Copyright @ 2024
Does Google actually care what your image is named? Yes. It indexes your file name, your alt text, and your link text. All of these things can help solidify your presence in the index.
So if they are all factors in getting discovered for search terms what should you do?
One option is to mix them up. Instead of the alt text and link text and file name all matching, perhaps it would be beneficial for all texts to be different. That way your content could potentially be discovered in multiple searches. For example your file name could be "jingle_hog_bed.jpg" and your alt text could be "Christmas Pig Sleeper" and your link text could be "Xmas Sow Queen" and potentially each search term could show your image when searching for those terms.
