If you want to be found in search engine results you need to have a fast website. Now that Google pays extra attention and favors the sites that have a fast loading time, it’s critical to make sure your website loads fast. (Page Speed is a ranking factor from Yoast)
Did you know that image size is one of the main reasons websites become slow? Paying close attention to image size and compressing images for the web will ensure your website performs well.
If you’re still publishing images without optimizing them, you’re missing out on many benefits of small-size images. The benefits of optimizing images for the web include:
- Improved website performance – Images that are smaller, require less time to download. They require less bandwidth. They make your website load faster and improve overall website performance
- Better user experience – users don’t’ like to wait. If you optimize your images, your website will load faster resulting in a better user experience.
- SEO improvement – Google favors the sites that load quickly. Many slow websites get penalized and get downgraded. If you optimize your images, you can drastically increase the speed of your website, which will lead to your website moving up in search engine results.
Also sacrificing the quality of the photo in exchange for a smaller file is no longer a problem. As you will see, once you start using image optimization tools on this list, the quality of the photo hardly diminishes after you use the tools listed in this roundup. So even though the quality of the images will not be reduced, the file size can be drastically smaller. Optimize images for the web without losing quality is one of the best benefits of using these free image optimization tools
Tips for Optimizing Images
Here are some tips for optimizing images for the web:
- Use the correct file format. Different file formats are better suited for different types of images. For example, JPEG is a good choice for photos, while PNG is a good choice for images with sharp edges.
- Reduce the image file size using one of the tools listed here.
- Scale images to fit into the proper space on the page. Don’t use full-width images if the graphic needs don’t need much space on the page.
- Use descriptive file names. This will help search engines index your images more effectively.
- Add alt text. Alt text is the text that is displayed when an image cannot be loaded. It is important for accessibility and can also help search engines index your images.
So if you’re wondering how to optimize images for the web, below is the list of some of the best top free tools to help you.
If you’re a web designer or graphic designer you probably already have one of the best tools around. Photoshop is an excellent app for optimizing images. It has a Save for the Web option allowing you to reduce the image size when saving.
Resources: Guides On How To Reduce Photo File Size
- Optimizing Images for Web: A Practical Guide (Source: Better Lemonade Stand)
- How to Optimize Images for Web and Performance (Source: Kinsta)
- 10 Must-Know Image Optimization Tips (Source: Shopify)
- 4 Ways to Optimize Your Images for the Web and Improve Your Site’s Performance ( Source: Artisan Themes)
Unfortunately, many bloggers and other professionals working on the web don’t have access to Photoshop and Adobe Suite.
Luckily there are many amazing free online image optimization tools available. Many are free and easy to use. Most of these tools do have premium features you have to pay for, but in most cases, a free version is more than sufficient.
Many image optimization and compression tools on this list work in a similar fashion, so you need to try a few to see which one you prefer. And please share your experience after trying them and let others know what image optimization tool you think is the best.
Best Free Online Tools to Optimize Images
Squoosh
https://www.squoosh.app
I recently discovered this tool and it’s now my go-to image resizing and optimizing tool. Unlike the other tools on the list, Squoosh allows you to resize the image, change the quality on the fly and preview the image side by side without saving your image. You can also control compression levels for best results The app itself is extremely simple and easy to use.
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TinyPNG
www.tinypng.com
Compress PNG images while preserving transparency. Make your website faster and save bandwidth. This tool optimizes jpg and png images. PNG file sizes, when optimized by TinyPNG, are reduced by as much as 50-80% while still preserving full transparency! You can even upload up to 20 images at a time.
Commpressor.io
www.compressor.io
Compress and optimize your images. It can produce up to 90% file size reduction. Compressor is one of the best image compressing apps online. It’s a free web app that can take any number of images (under 10MB) and optimize their file size without quality loss.
TinyImage
attrock.com/image-compression-tool/
TinyImage is another free tool that lets you reduces your image file size without compromising the image quality. Just select the PNG and/or JPG/JPEG files you want to compress and download their compressed versions after quick optimization.
JPEGMini
jpegmini.com
JPEGMini is another photo recompression app, which significantly reduces the size of photographs without affecting their perceptual quality. You can also download a free desktop version that lets you save up to 20 images per day free.
JPEG Optimizer
jpeg-optimizer.com
Compress and Resize Your Digital Photos. Resize and Compress Digital Photos and Images Online. JPEG-Optimizer is a free online tool for resizing and compressing your digital photos and images for displaying on the web in forums or blogs. You can also specify the level of compression.
Optimizilla
optimizilla.com
Optimizilla is the ultimate image optimizer to compress your images in JPEG and PNG formats to the minimum possible size.
Compress JPEG
compressjpeg.com
Compress JPEG images and photos for displaying on the web
Free Online Image Optimizer
kraken.io/web-interface
Kraken allows you to upload multiple of photos and optimize them for fast downloads.
Image Recycle
imagerecycle.com
Nice and easy-to-use image and PDF Optimizer.
Img2Go Compress Image Tool
img2go.com/compress-image
Nice and easy-to-use image and PDF Optimizer.
Top WordPress Image Optimization Plugins
If you’re one of many who use WordPress, you can also optimize and compress your images when uploading them to the WordPress site. Below are two of my favorite WordPress image optimization plugins.
EWWW Image Optimizer
EWWW I.O. will automatically optimize new images that you upload, it can also optimize all the images that you have already uploaded, and optionally convert your images to the best file format.
WP Smush
Resize, optimize, and compress all of your images with the incredibly powerful and 100% free WordPress image smasher, brought to you by the superteam at WPMU DEV!
Check out this infographic on how to improve website performance using image optimization techniques from Website Builder Expert
More Online Optimization Tools & Resources:
- 15 Best Free Image Optimization Tools for Image Compression (Source: Enviragallery)
- The 6 Best WordPress Image Optimization Plugins Compared (Source: Elegant Themes)
- From big to small: 5 free image compression tools reviewed (Source: Search Engine Land)
Importance of Image Optimization for SEO
Image optimization is a fundamental aspect of SEO and website performance. By optimizing images, website owners can improve website load times, leading to better user experiences.
Faster load times contribute to increased organic traffic, as search engines favor websites that provide a smooth and efficient user experience.
Additionally, optimized images help reduce bounce rates, indicating user satisfaction and engagement. By making your pages load fast, you will ensure users visiting your website will stick around instead of leaving not wanting to wait for the page to load.
Image optimization plays a crucial role in enhancing both search engine optimization (SEO) efforts and user experience on websites. By optimizing images, website owners can unlock several benefits that positively impact their search engine rankings, organic traffic, and overall website performance. One significant advantage of image optimization is its effect on website load times. When images are not properly optimized, they can significantly slow down a website’s loading speed, leading to a poor user experience. In today’s fast-paced digital world, users expect instant access to information and have little patience for slow-loading websites. By optimizing images, reducing file sizes, and employing efficient compression techniques, website owners can improve website performance and ensure faster load times, enhancing user satisfaction and engagement.
In addition to enhancing website load times, image optimization directly contributes to improving organic traffic. Search engines, such as Google, take various factors into account when determining search rankings, and image optimization is one of them. Optimized images can be indexed more effectively by search engines, allowing them to appear in relevant image search results. By using descriptive file names, alt text, and optimizing image metadata, website owners can increase the visibility and discoverability of their images in search engine results, driving organic traffic to their websites.
Image optimization plays a significant role in reducing bounce rates, which is a critical metric for user engagement. When a website takes too long to load or presents images that are not optimized, users are more likely to abandon the page and look for alternative sources of information. High bounce rates can negatively impact a website’s SEO performance, indicating to search engines that the website’s content or user experience may be inadequate.
By optimizing images and ensuring faster load times, website owners can improve the overall user experience, reduce bounce rates, and increase the likelihood of visitors staying on their site for longer durations, exploring multiple pages, and engaging with the content.
Conclusion
Image optimization is the process of reducing the file size of images without sacrificing quality. This can be done using a variety of free image optimization tools available. Reducing the size of the image and decreasing the load time can have a number of benefits for both SEO and user experience.
