There are already several articles out there with tips on how to optimize your images and pages for Google Image Search, but just how good is that traffic?

As it stands now, several of my websites get a lot of traffic from Google Image Search, and in some cases even more traffic than Google Web Search. It seems that people love to search for images.

So if someone searched for images of beagles, and it eventually landed them on a website about beagles, would that website benefit in any way from that visitor?

Not necessarily. Searching for images is not the same as searching for information.

People search for images because they want to see photos. If they wanted to learn something specific about beagles, they'd use Google Web Search instead.

Furthermore, the amount of time people spend on your site is pretty much limited to just looking at that image. If that image is not quite what they had in mind, they will go back to Google Image Search and look for more. They won't stay on your website.

So how do you get them to stay on your website?

Provide them with navigation links for more related photos. Using the beagle search example, provide thumbnail images of more beagle photos, and place them somewhere they can't be missed. And use the heading, "More Beagle Photos".

But just because you're getting them to stay longer doesn't mean they'll click on your ads, or subscribe to your RSS feed, or even "like" your Facebook page.

Remember that the reason why people search for images is because they have an immediate need to see photos. That need trumps all else. Even if you have an awesome website, your website won't mean squat to them, at least not at that specific moment.

Google image search traffic, at least in my experience, is rather cheap traffic.

How to Monetize Google Image Search Traffic

Simply put, by CPM. Place a banner ad that pays a display rate (CPM) on all pages that display images. Considering most CPM networks are paying about $0.25 CPM for run of network campaigns, you won't make much money. But you'll still earn something.  ✓