Image optimisation is resizing images to reduce their file size. Why would you want to do this? The smaller the files size the quicker it will load to your webpage. Why image optimisation is so important to page speed?
Every webpage needs to load everything on the page so it can be seen. This takes time, and the largest and longest things to load on a web page are images and videos. So, by making them the smallest they can be you will make your page load faster. And as we know a faster load time means higher Google rankings!
When you take a picture on your phone the physical size of the image is really large, as this makes it suitable for printing. However, we don’t need the image to be this large for our websites. Some phones will save images around 5000px wide and we normally code for the largest desktop size at 1020px. So, as you can see the photo size is almost x5 bigger than it needs to be to fit the space.
What if an image is to big? Why image optimisation is so important to page speed?
What will happen, if you upload an image of this large size to your website, is a bit of code will resize it down to the size it needs to be to fit the screen. Not only does your website have to load this large image in, but it then needs to wait for the code to run to tell it what size to be. If you have a lot of large images loaded to your site this can be a real problem. You can avoid all of this by resizing your images before you upload them.
Also if you save the image as a .webp file (rather than a .jepg or .png) you will give the image the maximum compression. webp is the newest file type for the web.
For WordPress:
To optimise for mobiles and if the image is just part of the text or decoration of the website make the width no wider than 350px.
If you use WooCommerce the main picture is usually 600px x 600px – this is a square.
If you want a full width image or something a little bigger don’t go over 2000px width.
Don’t leave it to the last minuet!
Let me know!
Thank you for reading this week’s blog. Why image optimisation is so important to page speed? Pop over to my Facebook group and let me know if you have any questions –
Until next time, happiness is fleeting, strive for contentment. Gowns on!
Kelly (Your WordPress Queen) x
Kellys Web Designs - 07894 112 567
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