A key component when creating a website is serving (showing) images that are a good file size whilst maintaining good quality.
Why do we need to do this? A couple of reasons why, but the main reason is to make sure that your website loads as quickly as possible for users. Therefore, if we keep the file size down, we make sure that the website loads as quickly as possible. There other factors involved, especially when using WordPress, but we will come onto those in further posts.
When you first upload images to WordPress, it just uploads the file that you choose. So, if you have a set of images from say, a local event, that you want to upload to your website, you need to make sure that these are a good file size whilst also being good quality.
To do this, we recommend “Imsanity”. This WordPress plugin alters the size of images when they are being uploaded, to shrink the file size and keep the images of a good quality. This plugin is a lifesaver in allowing users to upload lots of images without having to resize them first before upload (which can take a long time and some people don’t know how to do this).
Imsanity also has a bulk resize feature built-in that allows images that may have been uploaded before the use of this plugin, to be resized. It does not overwrite the URL’s of the images either so if you run the bulk resizer, fear not, images will not be removed from pages that they are already inserted to. What is also great is being allowed to set the quality of image that you want all images uploaded to be set to. It DOES NOT upscale images, which is great if images that are being uploaded are smaller than the “settings” you have approved for upload.
By using this plugin, it allows both users and developers to save a lot of time if images that are supplied are large in size – but also maintaining a fast loading website.
Keeping the size of images, and therefore the size of your website, small in file size is a ranking signal for Google and by doing the above will have a positive effect on your website rankings.
If you would like any more information about WordPress or image sizes, SEO (search engine optimisation) or websites in general, feel free to get in touch and we will be happy to help.
