How to optimize images for your website

Pages with good (unique, structured, expert) text and visually understandable content rank better on Google. Properly optimized images help attract additional traffic to the site.

Today we will tell you what techniques will help you properly optimize images and provide additional conditions for successful SEO promotion of your site.

We also recommend reading our thematic article"Tools for attracting traffic to the site: content syndication".

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Image to text correspondence 

Relevance

It is worth choosing images that correspond to the content of the text, clearly illustrate what the text is about, and reinforce its references and content. 

Quality

Users are not interested in blurry, unclear images. Therefore, it is important to use high-quality visual content that can not only attract attention, but also keep it. 

Uniqueness

• It is not always possible to create a good visual in Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator. But you can download the appropriate one. We recommend that you familiarize yourself with the TOP-10 freevia link.
• Constantly using stock images that can be found in the "Most Popular" section is also not the best option. Even despite the thematic relevance and high resolution of these images.
• It is worth spending a little more time searching for original images that have not become commonplace on the Web. Search engines perceive them much better than frequently repeated images.  
• And, of course, you don't need to copy-paste images from competitors' websites: no one has yet eliminated the risk of copyright infringement.

Format

There is no ideal universal image format. The choice depends on the purpose of using a particular visual. In addition, each format has its own compression characteristics.

File name

Often, file names look something like this – cMEaPREq2Rhg9.jpg. If you ignore the importance of high ranking in search, you can leave this file name unchanged. But getting to the TOP is almost always important. And if so, then you should rename the images according to their content.

If the name contains more than one word, then you need to put a hyphen "-" between them. Attention: you don't need to spam with keywords!

An example of a good image title for an article about how to choose a reliablehosting—choose-hosting.jpg

Image size

For example, in your site settings, the default image size is set to 400x300px. If you upload a large file of a much larger size, the quality of the illustration will not improve, and the page will display a 400x300px image.

But to display it, the site will have to load a large source file each time. This significantly slows down the page loading speed. Especially if there are several such images on the page. 

How to resize without losing quality? For example, using Adobe PhotoShop, a standard .

File weight

Loading speed is an important factor in the quality of website rankings. Heavy images significantly reduce PageSpeed ​​indicators. Compressing images will help to avoid this.

For this purpose, you can use any special programs and online services: TinyPNG, JpegMini, I love image, Optimizilla, EzGIF (for GIFs), etc. Read about how to upload GIF files to WordPresshere.

Using them is easy: you need to upload an image and change its original settings to the required ones. In PhotoShop, you can do this using the Save for Web function.

The main condition for effective compression is a balanced ratio of image quality and size. It is necessary to ensure that the edited illustration does not differ too much from the original.

Alt and Title attributes

Required Alt attribute

This is a short text description of what is depicted in the image. If the illustration is deleted, moved, or the browser does not display it for some reason, the Alt text will be a hint for the reader.

When working with a website, it is better to fill in this attribute for all images placed on the pages. Thanks to this, search engines better recognize and understand the content of the images: this is an additional factor for good ranking.

The HTML code reads as follows:

The presence of an Alt attribute has a positive impact on the overall textual relevance of a page on Google. Therefore, it is important to use keywords in the description.

Additional Title attribute

Title is a kind of text title for the image (it should not duplicate Alt). This setting is not as mandatory as Alt, but it still indirectly affects the promotion of the illustration.

In addition, the presence of a Title can positively affect the behavioral parameters of the site. If the user has difficulty understanding what is depicted in the image, he can hover over it and the Title tooltip will clarify the situation. 

The HTML code reads as follows:

General requirements for Title and Alt:

• meaningful text describing the image;
• length - 3-5 words (but more than 250 characters);
• It is desirable to include a key query;
• The attribute should not be spammy. 

Where to write Title and Alt

If the site is made onWordPress, the fields for filling in Alt and Title need to be found in the image settings.

Captions for pictures

Alt and Title text are usually displayed when a special action is performed. But regular captions always accompany the image. When recognizing images, search engines also take into account the text placed around them. Therefore, it is recommended to create informative, useful user captions with a moderate use of keywords.

Adaptive images

This is the standard for modern websites, and Google recommends using this technology. Visual content should display correctly on any screen size – from a smartphone display to a widescreen monitor.

For example, a 640x400px image will look great on a smartphone screen, but not on a large 49" LCD monitor. 

But if you upload an image to your site in multiple resolutions and ask the browser to select the desired file based on the screen size, the problem will be solved. The Srcset attribute of the Img tag will help you do this.

Important! When calculating the required image quality, you must take into account the pixel ratio of the device.

Image optimization checklist

1. Post relevant, unique, and high-quality images on your site
2. Upload images of the appropriate format and size
3. Optimize image weight
4. Don't forget to specify the file name.
5. Actively use Alt and Title attributes
6. Add captions with keywords 
7. Configure the use of responsive images

Conclusions

Images don't just illustrate text content, they also affect traffic. Using poor quality images, as well as "heavy" ones that take a long time to load, negatively affects user behavior.

But properly optimized ones only work in a positive way: visitors often read text diagonally without reading it - and a high-quality picture is sure to attract attention.

In addition, such images increase the searchability of your site and the visual content posted on it in the Google Images database.Image search is one of the main SEO trends. It is not worth ignoring it, so as not to lose a significant part of your traffic.

It is also important to understand thatwebsitewill work more efficiently thanks to reliablehostingand successfuldomain.