Why do my blog images not show up in Google image search?

When I look up my blog articles on Google, they appear fine in the search results. But when I switch to image search, none of the featured images or other pictures from my articles show up. I’ve done everything by the book: descriptive alt text, proper titles, and using the right image sizes. What’s strange is I checked a friend’s site with similar content, and their images show up just fine.

I double-checked in Google Search Console, and it says my images are indexed properly. I also tested with an older article to make sure it wasn’t a timing issue.

I’m using the Yoast plugin, in case that helps. Any advice?

Google’s search result process works differently for images. Even if your page is crawled or indexed, it doesn’t mean the images will immediately show up in the results. The timeline for this is separate.

@WordsmithWanderer3
Thanks for explaining. Could this mean Google sees my content as lower quality? I tested an article from over six months ago, while my friend’s site has an article from three weeks ago and their images are already showing.

@Ricky
Quality shouldn’t matter here since Google indexes so much content, including things like adult videos. If your page is indexed, your images should be too. It might just take some time.

WordsmithWanderer3 said:
@Ricky
Quality shouldn’t matter here since Google indexes so much content, including things like adult videos. If your page is indexed, your images should be too. It might just take some time.

So you’re saying I just need to wait?

@Ricky
Yes, waiting is part of it. You could also try to boost your site’s authority, but it can take a week or longer for Google to update. I’ve seen similar delays while helping with SEO issues on other sites.

@WordsmithWanderer3
Would you mind if I messaged you my site to take a quick look?

Ricky said:
@WordsmithWanderer3
Would you mind if I messaged you my site to take a quick look?

There’s not much an SEO can figure out just by looking from the outside.

WordsmithWanderer3 said:

Ricky said:
@WordsmithWanderer3
Would you mind if I messaged you my site to take a quick look?

There’s not much an SEO can figure out just by looking from the outside.

I was hoping you could search for one of my older articles and see what I mean. Some images haven’t shown up for months.

@Ricky
If the page isn’t getting traffic, Google might not bother to recrawl or update it for months. That could explain it.

WordsmithWanderer3 said:
@Ricky
If the page isn’t getting traffic, Google might not bother to recrawl or update it for months. That could explain it.

That clears things up! Thanks a lot for your help!