than necessary. 

If I had a 30MB image or a 500K image as my source, there would be a different time for the server to prepare this, which can effect the UX, but these are constraints on the server. So the general rule of thumb is that your images "shouldn't be too large", but it does not make sense to spend too much time worrying about this, as DynamicWeb and Swift serves up the images in just the right size. 

- What are the best image dimensions or aspect ratios to use for product photos?

• You don't have to worry and can use the Swift template set to create 'viewports' for images that are responsive, and also use the focal point

- Do DPI settings matter for web/SEO, or are they irrelevant? If so, what do you guys recommend? 

• DPI (dots per inch) is a printing term, and while it is info saved on an image, it is actually irrelevant for the web, so no need to worry about this particular setting. What matters is pixel dimensions, but 1440px at 72 dpi or 1440 px at 300 dpi will be shown the same on a screen, and only has an effect when you use a print design tool like Adobe InDesign or something

- Are there Dynamicweb recommendations or features to support image SEO (e.g. compression, alt tags, responsive handling)?

• Alt tags (and sometimes title tags), compression and responsive handling outlined above peripherally relevant