{"id":24993,"date":"2021-05-31T17:00:50","date_gmt":"2021-05-31T15:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/?p=24993"},"modified":"2022-01-19T10:38:00","modified_gmt":"2022-01-19T09:38:00","slug":"clean-image-file-names-in-wordpress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/clean-image-file-names-in-wordpress\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Ensure Clean Image File Names in WordPress"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\"><p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Images are important elements of website content that can have a great influence on your site\u2019s performance, as well as on your ranking. Namely, if you ensure that your <a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/how-to-optimize-images-for-web\/\">images are optimized for the web<\/a> (i.e. that their size is reduced properly without affecting their quality), your pages will be able to load faster, which can help reduce bounce rates.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]Now, while this type of optimization is extremely important in itself, you mustn\u2019t forget to <a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/how-to-optimize-wordpress-images-for-search-engines\/\">optimize your images for search engines<\/a> as well. And ensuring that all your image file names are clean and easy to read by search engine crawlers is one of the key practices of good image SEO.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]This time around, we will help you learn how you can ensure that all your WordPress image file names are clean and thus well-optimized for search engines. But first, let\u2019s see how this practice can benefit your WordPress website.<br \/>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;80px&#8221;][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=&#8221;new-top-picks-banner&#8221;][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;80px&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"qodef-h4\">The Benefits of Having Clean Image Files on Your WordPress Website<\/h2>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Search engines routinely analyze images on your site, along with other elements like text, meta tags, URLs and so on. Specifically, they check if images hold any relevance to users and then determine whether they fit their specific requirements, which can contribute to a higher ranking of your site in SERPs. So, if you make sure that all your image file names are clean and named properly, you <strong>greatly increase your chances for better online visibility, which can only help bring more traffic your way<\/strong> in the long run.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]With all this said, it\u2019s also extremely important to optimize all names of images that contain diacritical marks (umlauts), accented characters or letters that belong to non-English languages. There\u2019s a danger that these characters might cause <a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/how-to-fix-common-image-issues-wordpress\/\">image issues<\/a> in certain browsers or cause other server or browser-related problems, so you should convert these <a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/how-to-add-special-characters-in-wordpress\/\">special characters<\/a> into regular ones to ensure that everything works properly.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]You can prevent all this from happening by<strong> using the help of a plugin that will instantly clean all image file names that you upload to your WordPress media library<\/strong> &#8211; and here\u2019s how.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;68px&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"qodef-h4\">Cleaning Image File Names With a Plugin<\/h2>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]First and foremost, you need to <a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/how-to-install-a-wordpress-plugin\/\">install and activate the plugin<\/a> called <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/clean-image-filenames\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Clean Image Filenames<\/a>. <strong>This plugin works by automatically converting language accent characters as well as other symbols<\/strong> (such as exclamation marks, periods, hashtags, etc.) <strong>into non-accent characters<\/strong>. By doing so, image file names in your media library become browser and server-friendly at the same time.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;50px&#8221;]<div class=\"qodef-single-image-holder   qodef-has-border \">\n    <div class=\"qodef-si-inner\" >\n                                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"969\" height=\"518\" src=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Clean-Image-Filenames.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Clean Image Filenames\" srcset=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Clean-Image-Filenames.jpg 969w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Clean-Image-Filenames-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Clean-Image-Filenames-768x411.jpg 768w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Clean-Image-Filenames-620x331.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 969px) 100vw, 969px\" \/>                        <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;38px&#8221;][vc_column_text]The plugin will also allow you to choose whether you want to convert image file names only or convert all other file types that you end up adding to your media library. [\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]After the plugin activation,<strong> go to <em>Media &gt;&gt; Add New<\/em> and upload any image file that contains accented characters.<\/strong> We used an image called \u201cCh\u00e2teau_de_F\u00e8re_en_Tardenois.jpg\u201d to show you how the plugin works.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;50px&#8221;]<div class=\"qodef-single-image-holder   qodef-has-border \">\n    <div class=\"qodef-si-inner\" >\n                                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"969\" height=\"518\" src=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Media-Select-Files.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Media Select Files\" srcset=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Media-Select-Files.jpg 969w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Media-Select-Files-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Media-Select-Files-768x411.jpg 768w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Media-Select-Files-620x331.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 969px) 100vw, 969px\" \/>                        <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;60px&#8221;]<div class=\"qodef-single-image-holder   qodef-has-border \">\n    <div class=\"qodef-si-inner\" >\n                                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"969\" height=\"518\" src=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Media-Edit.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Media Edit\" srcset=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Media-Edit.jpg 969w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Media-Edit-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Media-Edit-768x411.jpg 768w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Media-Edit-620x331.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 969px) 100vw, 969px\" \/>                        <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;38px&#8221;][vc_column_text]After we clicked on <em>Edit<\/em>, the plugin automatically changed the image filename into \u201cchateau-de-fere-en-tardenois.jpg\u201d. You can see this in the image below:[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;50px&#8221;]<div class=\"qodef-single-image-holder   qodef-has-border \">\n    <div class=\"qodef-si-inner\" >\n                                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"969\" height=\"668\" src=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/File-Name.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"File Name\" srcset=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/File-Name.jpg 969w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/File-Name-300x207.jpg 300w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/File-Name-768x529.jpg 768w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/File-Name-620x427.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 969px) 100vw, 969px\" \/>                        <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;38px&#8221;][vc_column_text]If you want, you can still use these accent characters in the image description (which you can still see in the<em> Edit Media<\/em> box), as well as in alt and title tags. This way, search engines will still be able to register your image as a valid result for anyone that is using these foreign characters in their search.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]We have to note, however, that <strong>the plugin will only filter images that are added after its installation<\/strong>, not the old ones, i.e. images that were uploaded to your media library beforehand.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;68px&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"qodef-h4\">Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]By ensuring that your image file names are clean and search-engine friendly, <strong>you instantly increase the chances of your website getting a better ranking in SERPs.<\/strong> And if you use the Clean Image Filenames plugin, you will be able to automatically clean all the image file names you upload to your media library after the plugin\u2019s installation. This includes all file names that contain special characters, such as accented letters and various other symbols. Just make sure to carefully follow the brief instructions we presented above, and you\u2019ll be well on your way to boost the online visibility of your WordPress site and increase your traffic.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Want to learn how you can ensure clean image file names in WordPress and optimize your images for search engines? Here\u2019s how to do it with the help of a plugin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25034,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[27,4,13],"class_list":["post-24993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-resources","tag-content","tag-tips","tag-wordpress"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}