Adding original pictures to your Hubs helps drive more traffic?

1. STAFF

   Paul Edmondsonposted 9 years ago

   I've noticed that several of my Hubs where I have taken the pictures and the only place they have been posted is on my Hubs are getting more traffic.  I'm curious if others have done this experiment.

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      Google Galposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I haven't done this experement yet because I just started here at HubPages  but it seems to me to make a more attractive hub pictures and videos are nice additions

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   relacheposted 9 years ago

   When I do a Hub that's got more of a "how-to" feel to it, and I take my own pictures, it definitely does better.  After all, in that scenario, I'm able to tailor my images to better illustrate what I'm saying.

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   torimariposted 9 years ago

   For my two art hub tutorials I took my own photos. They do pretty well.

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   lyricsingrayposted 9 years ago

   I don't know about traffic but enjoy the creativity of taking my own shots, though I have had to result to stock as well.

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   kirstenblogposted 9 years ago

   I wouldn't be surprised if your pic came up in a google search for that sort of picture, meaning more traffic. I actually had a site link to my hub by using the picture on their site, I am not sure what kind of back link that is but it was definitely interesting. Funny thing was it was a pic I found in the public domain so they coulda taken it without giving the back link.

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      torimariposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Good point and I do get google traffic from images.google.com because it picks up the picture.
      
      Soooo more pictures in general can result in more traffic because of google's picture search.

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   Ms Chievousposted 9 years ago

   When i add my own pics it seems I get a higher starting hubscore. I don't see any correlation between my own pics and page views though.  I do seem to have a lot more slide show views than I do page views sometimes.

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   kirstenblogposted 9 years ago

   I guess the saying is true, a picture is worth a thousand words.

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8. STAFF

   Paul Edmondsonposted 9 years ago

   You'll definitely get image search traffic.  Relache's comment about illustrating and creating a higher quality experience is most likely the causation.
   
   I'd love to have data on a couple of things.  One, do people link to Hubs more often naturally that have pictures and two, does google give content a boost in the search results that have original pictures - ie is it a quality signal?

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      sunforgedposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      How would google understand "original picture" ?
      
      I have always created unique keyword rich filenames even when using CC/PD pictures, but here on hubpages it seems as if that file name is lost on the upload? and the best i can do is use descriptive captions and headers in the capsule?
      
      Does Google compute file size and image meta data? to measure an image as "unique"
      
      I use a lot of original images or CC images that i have manipulated/cropped and renamed (properly credited of course) but never really crunched the stats/split tested to see the effects of unique uploaded images vs hotlinked images.

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         Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         When I do image searches, there's always a message that says something like "Google has omitted similar images, click here to see the full search results".  If you click on the link, you get a huge additional number of images.  So Google definitely makes a judgment on what is a "similar" image, but what criteria it uses, who knows.

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      rebekahELLEposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      this sounds exciting to find out. I think pics do add to the quality of a hub. my hubs with my own pics get searched for images. personally, I think articles without some form of visual are boring, even when I'm searching on the web. if it's an article saturated with ads, I move on.
      
      I think people appreciate to see the authors pics especially if its travel related.

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      relacheposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I think it's clear that having images on a Hub gets more traffic than not, but I don't think that just yet Google itself puts more weight to an original image versus one gleaned from elsewhere.
      
      When I do a GIS, it's clear from the results returned that sometimes Google really has no idea what image it's serving to me.  After all, it's just a series of programs trying to do the best it can with what info it gets from people about the images.  I think when Hub visitors respond more to images on our Hubs, Google gets a better idea of which images are higher quality and more relevant but even visitor response won't really give it an idea of what's original and what's not.

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   lakeerieartistsposted 9 years ago

   I get google image traffic when I have images on hubs.

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10. 0

    Crazdwriterposted 9 years ago

    I only post pictures that are original, i.e. me and family or pics I have taken like of books and things and I haven't noticed any drive more to my hubs than others. lol I guess I just don't pay attention.

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