This is a service product or rather a library that functions to make the image files smaller. Generally the image optimiser works by reducing the file size of any image by compressing then resizing it. This is done without compromising the quality of the image a lot.
It is advised to use this optimized image on your website, as it helps reduce the loading time on the user’s browser. This results in the increased speed and performance of the website.
Why you Need to Reduce the Image Size
All the images that are displayed on the website are required to be downloaded by the user’s browser before they are finally shown. This is why the larger the images, in terms of dimension, the longer it will take to download, hence more bandwidth will be used. As for the mobile users larger the images, more is the data that is used as they are downloaded.
This is why it is important to maintain the small size of the images for the purpose of a successful SEO. This way the users will be well-engaged and active on the website. Most developers know that Google prioritizes those sites that tend to load faster. When a website takes longer time to load, the users bounce rate is high and the conversion rate is reduced as a result.
The Process of Image File Reduction
This is done by shrinking the dimension of the image size at first. Generally most websites do not require images of size 3000-plus pixel wide; with most displays on the desktops being 1920 pixel wider or smaller. The adjustments to the size of the images helps reduce the file size without affecting its quality.
The other popular method is image compression using various tools such as Photoshop’s ‘Save for Web’. In this case you simply have to shrink the JPEG files into a lower resolution. This is done, without the details or the quality of the image being affected at any rate.
Nevertheless, it is important that the images should appear professional and not pixelated. Here, you need to be aware of the tipping point where the resolution is so low that the rest of the results are not worth the effort. Finally, you also need to ‘test’ out the results; which means that the images should appear as professional as possible and not pixelated.
The Other Methods of Image optimization
You need to bear in mind that the kind of file format used goes a long way in affecting the ‘size’ of the file. It is preferred that most of the images should be in JPEG format instead of the PNG or GIF format. This is basically because it is a lot simpler to simply adjust the size of the JPEG file. Also, the JPEG files are lossy, that implies that they tend to lose the visual information once they are compressed.
This way, due to compression, the JPEG files tend to shrink to a fraction of their original size, something that is not possible in the case of GIF and PNG files.
The Effect of CDN To Speed Up the Images
A group of servers that are distributed all over the world, to store and deliver the content is known as the Content Delivery Network or CDN. This also includes the images to end users. Here, the CDN servers are further optimized for speed as they are located nearer to the end users as compared to the origin servers. This reduces the latency and helps speed up the image loading time, videos and also other content that are delivered over the internet.
The Image SEO optimization
Here you need to know that the image optimization is quite different as compared to the search engine optimization, but are still related. The difference is that, while reducing the file size helps to optimize the image for the purpose of easy search by rescuing the loading time. This is why Google advises the developers for image compression, wherever possible. For this, the developers need to:
Offer a readable and relevant file name to the image along with a relevant keyword where possible.
Also, try and include a descriptive image alt tag which is helpful for the visitors using the screen readers and also have one or more keywords.
Be sure to make the images responsive and mobile-friendly.The caption images assist in enhancing the overall user experience and also ensures to keep them engaged.
Lastly, you can also include Open Graph and Twitter card images for the purpose of social sharing.
*Step By Step Method of Image optimization
*
Let us take a look at the detailed method for image optimization:
1. To Benchmark the present Site Speed
This implies running a speed test for your site.This will give you the effect it has on the overall performance of the website Here are some tools to speed things up:
The WP Engine WordPress Website tester
Pingdom Tools
GTMetrix
WebPage Test
2. Selecting the Best Image File Type
Once you have created the images, next you need to specify the file type such as: GIFs, PNG, JPGs. Here you need to know which image file type is most preferred for your website.
3. Resizing the Image Before you Upload
Resizing is perhaps one of the best applied methods for image optimization. This is specially important in case of raw images using the DSLR camera, where the dimensions are much larger than required.
4. Image Compression
Compressing the image into the right size is the next step where you can select from either lossy or lossless. Here the lossless compression means that some details of the image is lost, where in lossy, some details will be discarded.
5. Automate Image optimization Using a WordPress plugin
If you find all the steps above tiring, one of the most simple methods is to simply run an automated Image optimization for your website.
CONCLUSION
So, there you have it friends, these are some of the facts about How to apply Image optimization For Your Website. Be sure to leave a comment on the article below to let us know how we did.
Top comments (0)