Bad filenames unrelated to the image are also not good for SEO. The reason is; that search engines like descriptive and meaningful filenames.
Another drawback of bad filenames is that they sometimes break your images in a web browser. The problem arises when you host many media files on a multi-author WordPress installation and you cannot monitor everyone to upload pictures with good and meaningful names.
These issues can be easily resolved by using a WordPress plugin called Clean Image Filenames.
The plugin works by auto-enforcing clean filenames on images and other media files you upload to the WordPress media library. Thus, it improves your website’s search engine optimization. The plugin works while you upload new files, it doesn’t work on old files uploaded on your media library.
How Does It Work?
Bad image filenames such as Château de Ferrières.jpg or Smörgåsbord.png are changed to good and clean filenames like chateau-de-ferrieres.jpg and smargasbord.png.
The plugin simply replaces accents and special characters, like Swedish or German umlauts, in the filename uploaded to your media library.
- It converts accent characters to non-accent, Latin equivalents in Swedish, Danish, German, and more.
- It removes special characters such as exclamation marks, periods, hashtags, and more.
You should also know that the range of files can be extended using a filter in your theme or plugin.
How To Use It?
Install and activate Clean Image Filenames plugin on your WordPress site. Upon activation visit your admin area dashboard Media -> Add New page and upload a new image file with accent characters like Smörgåsbord.png
On the plugin settings page, you can set whether the plugin should work only on images or all file types.
As soon the image is uploaded, the filename will be filtered by the plugin to smargasbord.png. That’s what this plugin does for you.
Renaming Filename Based On Post Title
File Renaming on Upload is another good plugin that provides you with more powerful controls and options.
Unlike the Clean Image Filenames plugin which works automatically and has one manual setting to make, File Renaming on upload allows you to select various options on how to rename an individual filename after upload.
For example: You can auto-add your site name in the image file, remove strings and accents, rename the file based on the post title, and more.