When it comes to designing and developing a website, images play a key part in attracting and maintaining visitors. Yet heavy images can make your site slower to load. That’s why it’s essential to optimise images, to ensure users have a good experience.
Here are some practical tips on optimising images for your website:
1. Reduce file sizes
The size of image files directly influences the time it takes the page to load. It’s important to reduce the size of image files without losing quality. You can do this byusing image compression tools such as TinyPNG and Compressor.io.
2. Optimise the image format
The most common formats for images are JPG, PNG and GIF. Each format has its own characteristics and advantages. JPG files are suitable for photos and images with complex colours, while PNG files are the best for images with transparent parts. GIFfiles are a good option for animations and images with few colours.
3. Use descriptive file names
The names of image files are also important for SEO purposes. Use descriptive file names that include keywords linked to the image to help search engines index the image and show it in search results.
4. Include alt text and a title
Alt text and titles are important elements for accessibility and SEO. Alt text describes the image for users with screen readers or who have visual impairment, while titles appear when the mouse moves over them. Include descriptive keywords in the alt texts and title to help search engines index the image.
5. Avoid images in Flash
Images in Flash are less accessible for users and incompatible with many devices. Avoid using images in Flash and go for more accessible image formats such as JPG and PNG.
6. Reduce the number of images
Having too many images on a page can mean the page takes longer to load and have a negative effect on SEO. Just use the images you need for the page and optimise them to reduce their size.
We encourage you to follow these simple tips and you’ll improve the loading speed of your website while improving your position in the result of image searches.
