If we’ve worked together, you know I’ve probably mentioned optimizing your images at least a half dozen times. Why is it so important? The biggest reason is your page speed, which can have a big impact on your SEO rankings. We don’t want all your hard work to be dragged down just because your images are too big!
When you take a photo, the size will be in the multiple megabytes. If you upload it as-is, not only will your blog load very slowly (especially on mobile), but it will also fill up the space on your server FAST, meaning you’ll have to upgrade with your hosting company and pay more monthly.
The ideal file size is between 150 and 200 kb, but you can go a little over. Just keep in mind, the larger it is, the slower it loads.
Here’s how to optimize them first so you don’t run into those issues.
Here’s a video walking you through the process:
How to Optimize Your Blog Images
- In Photoshop, click File -> Export -> Export As…
- Switch it to JPG if it isn’t already
- Shrink the image
Change the size to 1,200 pixels wide (that’s the width Google likes in case they want to feature it). The height doesn’t matter and your images DO NOT need to be square. - Compress the image
Adjust the quality slide until it’s the lowest “quality” you can tolerate.
You can watch the file size grow and shrink in the left side of the box.
You’ll see a live preview of the image in the center of the box. You can zoom in to 100% to really see the difference.
I know…this is a very hard step after you’ve spent so much time perfecting your photography. Your compositions, colors, lighting, and food will still shine! Just ask yourself, how much will everyday readers notice? And ask yourself if it’s worth the slightly grainy look you MIGHT notice to get more traffic and more people actually seeing your photos in the first place.
Generally a quality of 5 will take it down to a good file size. But if you can go lower, definitely do it. - Name the image
I forgot to mention this in the video, but you’ll want to name your image something relevant. Not only will it help Google understand what the image is, it will make it way easier on you in the future if you need to find that image once it’s uploaded to the blog. - Upload!
They’re ready for your post now.
If you don’t have Photoshop, you can use the free online editor PhotoPea, it’s a great alternative. Or you can use a service like TinyPNG.
Bonus tips:
- Make sure you’re using a good caching plugin like WP Rocket or Perfmatters, and turn on Lazy Loading. (You may need to exclude your first image from lazy load.)
- Use a CDN like Cloudflare
These are included if you’re using BigScoots hosting, or working with NerdPress. I highly recommend both.
Just let us know in the comments if you have any questions!
