Can Too Many Photos Hurt?

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   Barbara Kayposted 10 years ago

   I've been working on updating my hubs. I've added a lot of new photos etc. I am wondering if too many photos are just slowing down my pages and are hurting more than helping. The reason I ask is that the more I update, the lower my traffic is getting.
   
   I know there was a recent Panda, but I am still wondering if this could be hurting.

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      Millionaire Tipsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      It is not likely that a lot of photos are bad.  Unless they were simply random images just placed there to make the page look pretty. If the images are relevant to the hub, then they should be just fine.
      
      I think it would also depend on the topic and what I was looking for.  If I am looking for ideas of how to make a scrap book page, the more examples the better.  If I am looking for something more academic, I don't need a lot of images.

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         Barbara Kayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Millionaire Tips, Thanks. I guess that isn't my problem then.

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      Shades-of-truthposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      As I am new here, I don't have a clue about the correct answer, but I enjoy photos on a hub! I visited HP hubs for information on things I was interested in, for a long time before the Squidoo import landed me here, and relevant photos always piqued my interest.

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         Barbara Kayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Shades-of-Truth, Thanks.

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      Fran Michaelsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      It depends on each individual Hub. But for most Hubs, I think there has to be a balance between text and pictures. Don't become overly reliant on pictures.

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         Barbara Kayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Fran Michaels, I have something like 1,250 words on each. I should be safe on that one. If photos aren't my problem, than I have another hunch what is.

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      Solarasposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Barbara- Check out Writer Fox's hubs.  Some have 100-200 images and are very successful.  Specifically look at the Cupid one and the Roses one to see the images to text ratios there.
      
      Paul E has said that high quality images are considered quality content just as much as quality text.

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         Barbara Kayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Solaras, Thanks. I don't have close to that many, so I must be safe on the photos. I appreciate everyone's advice.

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      kenneth averyposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Hi, Barbara,
      May I offer you what a more-professional hubber told me not too long ago?
      They said DO use photos and stick to a moderate amount. I took this as NOT to use too many or too less. I also guess that I was left to be my own judge.
      Hope this helps.

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         Barbara Kayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Kenneth, Thanks for the advice.

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      Marie Gailposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      You would have to really overdo photos for them to be a bad thing. The thing I think takes away from Hubs more than too many pictures is too much "filler." For example, if you have an 800-word, tightly written Hub, don't update it by adding words just to hit the 1,000 to 1,200-word recommendation. Frankly, I think a lot of hubbers make that mistake these days. There are a lot of Hubs that would be much better if the authors took editing a little more seriously. A long Hub full of pertinent information is fine, but a long Hub that could easily cover the topic or information in half the number of words isn't going to get hits from the new Google algorithms.

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   Writer Foxposted 10 years ago

   I have Hubs with as many as 200 images. One of those Hubs takes 22 1/2 seconds to load.  I could optimize those images and the page would load in 15/5 seconds (which is still too long),  but the quality of the photos would suffer and the point of that Hub is to give people good photos.  What I have found is that the page loads as fast as someone can scroll down to look at the pictures, so the user might not notice the slow load.  Also, it hasn't stopped search engines from sending good traffic, though I might get more traffic if the page would load in two seconds which I cannot control and Google expects.
   
   You can check Google's load of a page by following the instructions here:
   https://developers.google.com/speed/pag … vice/tryit
   
   If you want to optimize your images for faster download, you can use a free online tool like this one: http://www.imageoptimizer.net/Pages/Home.aspx

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      Arco Hess Designsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      To add to this, Google does use page loading speed as part of their algorithm. However, no one knows what percent of their rankings is due to this. Of course, if it has negative impact on page load speed for users, they would leave and bounce rate can definitely hurt a pages ranking.

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         Writer Foxposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I thought HP's new server might improve page load speed. Sadly, it hasn't.

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      Barbara Kayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks Writer Fox. It is finding time to do all this extra work too. Maybe over the winter, I'll have time to work on it.

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   aesta1posted 10 years ago

   I don't really know much about SEO but I just read today that it is better to just remove unnecessary photos. Include only those that really enhance your site. I found that in the pages where I removed some pictures, the load time has improved. I don't know how to compress the pictures so removing is easier for me.

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   lisavollrathposted 10 years ago

   Several of my hubs that are highest ranked, and get the most views, have step-by-step photography. I use as many photos as is necessary to explain what I'm doing.

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   freecampingaussieposted 10 years ago

   I love seeing photos in the hubs that relate to the topic whatever it is. Just words in a hub looks boring. I love taking my photos for my variety of hubs !
   

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   Barbara Kayposted 10 years ago

   Well, my traffic is going back up now. So, who knows. I'll keep adding photos that go along with the hubs.

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