As the popularity of visual content continues to grow, image optimization has an increasingly significant impact on how search engines rank websites in search results.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore what image optimization is, why it’s essential, and which tools can help you implement it effectively on your ProDigitals website.
Table of Contents
- Why Should You Optimize Images?
- Key Requirements for Images
- Format
- Quality
- Image Size
- How to Optimize Images
- Image File Name (URL)
- Alt Attribute
- Title Attribute
- Lazy Loading
- CDN
- Uniqueness
- Useful Tools for Image Optimization
- JPEG Optimizer
- Tiny PNG
- JPEG.io
- Compressor.io
- Where to Find Unique Images
- Unsplash
- Pixabay
- Pexels
- Burst
- DreamStudio
- DeepAI
- Conclusion
Why Should You Optimize Images?
Images give visitors a clearer understanding of your business’s nature and its products and services, making them one of the most important content elements on your website. They also influence Google rankings as they appear on main pages and in Google Images results.
Website owners typically put effort into ensuring that the technical and textual elements of their site are optimized. Similarly, images should also be prioritized.
Image optimization involves various steps to prepare visual content for more effective integration into your website.
This process has several stages, including reducing file size, implementing lazy loading, and using alt and title attributes.
Benefits of Optimized Images:
- Increase website loading speed and improve user experience
- Enhance your site’s ranking in search results and drive additional traffic from Google Images
- Save server space and reduce hosting costs
Key Requirements for Images
Understanding different file formats and their characteristics, as well as image dimensions for a website, is crucial. Failing to meet these requirements can lead to decreased search engine rankings and poor user experience.
Format
Here are the most common formats and where they’re best used:
| Format | Characteristics | Best Used For |
|---|---|---|
| JPEG | Minimal quality loss file, ideal for photos and complex images with rich color palettes | Photos and detailed images |
| PNG | No quality loss, supports transparency and high quality. Large file sizes | Graphics, logos, and images with transparent backgrounds |
| GIF | Quality loss and limited color palette, but supports animation | Short animations, icons, and buttons |
| SVG | Vector file, scalable without quality loss and supported by vector programs | Icons, logos, and images with text |
| WebP | Modern image format developed by Google for fast loading web pages and high compression efficiency | High-quality images, photos, graphics, and mobile device images |
Quality
Images must be high-quality so users can view them comfortably. If photos or drawings are blurry, search engines may give your site less weight in rankings. Images should also be relevant to what you’re writing about on the page. For example, if you’re talking about bicycles, don’t include photos of airplanes.
Image Size
The size of images significantly impacts the speed at which web pages load. Large images can slow down the site and worsen user experience. Additionally, heavy images take up more server space and can lead to disk space limitations.
How to Optimize Images
Simply reducing image size isn’t enough, as there are other aspects to consider. While image size can make pages load faster, other factors affect SEO as well. Only a comprehensive approach will help your website rank higher in search results and attract more visitors.
Image File Name (URL)
Pay attention to the image file name, which is also part of its URL. Use words related to the topic or context of the image, and keep them short and descriptive to accurately convey the content of the photo. It’s also important to avoid special characters and use Latin transliteration. For example, “chocolate-cake.jpeg” is much better than “photo_1234.jpeg”.
Important! If your site is old and already indexed by Google Images, it’s better not to change image URLs.
Alt Attribute
This is alternative text that describes the image and its purpose. The attribute plays an important role in helping Google and other search engines understand the content and context of images, especially since they can’t interpret them visually. Well-written Alt attributes make it easier for search engines to rank images and increase the likelihood they’ll appear in users’ search results.
How to write proper Alt text:
- The text should clearly convey the essence of the image and not be a simple list of keywords
- Alternative text should be short but informative – containing five or six words
- Add one or two keywords that describe the image and avoid excessive spamming
- Use spaces between words to make the text easier to read
Following these rules, you’ll not only make your website more accessible to visitors but also increase its position in search results.
Let’s create an Alt attribute template using an online children’s toy store as an example:
Alt template: [H1] – prodigitals.net Example: Hot Wheels Action Autotrack – prodigitals.net In the template, [H1] is the page title.
If we have several images on the page, the template would look like this:
Alt template: [H1] – image [N] – prodigitals.net Example: Hot Wheels Action Track – image 3 – prodigitals.net Here [N] is the sequential number of the image on the page.
Title Attribute
The title attribute in HTML is used to create tooltips for images and other page elements. They provide readers with additional information and help them better understand the content of an image. When a user hovers the mouse cursor over an image that has a title attribute, a text tooltip appears.
When creating text for the title attribute, it’s advisable to follow tips similar to those for alt:
- Keep the text short and informative. The optimal length is up to 250 characters
- Naturally use short keywords (1-2 words) to avoid spamming
- The text should provide context and explain details from the image that may not be immediately obvious
Let’s create a title attribute using our fictional online toy store example:
Title template: [H1] Example: LEGO Super Heroes Construction Set In the template, [H1] is the page title.
If the product page has several images, the title would look like this:
Title template: [H1] – Image [N] Example: LEGO Super Heroes Construction Set – Image 2 Here [N] is the sequential number of the image on the page.
Lazy Loading
Lazy loading, also known as “deferred loading,” is a technique where images are loaded only as they appear on screen. This means the image loads as the reader scrolls down the page.
Advantages:
- By preventing all images from loading simultaneously, the method improves page loading speed
- Lazy loading allows users to interact with the page faster, improving user experience
- Reduces the volume of transmitted data, leading to network resource savings
Implementing lazy loading is beneficial for most pages, especially those with many images.
CDN
CDN (Content Delivery Network) is a network of servers located worldwide. It’s used to deliver your website content to users, allowing them to download files from the CDN server closest to their geographic location. For example, if you’re based in London, the process will be much faster if you download content from a server in the United Kingdom rather than from the United States.
Advantages of using a CDN:
- Less resource usage on your site’s main server, which can reduce hosting costs
- Easily handle periods of high activity and traffic spikes without sacrificing image delivery speed
- Protection against DDoS attacks and other threats
- Allows you to analyze and track image performance and user engagement
Uniqueness
Always try to use original rather than stock images. If your site has the same photos and graphics as most of your competitors, it won’t stand out. You should also use images that are as appropriate as possible for the topic you’re discussing and your niche.
For example, if your blog is about traveling to the United States, avoid commonly used photos of the Statue of Liberty.
It’s also wise to protect images by adding a copyright notice or watermark. For photos that are personally yours, put the author’s name and the date of first publication. This will help you avoid potential lawsuits, which typically negatively impact your site’s reputation and lower its search engine ranking.
Note that in some countries, you may need to register separate copyright for photos.
For example, Section 411 of the United States Copyright Act.
The advantages of using stock photos are obvious: it’s quick and easy. On the other hand, there are disadvantages:
- You have to pay for the license
- Copyright attribution is mandatory and often includes a link to the stock photo platform, which you may not want to mention
- There’s a risk of copyright infringement
- The photo isn’t original because it can be used by millions of people worldwide
Using stock photos can be convenient, but for marketing purposes, it’s better to have unique photos that embody your brand and make it recognizable.
Useful Tools for Image Optimization
There are many available services to help you quickly optimize images for your website. Let’s look at the most popular tools.
JPEG Optimizer
This is a good option if you need to compress a JPEG file. It doesn’t support PNG or GIF files. JPEG Optimizer allows you to compress images by up to 99%. You can also set the maximum image size (4 MB by default) and resize it.
Tiny PNG
Tiny PNG compresses JPEG and PNG format images and allows you to upload up to 20 images at once. Each file can be up to 5 MB in size. Once compressed, you can download the image to your computer or save it to Dropbox. Additionally, Tiny PNG makes life easier for WordPress users with a free plugin.
JPEG.io
This tool converts images from any format to JPEG. Compared to other tools, it processes more types of images. To use it, you need to feed it PNG, GIF, SVG, or even PSD files on the site. The tool converts the image to a JPEG file, compresses it, and sends it back. JPEG.io also allows you to extract images from Google Drive or Dropbox and send optimized JPEG files in a ZIP archive.
Compressor.io
Compressor.io can reduce image sizes by up to 90%. It compresses JPEG and PNG images and other file types without losing pixels. The main thing is that the size must be up to 10 MB.
Where to Find Unique Images
Unique images can help your website stand out from the competition and attract visitors’ attention.
Although it’s not easy to find unique images, you can use artificial intelligence tools like Dreamstudio and DeepAI to create your own 100% unique images. If you decide to purchase stock images, we recommend buying from reputable sites like Unsplash, Pixabay, and Pexels.
Unsplash
One of the largest collections of stock photos online with over five million images available for download. This makes it one of the most accessible sources for photos.
Unsplash’s interface is also very easy to use: simply enter keywords in the search bar at the top of the page and browse the results to find the perfect image for your project. If you’re not sure what you’re looking for, browse the categories on the home page for inspiration.
Pixabay
This site contains more than 4.1 million photos, illustrations, and videos that you can use for free. Click on the “Images” tab next to the search bar to search by type or use the detailed search options.
Pixabay allows you to search by photographer, orientation, size, and even color. The site also has an “Editor’s Choice” section where you can see the best images selected by the Pixabay team.
Pexels
Pexels offers a rich selection of free photos and videos and is easy to use. You can search by popular collections and by color. There are also additional plugins, and you can edit photos directly in Adobe Photoshop, Adobe XD, Figma, or Sketch.
Burst
Burst is a Shopify tool through which you can select and implement photos directly into your site. It offers thousands of free images, including a wide range of business-related photos: retail, e-commerce, money, products, etc. The site has 28 categories, and some of them have subcategories to make finding the images you need easier.
DreamStudio
DreamStudio AI is an artificial intelligence platform that allows you to create unique images using short text instructions.
You can choose from different styles such as anime or photography, as well as upload images. In the advanced settings, you can change the image size and the number of generation steps. To start generating an image, you need to register. Once generation is complete, the photo can be viewed, edited, and downloaded.
DeepAI
DeepAI allows you to create unique images using artificial intelligence by simply entering a text prompt. Users can input any idea, scene, object, or character and choose an artistic style.
This AI model is trained on millions of images and text prompts to understand associations. The quality and accuracy of the images will continue to improve as the system learns from the growing number of prompts from users.
For your convenience, the platform also includes an AI image editor, AI chatbots, and an AI search engine.
Conclusion
Image optimization involves several factors, and if you want to bring your website to the top of search results, it’s absolutely mandatory.
Since search engines take image quality into account when ranking a website, optimizing images will increase a resource’s visibility in search results. Not only that – better images will also improve user experience and increase page loading speed.
The main parameters for images are format choice, quality, and size.
A comprehensive approach is important when optimizing images on a website. This includes clear file names, completed alt tags and title attributes, applying lazy loading of images, and using CDN and unique images.
If you decide to use stock images, we recommend working with these sites:
- Unsplash
- Pixabay
- Pexels
- Burst
If you’re looking for truly unique images that don’t exist in any stock archive, they can be created using artificial intelligence tools like Dreamstudio or DeepAI.
This article was professionally prepared by the ProDigitals.net team to help you optimize your website’s visual content for better search engine rankings and improved user experience.