When creating digital media, proper image optimization is not only important but an absolute necessity. Slow load times from over-sized images can frustrate potential visitors, which will affect your website’s SEO score negatively and may result in a significant loss of conversion rates. Also, images play a crucial role when it comes to your website’s overall design. The better your images are optimized, the better the user’s experience will be. Whether you have a website or not, it’s important to know how you can optimize your images to keep quality but also reduce size.
Take Advantage of the Right Tools
When it comes to image optimization, there are plenty of tools available to help you achieve the best results. Image compression tools, such as Photoshop, GIMP, and Lightroom, allow you to compress images significantly without a noticeable loss in quality. For those who don’t have access to these tools, there are online tools that can help you in the optimization process, such as JPEGmini, PngQuant, TinyPNG, and ImageOptim. These tools typically allow you to set the level of compression and format conversion from PNG to JPG, which can help you save a considerable amount of space without a loss in quality.
Compress without Losing Too Much Quality
When it comes to image optimization, you’ll have to find the right balance between compression and quality. Most of the time, over-compressing your images can lead to artifacts and a noticeable loss in quality. You should focus on finding the right level of compression that best optimizes your images’ size while keeping the visual quality as much as possible. You can always start by using more conservative applications to see how much the size is reduced, without compromising the quality of your images.
Choose the Right Image Format
The first rule to keep in mind when talking about image optimization is to always use the right image format. The most common and popular formats are JPEG and PNG. JPEG is perfect for photographic images, as it allows for high-quality continuous tones and a fairly small file size. JPEG is a great choice for photographs, but if you’re dealing with line art, text, and logos, PNG is the better choice as it will maintain the image’s quality and produce a smaller file size. JPEGs and PNGs are not the only options, though. There are other formats, such as WebP and JXR, that can also be used to optimize your images.
Do Not Forget to Optimize ALT Text
Image optimization goes beyond reducing file size. One of the best practices to follow is to make sure you properly optimize your images’ ALT text. ALT text is a description that pops up when someone hovers over an image. This description not only helps your audience better understand what the image is about but also helps your website have a better ranking for the proper keywords. Make sure you use descriptive, keyword-rich descriptions for your images.
Conclusion
Optimizing your images for your website is essential. Poorly optimized images can significantly slow down the overall load time of your website, which can have serious consequences. But you don’t have to worry about reducing your images’ quality to get to the desired size. By using the right tools and properly choosing the right format and setting, you can easily create smaller image files that keep the visual quality of the original photo. Just make sure to also optimize the ALT text of your images so it helps your website rank better on search engines.