How to Optimize your Website images for SEO in Squarespace
Images play a critical role in shaping your website's overall look and feel. But did you know that they also play a vital part in your SEO strategy? Optimizing your images for SEO in Squarespace can significantly enhance your website's performance and improve your ranking in search engine results. Here's a detailed guide on how to optimize your images' sizes and titles for SEO in Squarespace.
Importance of Image Optimization in Squarespace
First things, first - Opt for High-Quality Images: While it's essential to compress your images, you also want to ensure they are of high quality. Blurry or pixelated images can detract from your site's appearance and user experience. Next it’s important to make sure your images are optimized. If your images are excessively large, they can slow down your website's loading time. This can lead to a bad experience for your visitors and negatively affect your SEO performance. To avoid these problems, it's essential to size your images correctly and give them relevant names.
Optimizing Your Images: Resizing and Compression
Let's start by resizing and compressing your images.
General Size Guidelines
Large banner images: Aim for a width between 2000-2500px and a file size of 500KB or less.
Medium-sized images: Opt for a width ranging from 500-1500px and a file size between 100-400KB.
Screenshots or small images: Go for a width of 500px and a file size from 10-300KB.
The goal is to reduce the file size while maintaining high image quality.
Top Tip: Wherever possible, use JPGs as they can compress more than PNGs. Only use PNGs when you need images with transparent sections.
How to Resize Your Images
There are various ways to resize images, but here are two of our favorites:
Canva: Simply create a new design with one of the suggested sizes from the "general size rules," drag your image onto the canvas, and then download it.
The Preview app on your computer (it’s usually the default app when you open an image): When you have the image open in the preview app, navigate to Tools > Adjust Size and adjust the size to one of the suggested sizes above. Ensure the “scale proportionally” option is selected to prevent image stretching.
Compressing Your Images
Even after resizing, it may be necessary to compress your image further. You can use online image compressors like TinyJPG.com or Compressjpg.com. Simply upload your resized image file, and it will compress the file size. Then, re-download it and use that file on your website.
Image Naming for SEO
Search Engines can't visually interpret images; they use the image file name to infer its content. That’s why appropriately naming your images is crucial for SEO. While this name might not be visible in your post, Search Engines can view it.
Here are two steps we recommend:
Name the Actual File on Your Computer: Before uploading the image, give it a relevant name.
Rename in Squarespace: After uploading the image, rename it in the Image Block settings under Image Alt Text.
Make sure to use keywords related to your business, image, or blog post in the image titles. This will make it easier for search engines to understand your content and boost your website's SEO.
Optimizing your images might seem like a small detail, but it can bring about big improvements in your SEO performance.
