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In a website, we have a JavaScript that opens an image when people click on the thumbnail, it seems like Google only indexes the thumbnail not the actual image with real dimensions, I was wondering if there is a way to tell Google where the actual image is and guide Google on what images to pick for images.google.com

Any thoughts on that?

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Does the thumbnail actually link directly to the image? – DisgruntledGoat Apr 23 '12 at 11:06

1 Answer

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You can try creating an image sitemap http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=178636

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9"
  xmlns:image="http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap-image/1.1">
 <url>
   <loc>http://example.com/sample.html</loc>
   <image:image>
     <image:loc>http://example.com/image.jpg</image:loc>
   </image:image>
   <image:image>
     <image:loc>http://example.com/photo.jpg</image:loc>
   </image:image>
 </url> 
</urlset>
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further, if you don't want google to index the thumbnail at all - and only index the real picture you can use 301 redirect (from the thumbnail to the real* picture): stackoverflow.com/questions/9322454/… – alfasin Mar 12 '12 at 17:48
@alfasin: The StackOverflow question you link to is about redirecting all www requests to non-www - which is quite different. What do users see when thumbnails are redirected to the larger image? Or do you intend to only target the Googlebot?! – w3d Dec 22 '12 at 16:43
@w3d the link only shows an example of usage of redirect 301 which can be used not only for redirecting www to non-www. When you use 301 redirect google will index the target - not the source. – alfasin Dec 22 '12 at 20:03
@alfasin: But if you simply 301 redirect then no-one can see the thumbnail. If you specifically check for the Googlebot (and other search engines) then this is a form of cloaking which could count against you. So I'm wondering whether this could be a risky practise? – w3d Dec 22 '12 at 20:50
@w3d You're right, a better practice will be to use "Demote sitelink URL" feature in Google Webmasters. – alfasin Dec 23 '12 at 2:39
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