The performance of your website is one of the most important elements that Google relies on in its search rankings.
So digital marketing experts resort to focusing on the visual aspects of their sites to improve the speed of performance by relying on studying all the matters that play a role in increasing the speed of performance, and the most important of which is improving the image.
These improvements came because users do not prefer to wait long after clicking on a site, but rather they are forced to search for a better site in terms of responsiveness and speed of performance.
Through the article, we will show how to improve the image and its importance in increasing the speed of the site’s performance.
Definition of image optimization:
It is a process of presenting images with high accuracy and in the correct format and appropriate dimensions and ensuring that they are displayed in the smallest possible size while maintaining its accuracy and quality.
The importance of image optimization:
Image optimization is essential in a website for its role in improving website speed, conversions, and SEO.
46% of users do not care about the content of sites that show poor performance in adding images related to the subject of the content.
It is expected that 39% of the site visitors will stop interacting as soon as images are removed, and the vast majority of companies believe that visuals will become an essential part of digital marketing strategies for the current year.
Especially with the impact of images loading times on websites as it plays a role in the user’s experience and whether he will return to the site or not.
Statistics confirm that 51% of customers and consumers in the United States want to have three pictures of the product as a minimum and from different angles that fully display its aspects.
In the following, we will study the importance of improving the image in detail:
Improve page loading speed:
Page loading speed is defined as the time it takes for your web page to load completely, depending on a combination of factors such as the site design, layout, and your own site host.
And sites that do not exceed the load speed of “2 seconds” the best among users because they provide visitors with a faster experience, which increases their interaction with your products and services.
The Page Speed Insights tool from Google helps you analyze and know the loading speed of your own website, and suggests many helpful recommendations.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO):
It has become clear that Google does not prefer slow websites and does not show them on the first search results page, so marketers strive to improve search engines in many aspects, and image optimization is an important factor in raising the website’s response and increasing its acceptance by Google.
Increase conversion rate:
By improving your search rankings through image optimization and other factors, you will be able to attract more customers and users and thus get more conversions.
Enhance user experience:
By optimizing the image, you will increase the speed of your website’s response, providing a positive and distinct user experience.
Tips on how to improve photos:
Give correct labels to pictures:
The name of the image plays a fundamental role on Google, as the image must clarify your idea directly, especially in similar topics, taking care not to add the keywords chaotically inside the image.
For example, if you are presenting a topic about preparing a type of food and add an image of butter, and not naming the image, Google will see it as cheese by 91% due to the similarity of the two ingredients.
Use Alt Text:
The purpose of the alternative text is to describe the content of the image when there is any problem in displaying the images on the browser so that the user understands the content of the images.
Therefore, the focus should be on creating distinctive content that is rich in useful information and uses keywords appropriately in the content’s context.
Choose the best kind of pictures:
There are three types of image files (JPEG, PNG, GIF), each with a different compression method and sizes that differ greatly from each other.
And because the size of the image contributes to determining the speed of the performance of your web page, the best option for you is to choose JPEG images as they contain the smallest file size and preservation of image quality and resolution.
However, JPEG is not always the best option, so if you use font and text graphics, then PNG is your right choice and GIF is the best when using animated images.
Modify the image size according to the site’s measurements:
For example, if you want to upload an image to the site with a width of 5000 pixels, the browser still needs to load it completely even though it has been modified to 720 as the maximum width of the blog’s content, and this leads to slow loading of the page.
The solution is to modify the image to a size and be able to upload it in the best size possible.
There are certain tools that help you in that, such as the Guetzli tool, MozJPEG, and others, as you upload the image and the tool will compress it to fit the website.
Create a site map:
A sitemap is a file that contains all the links on the site and is uploaded to your site’s server, with the aim of helping Google spiders crawl to your site.
The idea of having a site map is not limited to the site only, but we can create it for the videos and images within the site.
A site map acts as a guide and is not mandatory for search engines by providing them with information on your site’s links.
One of the most important tools that help you create a sitemap is XML-sitemaps, which gives you up to 500 links for free.
Conclusion:
Ignoring the images on the web page is no longer a good thing, after it has proven effective in improving the performance of websites, and it has become necessary for marketing experts and website owners to work on improving images in accordance with Google standards to improve the appearance of the site and the user experience.
