Hi everyone! I’ve been working on a new blog post and I noticed that all my image filenames are just random strings like “IMG_5678.jpg” or “screenshot_1.png.”
I’ve heard some people say that Google looks at the actual filename of the image for ranking, while others say only the “Alt Text” matters. To be honest, it’s a lot of extra work to rename 20+ images before uploading them, so I wanted to ask—is it really worth the effort?
- Does naming an image something like “best-seo-tools-2026.jpg” instead of a random code actually help with Google Image search or overall page SEO? I’d love to know what you guys are doing for your sites. Thanks!
Yes, it does.
Google relies on the filenames to know the context of your images. A name like best-seo-tools..jpg is better than IMG_001. jpg, as it really lets search engines know what the image is about.
With that, my fast rules for image naming:
Use keywords (but don’t spam).
Instead of spaces or underscores, use hyphens (-).
Keep it short and descriptive.
It’s a small thing, but it can definitely help you rank better in Google Image search!