federicoD-13

Problem:
The client is translating their site from English to Italian and is concerned about the best way to manage image file names for SEO optimization. They are considering whether to upload the same images with media translations and new titles in Italian, and are worried about creating duplicates that could cause problems.

Solution:
We explained that by default, WPML does not duplicate image files on the hosting server; it only creates duplicate entries in the database for the second language, using the same image across languages. There is no feature to translate the image file name itself.

However, if the client uses the WPML Media Translation plugin, they can upload a new image with a different file name for each language. This results in different images and file names across languages, without creating actual duplicates that could cause issues.

We also clarified that only image information such as title, alt text, caption, and description can be translated, not the file name itself. For further SEO guidance, we provided links to discussions on image file names in a multi-language site:

• https://forum.getkirby.com/t/image-seo-on-a-multi-language-site/12960
• https://support.google.com/webmasters/thread/254948957/image-file-name-for-multilingual-website?hl=en

If this solution doesn't look relevant, please open a new support ticket in the WPML support forum.