As technology continues to expand many digital marketing experts are beginning to learn more and more about SVG images and trying to identify if having SVG images on their site is beneficial to their SEO strategy or not.
SVG or Scalable Vector Graphic is an XML language and used for animations and creating images in the web designing process. They are created using a list of coordinates on the X and Y axis. The plotted coordinates are joined together by using a set of instructions and applying the same on the SVG generated. This helps create the shapes and images that can be combined together to create a stunning graphic.
The popularity of SVG is skyrocketing in the digital world with its usage reaching dramatic levels. There are many reasons why designers and developers are being attracted to SVG and giving it preference over the more regular JPEG, PNG and GIF formats.
Scalability is definitely one of the most attractive features of SVG. It can be set to any required width and it will scale without the quality being compromised. For designers this is a huge plus as it can save time as they generally have to create images for mobile, tablet and desktop versions. SVG can be used in both web and print media as it is independent of resolution.
It is a myth that SVG file sizes are larger. It is not. It is much smaller that bitmapped alternatives. This can boost loading times significantly and improve the performance of websites. Pages can load even more quickly as with SVG, the number of HTTP requests come down as SVG remains embedded in the HTML of a web page and does not use any external location.
SVG is a Document Object Model (DOM) just like an iframe. When the browser renders the page, SVG is positioned within the DOM. SPG can be developed on a canvas of the desired size and displayed in the browser in any required size which makes creating responsive content easy and convenient. Editing SVG on DOM is also easy.
You can add custom styles to your documents with SVG. These include classes and IDs. You can also edit features such as color, dimensions, and opacity of the various elements. The editing task can be carried out on all browsers.
You can create custom animations of page elements with SVG. These include color transitions, adding rotations, growing and shrinking content and fade in/fade out among others. These animations are now routinely used in web design.
SVG works in all the popularly used browsers which work to the benefit of those who have to deal with a range of different browsing systems.
As SVG can be used in the <img> format, the filename used can be descriptive and with ALT text, search engines will be able to crawl the page better and boost website rankings.
In short, yes, SVG images are easier to scan and are easier for search engines to navigate through (they can be indexed by crawlers); however, they aren’t always easy to create without the use of advanced coding skills or tools.
For web designers, SVG animation creator has thrown a new wrench into their strategies, especially for web designers who work closely with marketing managers and have been looking for new and innovative ways to decrease image sizes and eliminate blurry photos once and for all.
When thinking about basic programming languages used in web design, it’s important to note that Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) offers a handful of benefits to all websites out there.
SVG is a XML-based vector image format that is, of course, always formed by text. Unlike other types of image formats like PNG or GIF, SVG has several features that are good for SEO.
Search engines, as the changes of Google ranking factors showed us many-many times during the past several years, prefer websites that are aesthetically pleasing and responsive. When it comes to images, they usually tend to increase page load times and make responsiveness difficult, but not SVG. SVG is formed by vectors, which means that it's scalable, looks good on any device, and has no pixel limitation. Because it's text-based (or code-based, as we prefer to say), it has a smaller size than other image formats and it's a lot easier for search engines to load them.
SVG allows three types of graphic objects: vector graphic shapes, bitmap images, and text. Graphical objects can be grouped, styled, transformed, and composited into rendered objects; therefore, it gives you the opportunity to draw images that are complicated and have them easily rendered to fit your website.
If you are looking for one more reason to choose SVG over PNG, JPG, or GIF, it's important to know that SVG images can contain hyperlinks to other documents, using XLink. What could be more important when it comes to SEO strategies than links and link building? Even though SEO experts prefer links that are directing to their own website, it's also important to offer relevant and helpful links to the readers. Search engines understand the importance of a link for a user and actually reward useful link structures on a website.
Despite the fact that SVG can be used in many ways on a website (images, illustrations, icons, and so on), the most popular use of SVG images is actually website logos. There has been a lot of debate about the pros and cons of SVG over icon fonts, but according to a recent Huffington Post article, it has been proven that some of the best web development sites are those who use animated SVG logos. In case you didn't know, SVG content can be animated using built-in animation elements such as <animate>, <animateMotion> and <animateColor>.
Business logos are often ignored by website visitors, especially when it's an unknown and relatively new brand, but animated logos usually gain more attention than static ones and play a huge part in building brand awareness.
SVG logos can be easily edited and actually help in lowering the amount of distortion often associated with other image formats that have been previously edited.
What other ways have you found SVG images to be helpful in your 2020 SEO strategies? Leave your comments below and let us know so we can share the information with others.
