Everybody who owns a website on WordPress would like a high performance when it comes down to loading images. But not everybody knows how to optimize images.
Speeding your website images for SEO comes with known struggles, such as: How do you know if my images are optimized? Do I get quality loss? In general, SEO in WordPress is a complex subject some website owners use Yoast or RankMath.
In this blog post, you get answers to those questions and much more.
Table of Contents
What and how do I optimize images?
The successful way is to understand the idea and meaning behind it before you go at it. Optimizing images means reducing the file size with almost no loss in quality.
There are two types of quality optimization.
- Lossless- a slight reduction in file size with no change in quality.
- Lossy – a much more significant reduction in file size, but there might be some loss in image quality. There are different levels of lossy compression – some might not even be noticeable to the human eye, while more aggressive algorithms might have a noticeable impact.
Source: Imagify
How do I compress images?
Are you not that technical and want fewer conflicts or don’t want to spend? Then plugins, add-ons, or extensions are the way to go. Below are some of the best image compressor that is free.
Compressimage.io (Free)
If you compare images based on the file size, you get the same results that are beneficial for storage capacity and loading fast.
The comparison shows that there is no difference between images. Consider the options to compress images for your website.
Tinypng.com (Free: website version)
This compressor is also a great source to shrink and reduce file sizes. TinyPng is one of my favorite compressed image websites.
Because of the easy interface. You can see how much has been saved – with their handy analyzer.
So you get motivated to shrink and compress images even more.
Imagecompressor.com (Free) Optimizilla
This compressor is extremely easy to use. Just hit upload images, and the compression starts immediately. You can upload 20 images at one time.
When you have maxed out the 20 compression limit images, wait for the next day or go to another one.
Compress2go.com (Free)
Compress2go is another great compressor tool. It offers a wide service range such as PDF, JPG, PNG, video, and many more tools. With their easy-to-use instructions, you can figure it all out.
In this, you get an idea of what compression formats they have.
Freeconvert.com (Free)
Freeconvert.com is a great converter because it covers a wide range of handy converters for various online projects. You can choose various converter formats, and it can compress any image.
Compress WordPress images with plugins
There are fantastic works by various WordPress developers. And if you run a WordPress site, and have the option to install plugins, then go for it. You may be asking yourself, what is the best image compression plugin?
Short pixel
This WordPress plugin will compress images active on your site. It has an installation and forget-about-it approach. Your past images can also be compressed for SEO. If you want to test this out, just hit the button.
- Active installations: 300.000+.
- Get Frequently updated (every 2 or 3 weeks).
- Good for SEO.
Imagify
Imagify is one of the best-performing plugins, and it is easy to set up. Fast-loading imagery is great for your SEO speed score.
- Active Installations: 700,000+.
- Gets frequently updated (Every 2 or 3 weeks).
- Good for SEO.
TinyPng (WordPress plugin)
This plugin is a great alternative to compress images and reduce file size. If you want to test it out, I suggest that you go to the free website version. Before you install it on your WordPress site.
- Active installations: 200.000+.
- Gets frequently updated (Every 3 weeks or a month).
- Good for SEO.
Smush
This plugin comes with great benefits such as a Lazy Loader. It will load images when a user scrolls down to it. This feature can help turbocharger your website load speed for the reader. And it’s good for your page speed. For more information about SmushPro go here.
- Active installations: 1.000.000+.
- Gets frequently updated (Every 3 weeks or a month).
- Good for SEO.
Conclusion
When it comes down to compressing or optimizing images you should beware of the available options. Sure it’s handy to know where to go when facing slow loads on your website. Your best bet to optimize images is to test and explore what works best for you.
Your image journey starts here.
