Sales Loves Marketing

What is Infographic?

An infographic is a visual that combines charts, icons, images and short text to explain information, data or a process quickly and clearly. Marketers use infographics to make complex topics easy to scan and to create content that others share and link to.

By Sales Loves Marketing teamOriginally written by Joran HofmanUpdated

An infographic is a single visual that explains information with a mix of charts, icons, illustrations and a little text. Its job is to make data or a process understandable at a glance. Wikipedia describes infographics as graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge intended to present information quickly and clearly.

The idea is old: William Playfair published some of the first data graphs in 1786. Today, businesses use infographics in content marketing, reports, sales decks and social media.

What are the types of infographics?

  • Statistical: charts and numbers that show the results of research or a survey.
  • Informational: a topic broken into short sections with visuals, often to summarise a blog post or video.
  • Timeline: events in order, such as a company's history or a product roadmap.
  • Process: steps or a flowchart that guide the reader through a task or decision.
  • Comparison: two or more options side by side, such as plans, tools or approaches.
  • Geographic: data on a map, such as customers or sales by region.
  • Hierarchical: levels of importance, often shown as a pyramid.
  • List: a numbered set of tips, factors or resources.

An example from B2B marketing

A software company surveys its customers about how they run sales meetings. Instead of publishing only a long report, it turns the five most striking findings into a statistical infographic. Sales reps add it to follow-up emails, the team shares it on LinkedIn, and industry blogs can embed it with a link back to the full report.

How do you create an infographic?

  1. Pick one topic and one audience. Decide what the reader should know or do after seeing it.
  2. Gather reliable data. Use current, credible sources and cite them on the graphic. Original data from your own research is the most valuable.
  3. Choose the type that fits the information, from the list above.
  4. Sketch the structure. Order the points so the eye moves from the headline to the conclusion.
  5. Design it. Keep to a few fonts and brand colours, and let charts and icons carry the message. Tools such as Canva offer templates; see the best websites for creating infographics.
  6. Review it. Have a colleague check the numbers, spelling and sources.
  7. Publish and promote it. Post it on a page of your site, then share it on social media and with sites that accept infographics. See infographic submission sites.

How to publish an infographic for search and accessibility

  • Use a supported format. Google Search supports BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, WebP, SVG and AVIF images.
  • Name the file clearly, for example b2b-sales-meeting-survey.png instead of IMG00023.png.
  • Write useful alt text. Google calls alt text the most important attribute for describing an image. Don't stuff it with keywords.
  • Add a long description. The W3C says complex images such as infographics need a short alt text plus a longer description of the key information, ideally visible on the page. This also gives search engines text to read.
  • Place it near related text on a page about the same subject.

Pros and cons of infographics

Pros: easy to scan, easy to share, and a good way to earn backlinks when the content is original. See reasons to use infographics.

Cons: they take design time, they are hard to update when data changes, and they are inaccessible without a text alternative.

Frequently asked questions

What are the main types of infographics?

Common types are statistical (data and charts), informational (a topic explained in sections), timeline, process (steps or a flowchart), comparison (side by side), geographic (maps), hierarchical (levels, often a pyramid) and list infographics.

What file format should an infographic be?

For the web, use a format Google Search supports, such as SVG, PNG, WebP, AVIF or JPEG. MDN recommends SVG for charts and diagrams that must stay sharp at any size, and lossless encoding (such as PNG or lossless WebP) for raster graphics with text and sharp edges.

How do you make an infographic accessible?

W3C treats infographics as complex images that need two parts of text alternative, a short alt text that names the image and a longer description with the key information. Put the long description on the page, for example below the image.

Do infographics still help with SEO?

They can, when they contain original data or explain something better than text alone, because people link to useful visuals. Google can only read what you put in text, so add alt text, a descriptive file name and the key points in the page itself.