Optimizing Images - WebDesy.com

http://webdesy.com/how-to-optimize-images-like-a-pro/ This video is about optimizing images before you upload them to your WordPress and after. You may be tempted to just click the Add Media button and select your image as is. It’s a no-no, guys. Problem is, doing so may cause pretty severe issues both for your site’s general performance and SEO rankings. Thing is, Google does not really know what is depicted on our image unless you somehow prompt it. The first way to give Google an idea what is on your image is to use a descriptive alt attribute. It’s also referred to as image alt tag, but it’s actually an attribute. So, once you upload your image and add it to your post, be sure to give it a keyword-rich alt value. It means your alt value should both contain your keyword and describe the image itself. That would be ideal. For example, you add an image with a funny cat. You totally need to use something like ‘funny cat’ or something along those lines in your image alt attribute. If you just bought an image and you’re ready to upload it to your WordPress, hold your horses :) You better rename it so that your image file name contains the keyword you want to optimize your page for. You can just open your image in Finder (or Explorer if you’re on Windows), click your image file name twice (not double-click but specifically click twice). Once you can edit, just rename it to something that contains your keyword. Also, be sure to use dashes to separate words. In my case, it’s gonna be funny-cat. Other than doing it for SEO, it also makes sense to change your image file name for image search results. Thing is, Google tends not to show the same or similar images in search results. If you use an image that is already ranked in Google, renaming it gives you more chances that your image will be ranked high as well. As a matter of fact, it’s best practice to use both unique image names and images themselves, but it requires a certain budget or time. That’s because you need either to hire someone who’ll design images for you, buy images or you just need to learn to create them on your own. One more reason not use your image as is. If you do so, chances are, you’ll use either an image of too low quality or of too good quality. Be sure to always use the image size you actually need. If your image is of too low quality, it’ll get pixelated when enlarged. In case your image is of too high quality, it’ll drastically slow down your site. Plus your site visitors won’t see all the beauty of your image you’re trying to show because monitors just won’t show more than 72 dpi (dots per inch). Unless it’s a retina monitor. Speaking of which… If you want to make sure that your site is displayed properly on retina monitors, you may want to install the WP Retina 2x plugin on your WordPress. This plugin creates retina-ready images automatically. You can edit your image dimensions right in your WordPress dashboard. Just login to your admin panel, now go to Media and then select Add New. Now select your image. Once your image has been uploaded just click Edit. Then click the Edit Image button. The current dimension of the image is 2100 × 1181 which is way more than I actually need because I usually use images not wider than 650px. In order to tweak it to the right width, you need to click the Scale Image option. That will open a window that allows you to proportionally resize your image. I’m just specifying the width I need which is 650px and the height is generated automatically. As you can see, it gets 366 px. Once you’re happy, click the Scale button. And finally click the update button. You you should be able to see your new file dimensions in the Save block. Alternatively, you can do the same in Photoshop. You need to save your image in the most optimal format. Your image should both look decent enough and not take up too much size. There are three main image formats out there, such as .gif, .jpeg and .png . Links: Blog post with the video on WebDesy.com: http://webdesy.com/how-to-optimize-images-like-a-pro/ SEO Crash Course for WordPress Users: http://webdesy.com/products/seo-crash-course-for-wordpress-users/ WebDesy.com Homepage: http://webdesy.com/ The channel is all about making SEO visual. There's are lots of SEOs or inbound marketers out there who are having a hard time figuring out how to build or earn links for their respected sites. This channel will make it obvious and easy to follow.