As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. And in the world of Google, a picture is worth a thousand views across your website, but only if you take the time to optimize website photos.
For as long as SEO has dominated the online world, content has been king. It always will be. But the last thing you want to do is underestimate the power of your website images. Here’s how to ensure your images are the correct size, format, and quality for the best website traffic.
Why Optimize Website Photos, Anyway?
There are three main reasons why it’s imperative to optimize images on your website. First of all, an image that’s the wrong size will look blurry and insignificant. This can make your website look unprofessional.
Second, your images shouldn’t be too large either. This slows down the page load time of your website and frustrates your website visitors. The result is a loss of website traffic and business.
Third, it’s important to optimize your images for SEO so that they’re compatible with Google, which helps to rank your website and increase its visibility. Let’s take a look at the best ways to prepare your images:
- Use Only High-Quality Images
If you want to portray professionalism across your website, the right images make all the difference. While you might save money on taking your own photographs, they might not portray the right aesthetic which only drags down the look and feel of your website.
Always opt for professionally taken and edited images. Ensure they’re a good size (a minimum of 1500 pixels wide), but not too large, either. You might need to size images down to suit. You always want to opt for images that relate to your business and the subject matter you’re showcasing.
You might need to edit images so that they relate to your content. Check out this free background remover for more.
- Ensure Images Are the Right Format
There are three key image formats suited to online use: JPEG, GIF, and PNG. While each format has its own set of pros and cons, you’ll need to choose the right format for your particular website and how it’s being used.
For example, if you have an e-commerce site, JPEG is the best format to choose because you can easily resize images without compromising quality. If you need your images to have a transparent background, you want to go for a PNG file.
GIF files are the best choice for thumbnails and smaller images but are not suitable for banners, backgrounds or large images.
- Sizing Matters
One of the best ways to optimize your images is to shrink them to the smallest size possible, without compromising their quality. It’s no easy feat, that’s why you need the know-how and the right tools.
The great news is that there are a number of free photo editor apps out there. It’s just about playing around with sizing to ensure your images don’t slow down your website or look unprofessional once they’re resized.
Some software programs and platforms, such as WordPress, offer automatic ”save for web” features and plugins that adjust the sizing for you.
- It’s All in the Name
Remember what we said about content being king in the world of SEO? This is why giving your images a name is important. Google reads everything on your website, including image names, so you better ensure they’re optimized.
Don’t name your images with random numbers or words irrelevant to your business. This is a prime opportunity to slip in important keywords that relate to your services/products.
For example, if you sell skincare, use relevant keywords to name a product, i.e. 01-best-nighttime-moizturizer.jpg. Use hyphens and underscores between your words.
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