How digital asset management can improve your SEO ranking
Have you ever wondered why your competitors' websites are ranking better in Google search results than your own? There are often many factors that Google takes into account to decide which website offers the user added value and is displayed first in the ranking. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) has therefore become essential for most companies: A good Google ranking with the relevant keywords for your target group is a clear advantage over your competitors.
Previously, it was usually enough to frequently include the desired keyword in the website text and to collect some backlinks from other websites to one's own page. Nowadays, website operators have to consider countless ranking factors that affect Google search results. In addition, content marketing has become increasingly important in the field of search engine optimization. Companies are constantly creating new digital content to reach their target audience. Using a digital asset management (DAM) system can not only assist in the efficient management of all digital content, but also positively impact some SEO factors, improving Google rankings. In this article, we explain how you can also benefit from this added value of a DAM system.
The influence of a DAM system on pagespeed
An important part of technical search engine optimization is the user-friendliness of a page (especially on mobile devices). From June 2021, the usability of a page will be measured by Google using, among other things, the pagespeed and the core web vitals. These consist of the three values:
Two of these values can be easily improved by using a DAM system. Both the LCP and CLS values are mainly degraded by large image or video files. Large files take a quite long time to load completely even with a good internet connection. Such long loading times can cause other parts of the website to have already been loaded and the layout to shift again when all elements are fully loaded. With optimized images that are incorporated in the right size and format, the loading time of each image is low as well as the layout shift is smaller. A digital asset management system can automatically optimize images with the appropriate pre-settings. Even search engine preferred formats, such as the webp format, with particularly small file sizes, can be automatically converted from a digital asset management system without having to open a separate image editing program and perform the conversion manually.
Combine advantages of DAM and CDN
Companies that have many international website visitors in particular can benefit from a Content Delivery Network (CDN). In this case, a website is not only hosted on one server, but the CDN provider mirrors the data of the original server on additional servers that are distributed across the continent. These are checked for actuality on a regular basis. When a user now visits the website domain, the data of the called URL is automatically obtained from the server that is geographically closest. This short distance reduces the loading time of the domain. A digital asset management system can also be linked to a CDN, and send the optimized images to the CDN, which then distributes them. This can be event-based, so as soon as there is a change to the original file in the DAM system, it is also sent to the CDN and immediately visible on the website. However, it is important to note that a connection between the DAM and the CDN means that exclusive control over the data provided on the website is lost. These are now no longer stored only on the company's own servers or (depending on the software usage model) those of the DAM provider, but are also located on servers of the CDN provider abroad.
Make images visable for search engines
In addition to pagespeed, a DAM system can also support image SEO. Image SEO belongs to the classic OnPage optimization and makes image files readable for Google. This is especially interesting to make pictures findable in Google image search results. Sometimes images are also displayed between the normal search results. In order to recognize what is shown on the images, the search engine needs additional information. This includes, for example, the file name, a description or the alternative text (ALT attribute). Other metadata - the heart of any DAM system - also provides additional information about the digital content and can also be relevant for Google. With this data, the search engine recognizes what is depicted on an image and can use it to decide whether the image matches the searched keyword and is displayed in the ranking of the search results.
Automatic tagging in the DAM system
In a digital asset management system, this additional information (such as the description or keywords) can be noted directly on the media file and then automatically supplied when the image is submitted to the content management system (CMS) or with a detour via the CDN. Extensive rights management and predefined workflows in the DAM ensure that this data is consistently entered correctly. Another benefit: Images and video can also be partially automatically tagged in a DAM.
On the other hand, the automatic filling in of further metadata can also be triggered by filling in a single metadata field. For example, by specifying the item number, further product details can be automatically pulled from another system such as the PIM or ERP. Or a keyword is specified and the DAM system pulls additional keywords from another source, such as a stored keyword list, to save directly to the file and pass directly to the website. With such automatic workflows, website operators save a lot of time, since the SEO more or less takes care of itself.
But can't a CMS take care of it?
Most companies use a content management system to publish content on websites, blogs or in the online store. Images or videos usually have to be uploaded manually to the integrated media library in an optimized size and format. The files must therefore be edited in advance, named correctly and meta descriptions and keywords added manually. While images and videos are stored in the CMS media library and inserted into the appropriate layout, all digital content (photos, graphics, videos, texts, layouts, presentation, etc.) can be stored and organized centrally in a digital asset management system - i.e. not only website content, but all of the company's media files. In addition, the files stored there are enriched with metadata that provides additional information about the files, and the system automatically handles conversion to the appropriate web format and keywording. By integrating the two systems, the media library of the CMS system can be supplemented and the DAM can be used as a central content source.
DAM facilitates content marketing and supports SEO
The biggest advantage of a DAM, apart from the SEO benefits presented, is that all digital corporate content is stored, edited and managed in one central location. This means that the content always remains up to date, which is an important factor especially for large internationally operating companies with many employees. By enriching the files with metadata, they can also be found more quickly and there is more time to focus on other topics - for example, improving search engine rankings through further optimization, such as internal linking, collecting backlinks or new content for additional keywords. Your DAM system takes care of the search engine optimized images by itself.
Would you also like to benefit from the advantages of a DAM system?