So here we go on yet another Smart Blogging Tutorial.
In today’s tutorial we’ll be talking about how to add thumbnail to blog posts and optimize blog images for the search engine…
Okay so you might be asking yourself… Is it really necessary i add pictures to my WordPress blog posts?
And if i were to answer your question i would say yes. And no.
Because in the real sense of it, adding or not adding pictures is a matter of choice… Depending on your site, the kind of posts you write out there and so on.
But again, it’s a fact pictures makes your WordPress blog posts look beautiful.
Of course so many people still believe a picture speaks a thousand words. So that alone is enough reasons to add pictures to your blog posts.
Also depending on the particular write-up you’re updating, you might need pictures for illustrative purposes and all that.
So that’s it… The basic reasons you need to add pictures to your blog posts.
How to add WordPress Thumbnail to Blog Posts
Table of Contents
Okay. Let’s dig in to how you can add your first Post thumbnail to a blog post…
Login to your WordPress dashboard
Through www.myblog/wp-admin/ (remove myblog and add the name of your blog OR website).
Add New Post
Locate ” + New” at the upper part of your main dashboard area. As soon as the drop down shows up, click on “Post”. Doing this will open up a new page / dashboard editor where you can type in your new blog post.
After writing your blog posts, click and make sure the cursor pointer is fixed at the spot you want to place the picture.
For WordPress Classic Editor
If you’re still using the WordPress Classic editor, here’s what you should do…
After you must have fixed the cursor pointer at the point you want to fix the image you can now move your mouse to the top of the WordPress editor, just below the point you wrote the title for your blog post. You’ll find the “Add media Tab” there.
Click on this tab and you’ll be redirected to the media library where you can either choose an existing picture or upload a new one.
For WordPress Gutenberg Blocks
If you’re using the new WordPress Gutenberg editor, here’s how to add a thumbnail to your blog post…
Before typing any text to a new block, click on the “+” feature on top of the block. Clicking on this feature will bring up a pop of options. Scroll down to where you have “Image” and click on it.
As soon as you click on the image icon, you will be redirected to and interface where you will see options to add an image either via upload, media library or URL.
Where you already have the thumbnail you want to add to your blog post saved on your laptop, you can use the upload feature.
But if you’ve already uploaded the picture to your media library, Click on media library link and you’ll be redirected to the media library where you can search and add the picture as appropriate.
Now before you work on uploading a picture, you must have gotten the pictures on your laptop. And renamed it to the same name as your post title.
This is very important because renaming your picture with the same name as the title of your blog post will help you in optimizing the picture for the search engine, alongside your post.
Also, be sure to set up your alternate text attribution where necessary so you can avoid copyright infringement issues.
Formatting Format Your Blog Post Thumbnail
Now that you’re done with uploading your picture to your media library, the next thing you want to do is to is to format the picture for both SEO and other description.
How to Format Your WordPress Thumbnail
Below are ways to format your wordpress blog post thumbnail before getting it published.
Optimize Your Alt Text
The Alt Text AKA Alternative text is a very important SEO tool for your thumbnail. It is very important for SEO purposes.
The Alt Text is a single line of text that tells the reader what the image is about especially. Also where the image cannot be displayed on the post, the alt tet can describe the image for the reader.
Usually for SEO purposes, the Alt Text is named after the SEO title of your blog, with the same keywords you’re optimizing for.
With this, the picture can also be ranking for image search.
Rename Your Thumbnail Title
At your media library, click on the uploaded image. After doing this, move yor cursor to the right hand side of the media library and you’ll locate tt boxes where you’ll fill with the appropriate information.
After this is done, click on the second box which is the title and name the way you want.
Caption Your Blog Post Thumbnail
The third box is the caption. You can caption the picture with whatever you want. captions are the text that accompanies the image. And sometimes people use it to scan your post.
The Caption box is very effective for thumbnails uploaded on news and journalism blogs.
Fill the Description Box
The last box down there is the Description. This box can be used to describe the picture you added to your blog post.
This description gives contet to your image especially where a potential reader of your blog post is seeing the picture via image search.
You can also use the description box as a place for some sort of search engine optimization for your blog posts.
Alright, so now we’re done with formatting your WordPress thumbnail, let’s head over to thumbnail display settings.
How to fix your Blog Thumbnail Display Settings
The following are important checklist you need for your thumbnail display settings…
Attachment Display
If you’re still using the classic editor, there are options to set your thumbnail to display either on the right, left or centre alignment.
Personally, i prefer my thumbnails to have the left alignment when i used classic editor. You can choose whatever alignment that’s suitable for you.
On the other hand, if you’re using the Gutenberg editor, you don’t have need for alignemnt as the picture will fill up the block automatically after you upload it.
What you can do with your thumbnail on a Gutenberg editor is to resize the picture by dragging and editing it as appropriate. Also, you can add the thumbnail caption directly on the block, without having to go through the media library.
Okay. So we’re done adding the pictures to blog posts… For those using Classic Editor, after this is done, you can now click on “insert” into post and have your pictures added to your WordPress blog posts right away.
Alright so that’s how far we’ll go in today’s smart blogging tutorial. In our next tutorial for smart bloggers, we’ll talk about how to add links and why you should add links to your blog posts.
As usual, the smart blogging tutorial was brought to you by Victor Winners Smart Blogging College. A place where you can learn how to become a great blogger, and rule your world.
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