/image-seo-audit

name: image-seo-audit
description: "Audit image SEO. Use when: checking alt text, file sizes, WebP/AVIF formats, lazy loading, or responsive images."
argument-hint: "[URL]"
user-invocable: true

/digital-marketing-pro:image-seo-audit

Purpose

Perform a dedicated image optimization audit that evaluates all images on a page or site for SEO, performance, and accessibility. Produces a prioritized optimization list sorted by file size impact.

Input Required

• **URL**: Page or site to audit
• **Scope**: Single page or site-wide crawl (default: single page)

Process

1. **Load brand context**: Read active brand profile for industry context. 2. **Discover images**: Find all `<img>`, `<picture>`, CSS `background-image`, and `<source>` elements. 3. **Alt text audit**: Check presence, quality, keyword inclusion, length (10-125 chars). Flag: missing, filename-only ("image.jpg"), keyword-stuffed, non-descriptive ("click here"). 4. **File size audit**: Apply tiered thresholds by image category — thumbnails (<50KB target, >200KB critical), content images (<100KB target, >500KB critical), hero/banner (<200KB target, >700KB critical). 5. **Format audit**: Check for modern formats. Recommend WebP (97%+ support) or AVIF (92%+ support) over JPEG/PNG. Check for `<picture>` element with format fallbacks. Note: JPEG XL restored in Chromium (Nov 2025) but not yet in Chrome stable — monitor, don't recommend yet. 6. **Responsive images**: Check for `srcset` and `sizes` attributes, appropriate resolution for device pixel ratios. 7. **Lazy loading**: Verify `loading="lazy"` on below-fold images. Flag `loading="lazy"` on above-fold/hero images (directly harms LCP). 8. **fetchpriority**: Check for `fetchpriority="high"` on LCP/hero images. Check for `decoding="async"` on non-LCP images. 9. **CLS prevention**: Check for `width` and `height` attributes or `aspect-ratio` CSS on all `<img>` elements. Flag images without dimensions. 10. **File naming**: Check for descriptive, hyphenated, lowercase file names vs generic names (IMG_1234.jpg). 11. **CDN usage**: Check if images are served from a CDN (different domain, CDN headers, edge caching). 12. **Score and prioritize**: Sort by file size savings impact (largest first).

Recommended Picture Element Pattern

<picture>
  <source srcset="image.avif" type="image/avif">
  <source srcset="image.webp" type="image/webp">
  <img src="image.jpg" alt="Descriptive alt text" width="800" height="600" loading="lazy" decoding="async">
</picture>

Hero/LCP Image Pattern

<img src="hero.webp" fetchpriority="high" alt="Hero image description" width="1200" height="630">

Do NOT lazy-load above-fold/LCP images. Do NOT add `decoding="async"` to LCP images.

Output

Image Audit Summary

| Metric | Status | Count | |--------|--------|-------| | Total Images | — | XX | | Missing Alt Text | issues | XX | | Oversized (>200KB) | issues | XX | | Wrong Format (not WebP/AVIF) | issues | XX | | No Dimensions (CLS risk) | issues | XX | | Not Lazy Loaded (below-fold) | issues | XX | | No fetchpriority on LCP | issues | XX |

Prioritized Optimization List

Sorted by estimated file size savings (largest first):

| Image | Current Size | Format | Issues | Est. Savings | |-------|-------------|--------|--------|-------------| | hero.jpg | 450KB | JPEG | No WebP, no fetchpriority | ~300KB | | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |

Recommendations (prioritized)

1. Convert X images to WebP format (est. XX KB total savings) 2. Add alt text to X images 3. Add width/height dimensions to X images 4. Enable lazy loading on X below-fold images 5. Add fetchpriority="high" to LCP image 6. Compress X oversized images 7. Implement `<picture>` element with AVIF/WebP fallbacks

Agents Used

• **seo-specialist** — Image optimization analysis, CWV impact assessment

Scripts Used

• **tech-seo-auditor.py** — Fetch page and analyze image elements