First things first, why do images even matter when it comes to mobile SEO?
Including pictures in your content has a two-fold effect; not only do they improve its overall appearance and heighten reader engagement, but they also serve as an effective tool to distribute lengthy text into smaller, digestible sections.
Optimised images can also improve your website’s loading speed, a crucial ranking factor for mobile SEO.
That’s right. Optimised images can also improve your visibility on image search results.
Now, let’s dive into our six tips about mobile optimised images!
Tip #1: Pick the correct image format
It’s essential to bear in mind that their purposes vary significantly.
It can be difficult determining which image format to utilise. Both JPEG and PNG are frequently employed; however, each has specific applications.
JPEG is great for photographs because it can handle many colours and produces smaller files. However, when it comes to text or logos, JPEG can result in blurry images, which is a big no-no for mobile image optimisation.
That’s where PNG comes in! PNG is excellent for text, logos, or graphics that require transparency. Unlike JPEG, PNG can handle images with sharp edges and lines, ensuring that your text and logo images remain crisp and clear.
Tip #2: Compress your images
Have you ever experienced frustration due to a website’s delayed loading on your mobile device? Well, large image files may be the culprit! Large image files can drastically slow your website’s loading speed, which is terrible news for mobile SEO rankings.
But don’t worry; there’s a solution – compressing your images without sacrificing quality.
Compressing your images doesn’t mean reducing the visual quality of your images. Instead, it reduces the overall file size, making your website load faster. And who doesn’t love a lightning-fast website?
So, how can you compress your images to web-friendly sizes? You can use tools like TinyPNG, Squoosh, or JPEG Optimizer. These tools compress your images without affecting the visual quality or resolution.
Tip #3: Use descriptive file names
What do you mean by “descriptive file names?” Essentially, it means naming your image files something that describes the image accurately. For example, if you’re uploading a picture of a yellow dress, the filename could be something like “yellow-dress” instead of something generic like “IMG_0123.”
Search engines can scan through your website files and analyse your image names. This facilitates their understanding of the content portrayed in the images, ultimately affecting the ranking of your website in mobile searches.
Lastly, opting for descriptive filenames can simplify the task of finding particular images later.
Tip #4: Optimise alt tags
Every image on your website should have an alt tag. An alt tag is a short description of the image that appears when the image cannot be displayed, and it also helps search engines understand the content of your images. Consequently, optimising your alt tags with relevant keywords and phrases can boost your website’s search engine ranking and improve mobile SEO.
So, what makes a good alt tag? A good alt tag should be descriptive, concise, and to the point. It should accurately describe the image’s content and provide context to users and search engines. Additionally, it’s a good idea to include relevant keywords to help search engines understand the image’s content better. However, avoid keyword stuffing, and ensure the alt tag reads naturally.
Tip #5: Use responsive design
By implementing responsive design for your website, you’re improving the user experience and providing your mobile users with a seamless experience, which is essential for better mobile SEO. Google favours mobile-friendly websites and prioritises them in its mobile search results, making responsive design crucial in boosting your website’s ranking.
Responsive design can also improve your website’s speed and loading time. Since the images and layout adjust to fit the device’s screen size, the website loads faster and more efficiently.
Tip #6: Use a content delivery network (CDN)
CDNs can significantly impact the speed of your website. Seeking ways to improve your website’s performance? Opting for storing images on a Content Delivery Network (CDN) might just be the solution you need. With photos usually taking up the largest share of file size, using CDN reduces it and considerably cuts down loading time.
Additionally, since the images are stored on multiple servers worldwide, they’ll still load quickly, no matter where your visitors are located.
Another significant advantage of using a CDN is that it reduces the strain on your website’s server. Since static content is served through the CDN’s server, your server can focus on serving dynamic content, such as PHP and database requests.
Conclusion
Using our six tips, you can optimise your images for mobile SEO, improving your website’s ranking and user engagement.
So, get cracking and start optimising!