Just a general question when setting up products. Is there generally a minimum amount of product pictures that falls into a sweet spot when it comes to SEO visibility? I know adding videos will give you a bit of an SEO boost ,but is there a certain number of pictures that will generally give a boost in SEO for shopify stores as well? I know more “quality” pics are always a good thing, but the minimum amount of good quality pictures on different platforms can vary when it comes to giving that extra bit of boost even if it’s a small boost. I want to hear from others that may be using product pictures in quantity to achieve better SEO and what number of pictures you think starts to give your listings a little bit of SEO juice?
I have good alt text in place on the image files I have up so far. I’ve put up 2 to 4 images on all my products to this point as I’ve been setting up my site. My plan is to aim for 8 high quality images per product using different angles of the product as well as the product being used on a relevant item. once I get all my static images in place I’ll then be looking to create short 5 to 10 second videos for all of the products as well. I’ve seen google likes at least 5 images, but was wondering if it made any difference or maybe needed a few more images depending on the platform we have our shops on. I was on another platform for over a decade, but it was so behind the times and out of date. It’s been an adventure switching platforms to shopify that is actually with the times and seems to be pretty powerful for SEO. It’s a bit of a learning curve after being used to another platform for so long, but I’m picking things up pretty quickly and figuring stuff out as I go along in the journey. My main goal was getting the new site up as fast as i could with decent SEO function to start and once up and running spending all my down time tweaking everything and getting all the rest of the stuff in place and then working more on all the SEO facets, which I’ve been doing now for a few weeks. I just got my shop up and running in the first week of January and I’m already seeing a lot of my items as the top item in google searches, so I’m on the right track.
Hi @USABiker,
Honestly, seeing your items at the top of Google searches just a month after moving to Shopify is a massive win. You are definitely on the right track.
There is no magic number that suddenly unlocks Google’s favor, but your goal of 5 to 8 images is the sweet spot. Google’s algorithm rewards pages that keep users engaged. Showing different angles and real-world use keeps people on your page longer, which signals to Google that your content is highly relevant. Plus, more images mean more opportunities to show up in Google Image search.
The only real trap with going from 2 to 8 images (and adding video) is site speed. Heavy files will slow down your mobile load times, which can hurt your rankings.
To keep things fast without sacrificing quality, you might want to look at SearchPie: SEO, Speed & Schema. It automatically compresses your images so your site stays fast, and it helps manage your alt tags and image schemas in bulk. It is a great way to handle the boring technical stuff so you can focus on taking those photos.
Your plan for the short videos is going to be a game-changer. Keep doing what you’re doing!
I think there is no number of product photos that Google will “reward” for Shopify because Google (or other search engines) doesn’t rank a product page higher just because it has 6 images instead of three or vice versa. You should focus on how optimized the images are instead of the quantity of them.
So what matters?
- Unique, clear photos that show the product well
- Image SEO basics should be done well with decriptive filenames and meaningful alt text
- Make sure you optimize your page speed with all the images you have because heavy images can hurt core web vitals and therefore hurt your SEO
I understand you want a specific number or recommendations so for Shopify site for each product it should be 4-5 good image with different angles, main shot, scale/style or variants if needed. For stronger set up, you can have 6-8 ones but make sure they help add real infor that customers need. Videos also help engagement and shopping experience but they are not “required” to boost your SEO, so don’t overthink of doing it
Again, you should pay more attention to making every image useful instead of trying to add more of them. And if you want help with SEO side (alt text, compression to boost speed,..) while keeping pages fast, you can consider SEOWILL (here) which can support all of these.
Hope this helps!!
I can help you figure this out. I’ve worked with Shopify GraphQL APIs and feature previews before. Share your mutation, app configuration, and the full response, and I’ll help you get to the bottom of it.
From my experience, there isn’t a magic number of images that boosts SEO. I usually aim for 5–8 high-quality photos showing different angles and key features, then make sure every image has descriptive filenames and alt text. Those optimizations, along with fast loading speeds, have had a bigger impact than simply adding more pictures.