Via & in the latest SOTR podcast: Changing image file names isn't optimal unless you absolutely have to. Google recrawls images much slower than web pages... And keywords in the file name (like web pages) have a negligible effect: youtube.com/watch?v=TaPhj4
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So, if you change image file names, it can take Google's systems a long time to recrawl & reprocess the images. You can experience volatility in the short-term & not see much gain in the end. And if you do change file names, 301 redirect the old images to the new ones!
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More: Image sitemaps wouldn't really help quicken up the process if you change image file names. So again, ONLY CHANGE IMAGE FILE NAMES IF IT'S CRITICALLY IMPORTANT. You can pay a heavy price in the short-term with little long-term gain rankings-wise: youtube.com/watch?v=TaPhj4
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