Do Infographics Help SEO? 2026 Study of 27 Submission Sites

The 2026 Infographic SEO Exposé examined 27 sites, 2,150 sampled posts and 470,691 image results. Its findings give a more specific answer to the question “Do infographics help SEO?”: in the tested searches, submission posts appeared more often in Images than in web top-10 results, credit to the creator varied, and raw backlink counts often included substantial junk.

This article explains how to use infographics for SEO, how to evaluate infographic submission sites, and which results to measure before calling a campaign successful.

FULL INFOGRAPHIC · 2026 STUDYView the full 2026 Infographic SEO ExposéEvery finding in one tall graphic: Images vs web, all 22 site grades, creator credit and junk links.View the infographic ↓Hide the infographic ↑

1Do infographics help SEO?

They can, but there are several different outcomes to consider. A graphic might attract an editorial citation, appear in image search, send referral visitors, or help someone understand a subject. These outcomes should be measured separately.

That distinction matters when you are deciding whether to create a graphic or buy a distribution package. A publisher’s link score, the visibility of its submission page, and the results delivered to your own website are different measurements.

2Infographics for SEO: Google Images and web search delivered different results

For topic searches that included the word “infographic,” submitted posts appeared in the Images top 10 at a rate of 13.7%, compared with 5.4% in the web top 10. The Images rate was approximately 2.5 times the web rate.

The difference persisted for topic-only searches. In that test, the corresponding rates were 10.1% for Images and 2.8% for web search.

There was also limited overlap between channels: approximately 7% of pages appearing in Images top 10 also appeared in the web top 20 for the same search. Those are different rank thresholds, so this is an overlap measure, not an equal-threshold comparison.

A separate keyword-database check found little recorded web visibility

In a separate audit of the 2,150 sampled posts, 78 (about 3.6%) ranked for any web keyword recorded in the keyword database. None of those sampled posts reached the database’s recorded web top 10. Their combined modeled monthly web traffic was approximately 27 visits.

A few sites accounted for most measured web keywords

Across 24 measured sites, Cool Infographics, Industry Today and eLearning Infographics held 936 of 1,003 top-10 web keywords, about 93%. Their individual counts were 551, 198 and 187. The other 21 sites shared 67, and 14 of the 24 measured sites had no top-10 web keywords.

Similar link scores did not imply similar reach. The comparison below illustrates why a score alone is an incomplete basis for choosing a publisher.

3Which infographic submission sites actually showed up in Images?

The report card grades 22 sites by how often their own sampled post appeared in Google Images top 10 for its topic plus “infographic.” An A measures that visibility rate. It does not certify link quality, acceptance rates or a return on submission fees.

The grade bands shown in the infographic are A: 30% or more; B: 10 to 29%; C: 3 to 9%; D: 1 to 2%; F: 0%. The table retains the original assigned grades and unrounded rates, including 2.4% and 1.3%.

Reading the table: “Followed source link” is the share of sampled posts with a followed outbound source link. “Junk” is the share of the site’s linking domains classified as junk in the study. Rank uses the report’s 0 to 100 presentation of the DataForSEO link score; it is not Moz Domain Authority or Ahrefs Domain Rating. “n/a” means no reported score, not zero.

Some eLearning Infographics searches included the site’s own name, which can flatter its result. Industry Today used the invalid link attribute rel="no follow". The infographi.ac backlink sample contained only seven domains, and the ilovecharts pull was partial. Infographic Journal, Infographics Archive and Infographic Bee were not graded because crawling was blocked; Infographics Race and Submit Visuals had no sampled posts. The infographic identifies infographi.ac as the researcher’s own site.

4Infographic link building: who gets the visibility and the credit?

Among 992 posts crediting a source, the study checked whether the submission post and the credited creator’s domain appeared in Images top 100 for the topic plus “infographic.”

The percentages total 99.9% because of rounding. A creator match meant any page on the credited domain; the audit did not confirm it was the same graphic. When both appeared, which ranked higher was roughly evenly split.

Source-link practices also varied. Followed source links appeared in 98% of sampled posts on shithot.co.uk, 92% on visualcontenting.com and 88% on coolinfographics.com. The rate was 6% on infographicplaza.com, 6% on lkrllc.com and 0% on postinfographics.com.

For an infographic link-building campaign, check the destination of the credit link and the publisher’s editorial process. These percentages describe observed attributes; they do not prove how much ranking benefit a link would pass.

5More referring domains did not necessarily mean better infographic backlinks

The backlink review covered 36,321 linking domains across 27 sites. Seven of the 25 scored sites had junk shares above 80%. The chart below shows the complete ranking used in the infographic.

This ranking excludes infographi.ac because its sample contained only seven linking domains, and ilovecharts because its pull was partial. A junk classification is a research signal; it does not establish link buying, a Google penalty or the value of an individual outbound link.

A wave of fake SEO-checker domains

The audit also identified a wave of approximately 1,200 fake SEO-checker linking domains affecting 21 of the 27 sites. Of those domains, 99% had Rank 0 and 93% appeared from September 18 onward. Across nine affected sites shown in the infographic, the median junk share of new linking domains was 85% during the July 6 to October 5 comparison.

A cluster of four sites (galleryr.org, infographicplaza.com, lkrllc.com and new-lingo.com) linked to one another on every page. Three each lost approximately 2,450 indexed backlinks between July and October 2026. Those observations describe the network; they do not identify the cause of the losses.

For the study’s Rank 10+ authority-link measure, eLearning Infographics had 86, Industry Today 75, Cool Infographics 63, Infographic Journal 43, Visualistan 40 and Visualcontenting 34. Ten sites had two or fewer. The threshold is a metric used by the study, not a declaration that Google trusts each counted link.

6How to optimize infographics for SEO

What the word “infographic” changed in the query tests

The study compared the same image and topic with two search phrases: the plain topic and the topic plus “infographic.” The following figures are median Images positions, where a lower number is better.

Among top-10 images, 4.2% had “infographic” in the filename for plain searches, compared with 23.2% for searches including the word. These are associations between query wording and observed results. They do not prove that renaming an image alone will move it from position 26 to position 5.

Publish an original page with readable supporting information

Give the graphic a home on your site before distributing it. Explain the main findings in page text, identify the sources and date, and include the data behind any charts. A graphic that answers a specific question gives a potential reader or publisher a clear reason to use it.

Only about seven of 2,050 examined posts included a data table beneath the graphic. Adding one is a practical way to make the information reusable and accessible; this audit did not establish a ranking lift from doing so. The W3C’s guidance for complex images recommends a text equivalent for charts and other detailed visuals.

Use descriptive filenames, titles and useful alt text

Name the file for its subject, such as infographics-for-seo-2026-study.jpg. Include “infographic” when it accurately describes the content. Write a specific page title, describe the image in alt text and keep relevant explanatory text near it. Google’s image SEO guidance describes those signals and cautions against keyword stuffing.

In the 2,144-post publishing scan, “infographic” appeared in 73% of page titles, 58% of image filenames and 30% of alt text. Only 53% had any alt text at all.

The search-data field labeled “alt” matched page titles in every observed result. That is an observation about the returned display field, not proof that Google ignores an image’s HTML alt attribute. Keep useful alt text and a longer text explanation for a complex infographic.

Make the image usable at the size readers will see

Check readability on mobile, keep the image and its hosting page accessible to crawlers, and provide a full-size view when small chart labels need more room. Google’s image best practices cover image delivery and page context.

In the audit, 46% of main images were taller than 2:1 among 1,650 images with declared dimensions. Those dimensions came from page HTML, not verified pixels, and the study did not test whether greater height improves ranking.

Choose distribution channels by the outcome you want

Social platforms held approximately 19% of Images top-10 slots across 2,365 topic-plus-“infographic” searches: Facebook 6.0%, Instagram 5.4%, Reddit 4.0% and Pinterest 3.5%. The leading infographic site accounted for 2.5%; the next observed shares were Cool Infographics at 1.3% and galleryr at 1.1%.

These are shares of search-result slots, not the percentage of each platform’s posts that ranked. They justify testing relevant social distribution alongside publisher outreach. They do not establish which platform will send your campaign the most qualified visitors.

7Measure infographic SEO by what reaches your own site

Before publishing, decide what a successful graphic should do: earn relevant editorial citations, bring image-search clicks, attract referral visitors, or support a conversion. Record the original page URL and the publication dates of placements so later observations have context.

In Search Console, use the search-type filter to review Image and Web performance separately, then filter by the original hosting page. Track impressions and clicks alongside your website’s referral and conversion data. Google’s Performance report documentation explains the search-type filter and metrics.

For links, record the referring page, the source-link destination, its attributes and the relevance of the surrounding content. For submissions, record the cost and any referral results you can verify. Keep those observations separate from a publisher’s third-party rank score.

?Frequently asked questions about infographics and SEO

8Study method, scope and limitations

The research behind this infographic was prepared by Jourdan Rombough of Optimization Theory. Search and backlink figures were collected through DataForSEO on October 4 and 5, 2026, using Google US, English and desktop settings.