Can Goolge See my Images?

Ron Killian

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Probably a dumb question...

On one of my sites I use a lightbox for my images. but I am really wondering if the search engines can see my images. Seems like that can't. If there a tool that can tell me if the images are visible to bots?
 

hrishivardhan

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AS per google guidelines google can not see images. That's why they uses alter tag or the image name for identifying the image. basically google bot can not identify the images they are not able to read t he image.
 

Ron Killian

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Well, I was not talking about them actually reading them, I realize that. I asked if they could see the images, or to make sure they were not blocked.
 

Mike001

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Of course they can, do a google search and look at all the images that come up from the search feature.

All those images are being captured from the sites that they crawl. I even build site maps for my images so that they are indexed quicker. I have read that an image sitemap may actually help you with SEO, if the alt tags and the images pertain to the site. Not certain how true that is but I do it just in case.

Whenever I perform a google search of a customer site, I will always click the image tab to check and make certain that the images are appearing with the correct alt text as I know for certain that helps SEO.
 

SEOPub

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Ron,

Looks like the replies above didn't understand what you were getting at.

What you are really asking is if using a lightbox is keeping Google from being able to see that there is an image there.

It really depends on how the lightbox is coded. For a long time, Google was terrible at reading pretty much any kind of script coding like Javascript and they could not read Flash at all. They have gotten much better at that.

What I would do is take a look at the text version in Google's cache of your website. If you see your ALT tag showing up in the text version, that means Google is aware of the image. If you don't, they are not getting through your lightbox code and seeing it.
 

Mike001

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Sorry Ron, I completely read over the light-box comment.

As SEOPub stated, I would check to see if Google is seeing the ALT text, if they are, and I am kind of betting they are if the page and light-box are coded correctly, then they are seeing the images.

Sorry for for response above that missed the mark.
 

hoangvu

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Looks like the replies above didn't understand what you were getting at.
I suppose Mike001 mentioned to the problem that Ron asking. the problem is he didn't say it directly and explaining according to a common way.

Of course they can, do a google search and look at all the images that come up from the search feature.

All those images are being captured from the sites that they crawl. I even build site maps for my images so that they are indexed quicker. I have read that an image sitemap may actually help you with SEO, if the alt tags and the images pertain to the site. Not certain how true that is but I do it just in case.

Whenever I perform a google search of a customer site, I will always click the image tab to check and make certain that the images are appearing with the correct alt text as I know for certain that helps SEO.

It really depends on how the lightbox is coded. For a long time, Google was terrible at reading pretty much any kind of script coding like Javascript and they could not read Flash at all. They have gotten much better at that.
Probably a dumb question...

On one of my sites I use a lightbox for my images. but I am really wondering if the search engines can see my images. Seems like that can't. If there a tool that can tell me if the images are visible to bots?
Ron,

I will go with the reply of SEOPub, it depends on your codes.

If possible, you can make the screenshots or share your website link where you realized that Google could not see or cache your images on your page/website?

We can check from there and we can easily check if Google stored your images into their database or ignore them when G spiders crawl your website.
 

Ron Killian

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Ron,

Looks like the replies above didn't understand what you were getting at.

What you are really asking is if using a lightbox is keeping Google from being able to see that there is an image there.

It really depends on how the lightbox is coded. For a long time, Google was terrible at reading pretty much any kind of script coding like Javascript and they could not read Flash at all. They have gotten much better at that.

What I would do is take a look at the text version in Google's cache of your website. If you see your ALT tag showing up in the text version, that means Google is aware of the image. If you don't, they are not getting through your lightbox code and seeing it.
To the rescue. I probably did not explain it well. But yes, that is it exactly. I double checked the source code and the images all show with standard IMG tags, so I should be good.

Yes, I remember years back reading that search engines did not do well with JS, probably why I was questioning.

And good idea about checking G's text version of the cache, I did not think about that. Will do.

Course my site got slapped some time back, so can't expect my images to rank either. Hopefully I can fix it, or try.

Appreciate the reply :)

Sorry Ron, I completely read over the light-box comment.

As SEOPub stated, I would check to see if Google is seeing the ALT text, if they are, and I am kind of betting they are if the page and light-box are coded correctly, then they are seeing the images.

Sorry for for response above that missed the mark.
And here we "thought" you were one of the good posters :( JK

No worries. Like I said, I probably did not explain it well.

I suppose Mike001 mentioned to the problem that Ron asking. the problem is he didn't say it directly and explaining according to a common way.

Ron,

I will go with the reply of SEOPub, it depends on your codes.

If possible, you can make the screenshots or share your website link where you realized that Google could not see or cache your images on your page/website?

We can check from there and we can easily check if Google stored your images into their database or ignore them when G spiders crawl your website.
Mike did just fine. He's one of the good guys :)

Thanks, but I'll do as SEOPub suggested in his other reply.

No need to share your website on a public forum Ron.

All you have to do is go to the Google search bar and type

cache:http://yourdomainhere.com

Then you will see a link that says, "Text-only version". Click that and take a look at what you see.
Appreciate it, that is what I will be doing.
 

oriondigital

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Hi,
1.Photos on Google Photos are private by default unless you share them or tag people in your photo.
2.Choosing the correct privacy settings, however, is just as important as storing another set of files. Like most social media sites, Google gives you the option to share photos publicly or with select friends.
 

brainitec

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Google cant see images

Google cant see images.That is why the text inside alt text is used for identification purpose.
 

seoplan01

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I definitely agree with SEopub its up to how your lightbox is coded he pretty much answered your question. Yes, there are tools out there like that will check if robots.txt file blocks Google web crawlers from specific URLs on your website
 

Riviera

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Probably a dumb question...

On one of my sites I use a lightbox for my images. but I am really wondering if the search engines can see my images. Seems like that can't. If there a tool that can tell me if the images are visible to bots?
Hello Mr.Ron
Lightbox is ok, not related to any thing of Google. Why? For example, i will write out that html code as below.

Code:
<a href="domain.com/photo.jpg" rel="lightbox">
<img src="domain.com/photo.jpg" alt="this photo is about Lucky Luke" title="Lucky Luke example">
</a>
The important thing with your photo is the alt="photo description". Google will index the photo and understand it as description "The Lucky Luke''.
Make sure that your website is ready to be indexed. Check robots.txt for sure.
And check this option: settings > reading > Search Engine Visibility [ do not stick is ok ] Discourage search engines from indexing this site.

Regards.
 

Namita Kulkarni

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Probably a dumb question...

On one of my sites I use a lightbox for my images. but I am really wondering if the search engines can see my images. Seems like that can't. If there a tool that can tell me if the images are visible to bots?
Their is no tool, which can help Google to see images in your website. Google can't see your images so in order to tell Google what your image is all about you need to optimize the image. Image optimization includes - Giving proper Image file name, Image Alt Tag, Title Tag, Description Tag, Image Dimensions, etc.
 

sonamg9291710

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No.... google cannot see images that's why we use alt tag. The alt tag defines what’s on the image and the function of that image on the page or the image name for identifying the image. I suggest you to check your robots.txt file.
 

simicartan

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ok I know that google uses alter tag to "understand" the images. but I'm still confused that how Google can search for the same images when we use the option "search for similar images"
 
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