Site Image And Speed Optimization
You Must Optimize Website Images
Hi Folks
I have been reading some very informative blogs the past couple of days. This blog of mine contains the information and links to further info that I believe the membership would benefit from and of course their websites.
More than half of all Google searches are now conducted on mobile devices. Fifty-three percent of those users will abandon a site that doesn’t load within three seconds.
While images make your site look appealing, they can be a real drag on load times simply because these account for the largest portion of a page’s downloadable byte space.
This makes image optimization an absolute necessity. The best way to optimize your images is to ensure proper sizing and format is applied. Your goal is to retain the quality of the image while minimizing its size as much as possible.
Website owners can achieve this by using a WordPress compression and optimization plugin.
Example: https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-smushit/
Visual content - (http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2017/10/visual-content-blog/), such as videos are becoming more and more popular. This means that it’s becoming more important for online marketers to create them than ever before. The reason for this is obvious - visual content is much more engaging for consumers and in many instances can be used instead of text.
Visual content also can affect SEO in significant ways, assuming its optimized properly. Many marketers and site owners forget or neglect optimizing visual content for search engines. Fortunately, however, the process is rather simple and only takes a few minutes.
Its also important to pay attention to the file size because this can slow down your site’s load times. This will of course affect your ranking in the SERPs.
I mentioned load times...
Mobile Users Leave Websites That Take Too Long To Load
The latest research from Google underlines the importance of having a mobile-friendly website. As consumers continue to spend more time on mobile devices, mobile page load speeds are critical to a good user experience. Did you know that mobile users leave sites that take longer than three seconds to load? That's one in four potential customers folks and this also means that most web pages take a lot longer to load. This creates a significant gap between consumers' expectations and most businesses' mobile capabilities.
Part of the problem lies with Ads on mobile. Mobile Ads take an average of five seconds to load - about double the time it takes for desktop Ads, according to research by the Media Ratings Council. Research also found that 80% of marketers don’t have a mobile strategy in place - a serious point of concern considering that mobile devices now make up 57% of all time spent on digital media.
Google has finally noted that more than half of searches are conducted on mobile. This means the shift to mobile is only going to increase - and unprepared marketers will be left trying to catch up.
Google has been attacking the problem of slow-loading mobile sites through its AMP initiative (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerated_Mobile_Pages). The project aims to cut mobile page load times to less than a second. While initially focused on publishers, the effort has expanded to include e-commerce and Ad landing pages.
Ok folks there you have it and now you must go to your sites and see if they are up to par regarding all the points I have outlined in this blog. If not then get to it asap.
Anyone with other tips and advice please leave them via a comment below.
Have a great day and be successful.
Robert Allan
Recent Comments
48
I'm in the same boat as VonnieOh...with EWWW Image Optimizer. And, I was also wondering how it compares to Smushit, Robert.
Jim
Hi Jim, as I said to Yvonne if the plugin you use just now does the job then stick with it as I only gave Smushit as an example.
I don't actually use it myself.
I use EWWW and here is a comparison blog you might like to read -
https://orbitingweb.com/blog/best-wp-image-compression-plugin/
Thank you for reading the blog.
Have a good one.
Robert
Awesome advice. I will be going back through my sites and fixing any problems that I may be having. Thanks for the tip.
You probably don't have much content on your site yet Jerry so best get it done now and keep up the good work in future.
It only takes a minute at the time but well worth it for the end result.
Thank you for reading the blog and for your comment.
Have a great Thursday.
Robert
Yes it does Yvonne.
I just gave Smushit as an example and EWWW is just as good so if you are using it and everything is ok then I wouldn't change.
Thank you for your comment.
Have a great Thursday.
Robert
Hi James. yes by all means try the AMP.
Google is determined to have the biggest mobile search integration asap.
It is the way of future online marketing.
Thank you for reading my blog and for your comment.
Have a good one.
Robert
Hi Robert!
You provide us with very pertinent information every time. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and insight with us. Very much appreciated.
David
No probs David, always happy to pass on my tips and advice as and when they are helpful to the membership.
Thank you for reading my blog and for your kind words.
Robert
Thank you, Robert. I will be exploring image optimization and load times. I don't have a good grasp ood that and Google Analytics yet
~Bob
Hi Bob and thank you for taking time out to read the blog.
All will become clear as you work through the training.
Be careful of information overload though and one step at a time is best.
Enjoy your Thursday.
Robert
Yes, I have seen this happen to me. So much great advice that I want to take hold of but it's not time yet.
Enjoy your day, as well!
~Bob
Robert, thanks so much for the tip. It was a very easy install and the site now loads lightening fast. Quick question, is this a plugin that can be deactivated and not affect the program itself?
Take care and God Bless,
Mike
Hello Mike and thank you fr reading the blog and of course for leaving a comment.
You can deactivate the plugin just like any other.
Onwards and Upwards.
Robert
See more comments
Thanks Robert. I need to look at this to make sure mine are optimised.
Hi Alex and thank you for reading my blog.
Best to run a check of your site to make sure everything is as it should be.
Small steps taken now will pay results further down the line.
Hope you're having a good day and now make it better knowing your site is optimized to the max.
Robert