Image filenames are one of the signals Google uses to understand what an image shows, which influences whether it ranks in Google Images and how it contributes to the page's topical relevance. A descriptive name like 'red-running-shoes-side-view.jpg' communicates the subject clearly, while 'IMG_4821.jpg' tells search engines nothing. This tool scans every image on a page and flags the ones whose filenames are generic, camera-default, or random so you can rename them with meaningful, keyword-relevant text.

The checker flags camera and phone defaults like IMG_1234, DSC_0001, photo_01, and pic-5; capture tools like screenshot-2024 and untitled; long hexadecimal hash names produced by CMS uploads; and filenames that are just numbers. These patterns carry no semantic meaning. Names made of real, hyphen-separated words describing the image content pass the check.

Use lowercase words separated by hyphens that describe what the image actually shows, ideally including a relevant keyword where it is honest to do so — for example, 'blue-ceramic-coffee-mug.jpg'. Avoid spaces, underscores, special characters, and stuffing in unrelated keywords. Keep names concise but specific. Rename the file before uploading, since changing it later means updating every reference and may require a redirect.

They are complementary, and alt text is generally the stronger signal because it also serves accessibility. A good setup uses both: a descriptive filename and meaningful alt text that are consistent with each other and with the surrounding content. This tool focuses on filenames; pair it with our Image Alt Checker to cover both halves of image SEO on the same page.

Changing a live image's filename changes its URL, so any page or post that references the old name will show a broken image unless you also update the reference. The safest approach is to rename images before you publish, or to update all references and add a redirect from the old image URL when renaming established assets. For new content, simply name files descriptively from the start.

It scans every image it finds in the page's HTML in a single run, then lists each flagged filename with the pattern it matched, plus a count of total images versus flagged ones. There is no limit on how many times you can run it, so you can re-check a page after renaming to confirm every generic name has been fixed.

It reads the raw HTML returned by the server, so it catches images present in the markup and lazy-loaded images that expose a data-src attribute. Images injected purely by client-side JavaScript after load may not appear. For most sites the static HTML covers the vast majority of content images, which are the ones that matter most for image SEO.