How To Optimize Images for Website SEO and Speed
How To Optimize Images for Website SEO and Speed: Quality Vs. Size
Images are a big part of every website these days. Whether you're trying to sell products, promote a service, or get people interested in your blog posts, images play an important role.
However, there's more to it than just slapping the first image that comes up onto your website and calling it good. That could actually end up doing more harm than good if you don't optimize them properly for search engine optimization and site speed.
Recommended image specs for your website
For starters, it is important to know the difference between quality and size.
Quality refers to how clear or sharp your images are while the size only pertains to their file size on your website's hosting space.
For example, a high-quality image might be 2000x2000 in resolution but its file size may not exceed 500KB. This is an example of an optimized image.
- Large and full-width images should not exceed 1MB (1000KB)
- Smaller images should be .3MB (300KB) or less.
- Photographs should be saved and uploaded as JPGs.
- Graphics should be saved as PNGs. (i.e. infographics and images that incorporate text in them.)
What to do if your image is too big for your website
You can use "Save for Web" in Photoshop or a free tool like Squoosh to resize, compress and adjust the quality of your image and save it to your computer before uploading it to your site.
How to optimize images for your website
In addition, to file size, your two other considerations are the name of your image file and including alt text for each image you include your site.
Naming your image file for your website
Name your image file name using keywords that are relevant to the content in the graphic.
Adding alt text to images on your site
Use the ALT attribute field when posting photos and graphics on web pages or blogs.
Within the Legend Web Works content management system website, editors can use the alt text field to include a descriptive, keyword-rich description of what is depicted in each photo you upload for SEO purposes.
Conclusion
Image optimization can ultimately affect your rankings in Google Search results. Spending the extra time to optimize them upfront can mean better long-term success in getting your content found on Google.
