Site speed is more important than ever, and one of the easiest things you can do to improve your load time is taking the time to optimize the image files you have on your website’s pages.
Thankfully, depending on how your website is built, there are a number of ways you can go about optimizing your site’s photos with ease!
If You Use WordPress
One of the best features of WordPress is its ability to easily install a variety of plugins to make your website more efficient and meet your needs. Here are some top-rated plugins to help you optimize your image files.
- Smush
- EWWW Image Optimizer
- Robin Image Optimizer
- ShortPixel Image Optimizer
- Optimus
- reSmush.it
- Imagify
If You Use Shopify
Similar to WordPress, Shopify also has a marketplace that provides a wide range of add-ons to improve your website’s functionality. Some of the highest-rated Shopify plugins are:
- SEO Image Optimizer – Auto SEO
- TinyIMG SEO Image Optimizer
- pics Image Optimizer + Compression
- SEO Image Optimizer Pro
- Image Optimizer
- SEO Suite – SEO Image Optimize
- Page Speed+SEO Image Optimizer
- Minifier SEO Image Optimizer
- SEO Expert – SEO Image Optimizer
On Other Website Platforms
We understand that your website may be built on other platforms such as Wix, SquareSpace, or something completely different. And since some of these other content management systems do not have the additional flexibility for add-ons like the ones mentioned above, here are some manual ways to optimize your photos.
If You Have Photoshop
Follow these steps to save your photos for optimal web performance:
- Open your image
- Click on “File” from the top menu bar
- Go down to “Export,” then “Save for Web (Legacy)”
- Lower the image size’s width and height in the bottom right of the right-hand panel. Usually, your images will not need to be bigger than 1000px wide or high
- Next, find the dropdown menu for “Preset” at the top right of the screen. Switch between these options and see how the number changes at the bottom left corner of the image. This is how long it would take the image to load
- Go back to steps 4 or 5 until you can get a file that loads, ideally, under 10 seconds
- Click save to save the file to your desired location on your computer
And If You Don’t Have Photoshop
Here are some websites that allow you to resize your photos:
More Helpful Posts on Improving Site Speed
If you are looking for help on other ways to improve the load time on your site, here are some articles you may find useful:
