Blogger Image File Names and How to Rename Them for SEO

Open any of your older posts, right click an image, and copy its address. If the end of that link reads something like IMG_20240311_142355.jpg or Screenshot (47).png, you have given search engines nothing to work with. Blogger image file names are one of the smallest SEO settings you control, and also one of the easiest to get right from your next post onward.

This guide covers what Blogger does with the name you upload, how to rename files properly, and how much weight to give the whole thing compared with alt text and page speed.

What Blogger does with your image file names

When you upload a picture through the Blogger post editor, it is stored on Google's image servers. The address it receives is long and full of random characters, but in most cases the last part still contains the original file name you uploaded. So a photo saved as blue-linen-tablecloth.jpg ends with that same name, after a size marker such as s1600 or w640.

That name shows up in three places that matter:

• Image search. Search engines read the file name as a small clue about what the picture shows, alongside the alt text and the words around it.
• Downloads and shares. When readers save or pin your image, the file name travels with it.
• Your own archive. Two years and 300 posts from now, you will be glad you can find "sourdough-crumb-closeup" without opening 40 files called IMG.

Blogger will not rename anything for you. Whatever is on your computer or phone at the moment of upload is what you get.

How to rename Blogger image file names before upload

The renaming has to happen before the file reaches Blogger. Changing the name after upload is not possible inside the editor, so you would need to delete the image and upload it again.

Use this format:

1. Describe the picture in three to six words. Write what someone would see, not what your post is about. A photo of a finished cake is chocolate-layer-cake-slice, not best-birthday-recipe-blog.
2. Use lowercase letters only. Some servers treat uppercase and lowercase as different files, and lowercase is easier to read.
3. Separate words with hyphens. Search engines read a hyphen as a space. Underscores and run together words are harder to parse, and spaces turn into %20 in the address.
4. Drop filler words. Leave out "image", "photo", "pic" and "final" unless they help describe the picture.
5. Keep the right extension. Leave .jpg.png or .webp as it is. Renaming the extension does not convert the file.
6. Make each name unique. If you have four images of the same project, name them by what is different: blogger-header-before.png, blogger-header-after.png.

On a computer, click the file name once and type. On Android, most file manager apps let you long press and rename. On an iPhone, saving the image to the Files app first lets you rename it there before uploading through the browser.

A quick example from a real post

Say you write a post on making a free favicon for your blog and include five screenshots. Here is how the names change:

Each new name describes its own image, and none repeats the same phrase five times. That took about two minutes for the whole post.

File names matter less than most SEO checklists claim

Some checklists treat the image file name as a ranking secret and tell you to stuff your main keyword into every picture. That is bad advice for two reasons.

First, the file name is a weak signal. Search engines rely much more on the alt text, the caption, the heading above the image and the text around it. If you have one hour to spend on images, spend most of it writing good alt text, which we cover in our guide to why missing alt text is costing your Blogger posts traffic.

Second, repeating the same keyword across six file names looks unnatural and describes nothing. A name like free-blogger-template-free-blogger-template-3.jpg helps neither readers nor search engines. Describe the image honestly and the keyword will appear naturally where it fits.

The bigger image problem on most Blogger sites is weight, not naming. A 4 MB photo straight off a phone slows the page far more than a vague file name ever hurts it. Resize first, and check our notes on Blogger image size settings that keep pages fast.

Should you fix the file names on old posts?

Usually not one by one. Re-uploading images on 200 old posts takes many hours, and the gain is small. A sensible order of work is:

• Fix file names on your ten most visited posts, because those already have traffic and image search exposure.
• Rename properly on every new post from today.
• When you update an older post anyway, for new content or fresh screenshots, rename the images at the same time.

When you replace an image, delete the old one from the post rather than leaving it hidden, and check that the new image keeps its alt text. Then republish the post so the change shows up.

A simple routine for every new post

Make file naming part of the same step where you resize images. Keep a folder for each post on your computer, drop the edited images in, and rename them all before you open Blogger. Batch rename tools built into most operating systems can add a shared prefix, but always finish by giving each file its own descriptive words.

A quick checklist before you press upload:

• Every file name describes what is visible in that picture.
• All letters are lowercase and words are joined with hyphens.
• No two images in the post share the same name.
• Each image is already resized to the width your template displays, usually 1200 to 1600 pixels at most.
• You have the alt text for each image written and ready to paste.

It feels fussy for the first week. After that it takes about as long as typing the post title, and your image library stays searchable for years.

Frequently asked questions

Does Blogger keep the original image file name?

In most cases, yes. The image address on Google's servers ends with the name of the file you uploaded, after a size code. That is why renaming before upload matters.

Can I change an image file name after uploading to Blogger?

Not inside the editor. You need to rename the file on your device, remove the old image from the post, and upload the renamed version. Remember to add the alt text again.

Are hyphens or underscores better in image file names?

Hyphens are better. Search engines treat a hyphen as a word separator, while underscores can join words together. Use lowercase words separated by hyphens and skip spaces entirely.