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Optimizing images on your website serves as the most crucial step to take during SEO and general optimization since it impacts the overall aesthetic value of your website as well as operational potential. Images govern the systemic loading of a website as well as the details and ease of information relay which is what cements the need for optimization. When trying to optimize images on your website, these 17 tips will prove vital to the process.
Target informative file names
File names are core to the optimization angle of images and this is where it becomes important to provide names that are descriptive. Descriptive file names are what search engines work with in terms of presentation.
Use captions
Captions are what accompany the image and are instrumental when it comes to the scanning process done on images. Captions are very important when it comes to building a platform for engaging potential readers.
Consider Alt text
They clearly depict the identity of an image when a cursor passes over the image. The Alt text becomes instrumental when image rendering is not possible and in further evaluation ranks as helpful to visually impaired individuals who wish to navigate the web with the help of screen readers.
Structure resolution
72 PPI is the optimal resolution that is supposed to be used for images on the websites. Any resolution that is higher causes the website and images to load slowly owing to the higher pixel ratio that has to be cleared for viewing. The optimization process for images on your website should therefore include the adjustment of resolution.
Incorporate Twitter Card and OpenGraph tags
Utilizing these elements enables sharing on a larger scale including the recognition of the image. The best aspect about the Twitter Card and Open Graph tags is that they are able to generate the right buzz around an image in terms of relevance to the topics in display.
Optimize thumbnails
The goal of optimizing thumbnails is to ensure the page load speed is enhanced. Small thumbnails reduce the time period needed for a page to load and compressing them to minimize loading time is an optimization process that has to be considered.
Utilize image sitemaps
Sitemaps give the search engine more information about an image especially product images and the images that are used in a slider. Utilizing the sitemaps therefore stands as a crucial step to take when in the optimization route.
Social media integration
The best way to optimize images on your website is to perform social media integration where you can add social media sharing buttons that will encourage users to share after they view the images.
Structure title text
Include the SEO keyword in the title text to give the image an optimized orientation that will map it and capture the context of the image. Using an SEO keyword is the top most important factor when optimizing the title text since it captures traffic.
Target responsive images
Optimizing the picture attribute is a perfect way to structure responsive images that will not only offer efficiency when viewing but also ensure that different images are offered depending on the width of the screen being used.
File size reduction
When scaling the images, it is crucial that the file size is maintained at the lowest possible to give it a faster loading time. Reduction of the file size is a welcome option since it also ensures that percentage quality is captured even with images with high file size.
Match image dimension with image size
The image size that has been displayed needs to match with image dimension as this is a direct communication to viewers and to the search engines. Loading a huge image and showing it as small is like using a 2000×1500 pixel image but showing it as a 200×100 pixels image and the problem with this is that the website has to load the whole 2000×1500 pixel image even if the image is shown as being smaller.
Optimize color mode to RGB
Leaving the color mode to CMYK is what increases the file size when an image is posted on a website. Changing it to RGB ensures the image is loaded faster which increases the speed of the website.
Capture image format
Using JPG, GIF and PNG is what is recommended for website images since they are appropriate when it comes to image quality and illustrated elements.
Structure thumbnails
The positive aspect about structuring thumbnails is that it offers a way to quickly go through and scan the pages that specify varied categories which is highly crucial for commerce websites.
Optimize decorative images
Images that are not product related are decorative images and they impact the loading times of your website massively. Their aesthetic value should not interfere with the user experience setting which is why there is need to optimize the decorative images to take a minimized setting to allow the website to have an engaging and responsive user experience setting.
Test images
Test the angles and dimensions that the target audience likes the images in. the angles and dimensions are what drive the best experience when it comes to website images.