Image SEO in 2026 is about machine readability.

FDA font sizes (0.9mm) fail AI OCR.
Glossy packaging causes data hallucinations.
Weird facial expressions = unreliable sentiment scores.

I have some thoughts and advice here:
https://searchengineland.com/image-seo-multimodal-ai-466508

Image SEO for multimodal AI

Images are now parsed like language. OCR, visual context and pixel-level quality shape how AI systems interpret and surface content.

Search Engine Land