How can I add an image to the Google Search?

Hi Robert,

I’m sorry I didn’t reply earlier; I’ve been under the weather.

In any case, your report did help me find the apparent cause of the issue (a bug at Google), though I don’t have a solution right now; I’m still testing things.

I proposed a workaround here that implements extra structured data for images. This is still being tested, and if it works, I will add it to the plugin. Feel free to use this as well.

Another solution would be to remove the <a> tags around your images; however, that is not feasible in your situation (it’ll harm accessibility).

Another solution is to edit the first image of the page and set the “Alternative Text” attribute. That attribute must be read as if you’d explain the image to a blind person as concisely as possible.
I don’t know how you inserted the images in your pages, but if you did it the “WordPress way,” the alternative texts should be implemented automatically. Otherwise, you should edit the page and reinsert the image.

Please note that it can take some time for Google to interpret the changes you make.

I am going to test your suggestions, thanks Sybre!

Hi Sybre,

If I understand you correctly, I need to give the below image an alternative text for it to show up on the Google search, right?

But is it also possible to have an entirely different photo appear on the Google search that is not even displayed on our main page, https://sueca13flores.com/?

Hi Robert,

Yes, that’s my current theory: either add an alt-text to the img tag or a title to the <a> tag. Both might even be required. I cannot promise it’ll work; I can only guess at how Google bugs out.

And yes, it is possible for an entirely different photo to appear on Google Search than what’s displayed on the page. However, this is unlikely and often due to outdated information. From my testing, I haven’t seen Google use structured data for images other than those listed in the Google News Carousel.

Thanks!

I have now chosen for a different image, set an alt tag and used CSS to hide it.

Let’s see if Google will show this image on the search results. ??

Howdy!

The problem was that an image without an alt attribute was inside of an <a> element. If that’s the case, then the image appears to be ignored.

An image that has an alt attribute or that isn’t wrapped inside an <a> element should be picked up by Google.

I see you’ve added an alt-tag to the first image, and that image now appears on Google Search. I think that my assertion was correct.

I don’t know if Google will pick up a hidden image; I have never experimented with that. But time will tell ?? I consider this topic resolved, though Google must still fix their bug.

• This reply was modified 4 months, 1 week ago by Sybre Waaijer. Reason: clarity

Thanks Sybre! ??

So, indeed, Google just takes the first image it finds and skips the hidden image that I placed beforehand.

Interesting that my results still don’t show any image. A cache issue?

Hi Robert,

This may indeed be a caching issue where Google hasn’t propagated its updated index to every user or location. I don’t know how long you must wait for this to update.

I consistently get displayed the first non-hidden image for your homepage on the SERP.

I recommend trying this in a private/incognito tab on your phone, on the mobile (4G/5G) network, to get results that are not bound to your profile.

All good, thanks for all your great support! ??

Hi Sybre,

Just to inform you, Google picked up the hidden image! ??

Interesting! ?? Thanks for sharing your findings! I wonder if they’ll remove it after fully (re)rendering the page.