The cool thing about infographics is that they haven’t changed much over the years. They have become more popular for small businesses and are now one of the top ways to feature content for consumers, but other than the sheer amount of use they are still what they were a few years ago—a creative way to offer information and earn more eyes and engagement. If you have not yet dabbled in infographics, however, don’t sweat it. It’s easy to get started and it’s not something you want to use everyday, so starting now will still offer you the same benefits as those who started years ago.
The big question surrounding infographics is also SEO. Can you optimize an infographic, and are there any factors to take into consideration when Google crawls an infographic? Do they have a different affect on your SEO success than a traditional article? Consider some of the basics below and learn where infographics fit into your SEO picture.
The Benefits of Using Infographics
There are definitely some obvious benefits of infographics, but there are also things you may not have thought of before. If you’re on the fence about whether or not you want to venture into the infographic world as a small business, consider a few of the benefits below:
- It makes difficult data easier to understand. Sometimes very data-heavy articles can seem confusing when trying to keep everything straight. Showing data visually is used all the time to make it easier to understand, so why not on your blog?
- It’s great for visual learners. Regardless of what you’re trying to convey (even if it’s not data), it’s going to be easier to understand for someone who learns through visuals.
- They’re eye-catching. We always focus on eye-catching headlines and CTAs and images, and an infographic encompasses all of this.
- They work well for repurposing content. Infographics are so drastically different than traditional articles, so this is a good way to repurpose content that was maybe popular in the past or you want to bring up again.
- They’re easy for your readers to re-post. Almost all infographics have an embed code at the bottom of the page, so it’s easier for those looking at the graphic to repost onto their own blogs.
- They’re faster to read. It’s all about efficiency these days!
So because of all of these benefits there is really one major benefit that we can take: They’re considered more shareable, clickable, and linkable. Because they’re eye-catching, easy to understand, faster to read, etc., they are more likely to be shared, linked back to naturally across the web, and clicked in search results or on a blog post. This then brings us to the next and most important question of the article.
So Are There Any SEO Implications?
Google will crawl an infographic the same way it crawls a traditional piece of content, so all of your SEO rules still apply. However, what’s cool about infographics is that so many companies create them using data that other websites have published and then they link back to that data. In other words, the infographic craze is a great opportunity for you to earn links if you’re publishing case studies—take advantage!
Aside from just this fact, infographics are a great way to earn you more of those natural links. Include an embed code at the bottom of your graphic and actually encourage others to republish it on their own site (while of course giving you credit). Duplicate content doesn’t seem to be nearly as big of an issue with infographics.
In the end, all links within an infographic hold value and any links that link back to an infographic hold value. If you have an infographic on your website and that has a better chance of earning social shares and backlinks, then that makes your infographic invaluable to your SEO strategy.
Getting Started and Optimizing Infographics
Getting started with infographics is actually pretty simple. You can either create the graphic on your own using different templates on PowerPoint or through a template service, which you can learn more about here, or you can go through an agency to have an infographic created for you. Of course choosing the topic and having all of the right information is up to you, so it’s important to have a designer and a content specialist on your side so that the infographic is making things easier and not more complicated. For example, you don’t want to have a topic that is too broad.
As an example, check out the following infographic from Market Domination Media about infographics and why they’re so great:
Infographic by: Market Domination Media
For a great read about optimizing infographics for the most successful with readers, visit this article. Let us know what you think about this way of displaying information, either as a small business or as a consumer, and include some of your favorites in the comment section below.