Image optimization analysis for SEO and performance. Checks alt text, file sizes, formats, responsive images, lazy loading, CLS prevention, image SERP rankings (via DataForSEO), and image file optimization (WebP/AVIF conversion, IPTC/XMP metadata injection). Use when user says "image optimization",

Image Optimization Analysis Checks Alt Text Present on all <img elements (except decorative: role="presentation" ) Descriptive: describes the image content, not "image.jpg" or "photo" Includes relevant keywords where natural, not keyword stuffed Length: 10 125 characters Good examples: "Professional plumber repairing kitchen sink faucet" "Red 2024 Toyota Camry sedan front view" "Team meeting in modern office conference room" Bad examples: "image.jpg" (filename, not description) "plumber plumbing plumber services" (keyword stuffing) "Click here" (not descriptive) File Size Tiered thresholds by image category: Image Category Target Warning Critical Thumbnails < 50KB 100KB 200KB Content images < 100KB 200KB 500KB Hero/banner images < 200KB 300KB 700KB Recommend compression to target thresholds where possible without quality loss. Format Format Browser Support Use Case WebP 97%+ Default recommendation AVIF 92%+ Best compression, newer JPEG 100% Fallback for photos PNG 100% Graphics with transparency SVG 100% Icons, logos, illustrations Recommend WebP/AVIF over JPEG/PNG. Check for <picture element with format fallbacks. Recommended <picture Element Pattern Use progressive enhancement with the most efficient format first: The browser will use the first supported format. Current browser support: AVIF 93.8%, WebP 95.3%. JPEG XL: Emerging Format Third party reporting and Wikipedia describe a Rust based JPEG XL decoder as shipped in Chrome 145 stable (2026 02 10) behind the chrome://flags/ enable jxl image format flag, not enabled by default; no Google owned confirmation was retrieved in the fact pack. Because default support is not confirmed, it is not yet practical for production web delivery. Keep serving AVIF/WebP with JPEG fallback and monitor. Responsive Images srcset attribute for multiple sizes sizes attribute matching layout breakpoints Appropriate resolution for device pixel ratios Lazy Loading loading="lazy" on below fold images Do NOT lazy load above fold/hero images (hurts LCP) Check for native vs JavaScript based lazy loading Detected lazy loader methods ( lazy method field) "${CLAUDE PLUGIN ROOT}/scripts/claude seo" run parse html.py classifies each image's lazy loading mechanism via the lazy method field on every image entry. Five values: lazy method Signal detected Common stack native loading="lazy" HTML attribute Modern browsers, plain HTML perfmatters data perfmatters src / srcset OR class perfmatters lazy WordPress + Perfmatters plugin ewww data ewww src / data eio OR class lazyload eio WordPress + EWWW Image Optimizer js generic data src / data lazy src / data original / data srcset OR class lazyload / lazyloaded / lazy Lazysizes, vanilla lazyload, jQuery plugins none Neither attribute nor class signal Page is not lazy loading this image When auditing image SEO, report lazy method alongside loading so users know whether their site is using a JS driven lazy loader (in which case the native loading="lazy" attribute is intentionally absent, that is not a regression). fetchpriority="high" for LCP Images Add fetchpriority="high" to your hero/LCP image to prioritize its download in the browser's network queue: Critical: Do NOT lazy load above the fold/LCP images. Using loading="lazy" on LCP images directly harms LCP scores. Reserve loading="lazy" for below the fold images only. decoding="async" for Non LCP Images Add decoding="async" to non LCP images to prevent image decoding from blocking the main thread: CLS Prevention width and height attributes set on all <img elements aspect ratio CSS as alternative Flag images without dimensions File Names Descriptive: blue running shoes.webp not IMG 1234.jpg Hyphenated, lowercase, no special characters Include relevant keywords CDN Usage Check if images served from CDN (different domain, CDN headers) Recommend CDN for image heavy sites Check for edge caching headers Output Image Audit Summary Metric Status Count Total Images XX Missing Alt Text ❌ XX Oversized ( 200KB) ⚠️ XX Wrong Format ⚠️ XX No Dimensions ⚠️ XX Not Lazy Loaded ⚠️ XX Prioritized Optimization List Sorted by file size impact (largest savings first): Image Current Size Format Issues Est. Savings ... ... ... ... ... Recommendations 1. Convert X images to WebP format (est. XX KB savings) 2. Add alt text to X images 3. Add dimensions to X images 4. Enable lazy loading on X below fold images 5. Compress X oversized images Image SERP Analysis When DataForSEO MCP is available, enhance the image audit with competitive data. /seo images serp <keyword Cross reference on page images with Google Images SERP rankings. Workflow: 1. Fetch Google Images results via serp google images live advanced (depth=100) 2. Extract: top domains, image types, alt text patterns 3. Output competitor image SERP landscape Output: Rank Domain Title/Alt Image URL Page URL 1 example.com "Blue running shoes..." .../shoes.webp /products/... Analysis includes: Domain dominance : which sites own the most image positions (top 10 by count) Alt text patterns : common title/alt patterns in top ranking images Format distribution : WebP vs JPEG vs PNG in top results Opportunity score : keywords where you have page rankings but no image presence If DataForSEO MCP is not available, inform user and suggest installing the extension. Image File Optimization Optimize image files for SEO: format conversion, metadata injection, compression. /seo images optimize <path Optimize image file(s) for web and SEO. Converts to WebP/AVIF, injects IPTC metadata, compresses, and generates responsive variants. Tools used (in order of preference): exiftool EXIF/IPTC/XMP read/write (install: sudo apt install libimage exiftool perl ) cwebp WebP conversion (install: sudo apt install webp ) ImageMagick convert Format conversion, resizing (pre installed on most systems) FFmpeg Fallback for format conversion (pre installed) Before running: Check which tools are available with which exiftool cwebp convert ffmpeg . Format Conversion Convert images to modern formats with metadata preservation: Metadata Injection (IPTC for Google Images Display) Google Images displays IPTC Creator, Credit Line, and Copyright in search results. This is NOT a ranking factor but can improve Google Images display and brand attribution. With exiftool (preferred): With ImageMagick (fallback): Note: WebP supports EXIF and XMP but not IPTC natively. For WebP files, use XMP fields instead of IPTC. exiftool handles this conversion automatically. AI Generated Images: DigitalSourceType (Merchant Center requirement) For product images produced by generative AI, Google Merchant Center requires IPTC DigitalSourceType: TrainedAlgorithmicMedia metadata. This is an operational policy requirement, not a ranking factor: feeds missing this label on AI generated imagery can be disapproved. Primary source (Merchant Center AI generated content policy): https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/14743464 (the ai optimization guide does not document DigitalSourceType/IPTC/Merchant labeling.) Audit command: Raw exiftool equivalents (for ad hoc usage): Google extracts these IPTC DigitalSourceType values: trainedAlgorithmicMedia : fully AI generated (use this for diffusion model product imagery) compositeSynthetic : mixes captured + AI generated elements algorithmicMedia : created purely by an algorithm, not from sampled training data compositeWithTrainedAlgorithmicMedia : composite of trained algorithmic media + other media (e.g. AI inpainting/outpainting over a real photo) digitalCapture : fully captured photograph (note: digitalCapture is not on Google's extracted values list, but is a valid IPTC value) Provenance signals (consumer facing): SynthID watermarks and C2PA Content Credentials are emerging signals for AI media identification. Treat product surface coverage as subject to change unless verified from a current Google owned source. This is detection/transparency, not an extra required Merchant feed field beyond IPTC DigitalSourceType. Licensable images: to earn the Licensable badge, supply EITHER structured data ( ImageObject with the license property + acquireLicensePage for the "Get this image" link) OR embedded IPTC photo metadata (Licensor URL / Web Statement of Rights). Cross link seo schema for the ImageObject markup. Discovery note: image discovery now includes visual search fan out across Lens / AI Mode / Circle to Search (Gemini multimodal scene/object understanding), so images surface via scene, objects, and materials, not alt text alone. No new published image SEO lever yet; keep descriptive alt text + clean structured data. When /seo images optimize is run on AI generated assets, prompt the user to confirm the source type and inject the matching IPTC value automatically. For AI generated product titles and descriptions , Google Merchant Center also requires the AI generated text to be separately specified and labeled in the feed. This is enforced at the feed layer, not the page layer, flag this in cross reference with seo ecommerce . Metadata Audit Full Optimization Pipeline For maximum image SEO, run this pipeline on each image: 1. Audit existing metadata : exiftool IPTC:all XMP:all image.jpg 2. Inject IPTC/XMP metadata : Creator, Copyright, Description 3. Convert to WebP : cwebp q 82 metadata all image.jpg o image.webp 4. Generate responsive variants : 400w, 800w, 1200w 5. Verify metadata preserved : exiftool image.webp 6. Generate <picture HTML : AVIF WebP JPEG fallback chain What Matters vs What Doesn't for Google Images Factor Impact Where to Set Alt text CRITICAL (ranking) HTML <img alt="" Filename HIGH (ranking) File system (descriptive, hyphenated) Page context HIGH (ranking) Surrounding HTML content File size/speed MEDIUM (indirect via CWV) Compression + format conversion IPTC Creator/Copyright LOW (display only) Image file metadata EXIF camera data NONE Irrelevant for SEO IPTC Keywords NONE Google ignores these Error Handling Scenario Action URL unreachable Report connection error with status code. Suggest verifying URL and checking if site requires authentication. No images found on page Report that no <img elements were detected. Suggest checking if images are loaded via JavaScript or CSS background image. Images behind CDN or authentication Note that image files could not be directly accessed for size analysis. Report available metadata (alt text, dimensions, format from markup) and flag inaccessible resources. exiftool not installed Fall back to ImageMagick for metadata. Recommend: sudo apt install libimage exiftool perl cwebp not installed Fall back to ImageMagick or FFmpeg for WebP conversion. Recommend: sudo apt install webp DataForSEO MCP not available Skip Image SERP Analysis section. Note extension is not installed.

seo-images