Tips From Our Experts

Captions maximize your photos search engine optimization

Captions are almost as important as the press photos and often undeveloped as an integral part of press material. By naming photos appropriately and providing interesting captions you are able to optimize them for search engines, help journalists and, of course, attract more attention and publicity in social media.

An effective photo caption can make an image stand out, rank high on Google as well as making it more interesting. A suitable caption also clarifies your key messages for the reader. When reading a newspaper or magazine it's the title and lead paragraph, it is the image and caption text that is read first. A poorly written caption can destroy the value a good image can give your story, thus reducing the impact of your news and PR-information.

The length of a caption

Journalists tend to prefer captions that are approximately 150 characters (with Mynewsdesk you can have 400 characters). With a good caption your newsroom on Mynewsdesk looks even better, helps you optimize your photos for search engines, and make your business more visible across social media sites like Flickr.

Below you can find some tactical tips what to consider when writing effective captions:

• Check your facts and be truthful.
• Avoid the obvious "Here stands the horse in the barn" – find, instead, an angle that highlights your news in a different way than what the photo shows.
• Specify the name, title and company of every person in the photo.
• Don’t just copy the title of the headline or lead paragraph of the news release. Instead, write a different, more descriptive caption that captures what’s newsworthy about your text.
• Don’t judge the person in the photo: e.g. “The person in the picture grimaces at the news..” How do you know they’re making a face? Perhaps they just don’t take a great picture!
• Again, avoid stating the obvious: e.g. “In this picture you see...”.
• If you use an older photograph to refer to an historic event, include the date it was taken to capture the sense of the time.
• A picture is a moment frozen in time. Accordingly, use the present tense when you write your caption. This will create a more immediate sense of what’s happening even though the moment has past.
• Avoid using humor – as it often falls flat.
• Try using a quote in the photo caption. It’s quite unusual in press photos but can get the attention of journalists or bloggers.
• Use everyday terms and avoid clichés. Write your photo captions as if you’re speaking to a member of your family.