Does Googlebot Index CSS Background Images?

Question

I have a page that displays images as background images, defined via css, to div elements. These images do not load dynamically via js, they are there on page load. Without getting into why it was designed that way my question is simply, will googlebot index those css defined background images? Or will they have not have an ability to be indexed by googlebot? Would be great to get some clarity on this. For bonus points - Background images defined via inline css vs. defined via external css would that make any difference for googlebot? Extra Credit if you can point me to any Google source that specifically speaks to this.

Thanks all!

Answer 1

Google's John Mueller said this morning in google webmaster mark that Google Image search does not index and rank images from CSS background code. He said if you want your images to rank in Google Image search then you best use normal image tag with the source attribute pointing at the image.

Check google webmasters for more details.

My website seming lighting official page was once set the pictures in the background. It's not good for the picttures index, i changed the code to img and it's getting better now.

Answer 2

Google probably indexes those bg images declared in css but it you do image search for a specific domain they will not show up

also, why would you define bg image with inline css?

Answer 3

just make an image sitemap

" Image sitemap information helps Google discover images we might not otherwise find (such as images your site reaches with JavaScript code), and allows you to indicate to Google images on your site that you want Google to crawl and index."

https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/178636