How to Optimize WordPress Images for Your Website: 10 Best Practices

Have you ever wondered why your website is slow?

It’s a common concern for many, but our focus tends to stay on collecting revenue from our business. We often forget to take care of the things that help us achieve this, only to care when it’s too late. Then we start searching for the culprit behind the slowdown.

Why are our sales declining? What’s making your website slower

There are many reasons for this: plugins, web servers, or images. Today, we’ll specifically discuss Optimize WordPress Images. Your website images play a crucial role, from user guides to product features. This is where image optimization comes in.

What is Image Optimization in WordPress

In definition, image optimization is a process to reduce file size without sacrificing image quality to improve your website performance. 

If you have a WordPress website, image optimization is essential for maintaining fast page load times and improving your website’s SEO. Every image you upload to your WordPress site has properties like file size and dimensions. The goal of this is to reduce the file size without compromising quality.

Optimize WordPress Images for your website

There are several ways to Optimize WordPress Images for your website. Now the question is, how can you start?

Here are some steps for you to cover before uploading it to your website. Let’s dive in

Choose the Best Image Format

When choosing an image format, it’s important to consider both quality and size. Before uploading an image, think about how it will look and how it will be compressed.

For better visual quality, use PNG. If you need better compression, WebP is a great option.

Compress Your WordPress Images

The images of a website sometimes have high resolution. High-resolution images take up more space on your server. So it might result in a slow website.

That’s why you have to compress your website Image. The better way is to use a Plugin that does the compression without any requirements. I’ll discuss it later in this blog.

There are lots of online platforms where you can compress images. The better one I found is Pic Resize.

All you have to do is upload your images here and click the Continue button. You will find the Convert and Resize option on that website.

Provide SEO Attributes to Images

SEO attributes are essential because they improve our website’s search engine ranking and overall user experience. Like Improved Visibility, Accessibility, Context and Relevance, and so on. 

Alt text is easy to maintain. When you upload any image to your WordPress site media library you have to enter a descriptive text in the Alt text field.

Convert Images to WebP

Let’s dive into this point now. If you are thinking of uploading a new image to your WordPress site, you have to think about its size and conversion.

So how you can do it?

For this, you can choose Cloud Converter which is a very effective site to convert your images to WebP. But there is a limitation to it. You can’t convert more than 25 images in a day.

Edit Images with Clear Navigation

Just optimizing your site images does not get your job done. Your website images have clear navigation.

You have to take proper images and provide them with a clear navigation based on where you’re using those images. It plays a huge role in your site’s SEO. If your images are for documentation make proper indications for your site.

Replace Older Images

Replacing older images can improve visual quality, SEO, page load times, and overall site performance. 

So when an older image is removed, this will increase the user engagement on your site and greatly value your users.

Detect Large Images

Large images are not only burdens but also a shark that will reduce your server space and make your website slower. Find and delete the large images on your website or optimize them.

I have listed a plugin end of this blog. So let’s go for the next part.

Disable Unnecessary Thumbnails

WordPress automatically generates 4 different sizes of Thumbnails. It is mostly not necessary all the time. The theme on your website generates more thumbnails. 

So more images are eating up your server spaces and that ends up with a slow website. You can check this free plugin to disable unnecessary thumbnails.

This free plugin helps you with despicable unnecessary thumbnails on your website and boosts site speed instantly.

Use Images Through a CDN

Before using images through a CDN, we need to learn about CDN. CDN is a popular Content Delivery Network.

This helps visitors get data from a nearby server which helps reduce loading times to your website.

You can set up a CDN separately, such as integrating Cloudflare with your WordPress site. However, some managed WordPress hosts like Hostinger include a CDN in their services. If you have a Business with Hostinger, you can follow below steps to activate CDN:

1. Log in to hPanel, go to Websites, and click Manage next to your domain.

2. In the sidebar menu, navigate to Performance → CDN.

3. Click Enable to activate the CDN.

It may take 24/48 hours to update your content on all the servers.

Clean Media Library

This part is very crucial. Your business is growing day by day. So the content and other materials are as well. So you have to take care of the things that are necessary or not.

By the time, it takes a lot of space if you’re not updating your media library. Also, unwanted data or content is a burden for your website.

You need to take proper initiative like using a plugin for your website. So, you have already read a lot of unwanted things. Now I will discuss a plugin that will help you with most of the things that are discussed above.

Best WordPress Plugin to Optimize Images

There are many plugins in WordPress but the features are limited to them. I have found a plugin that is an all-in-one solution for WordPress users. I was talking about ThumbPress. Let’s learn more about it.

ThumbPress

ThumbPress is a compact solution for WordPress image management. This freemium plugin comes with amazing features. About 60,000+ users love using this plugin. Whether you want to regenerate or disable thumbnails, this plugin can help. It also allows you to convert images to WebP and replace older images with new ones.

Now get the overview of ThumbPress.

ThumbPress Stats and Features:

• Downloads: 60000+
• Notable features: Disable Thumbnails, Compress Images, Image editor, Convert Images to WebP, Detect large & Unused Images on your website, and more.
• Pricing: freemium (paid plans start at $29.99 /year)

How to Optimize WordPress Images with ThumbPress

It’s a very easy process to start optimizing your images using ThumbPress. In the beginning, you have to install the free version of ThumbPress.

You’ll get the free available when you install it on your WordPress website. You can get a premium version by buying it from their website. After the purchase- 

Install the plugin

Install the ThumbPress Pro on your website. After that, activate the plugin and its license.

Activate the Modules

Now, you’ll get access to all the access to premium features. Now, you have to head over to the Modules submenu to activate the Modules you are going to use.

Set the settings

When you enable a Module, you have to check the settings and use it the way it is instructed. Like you’re going to use Convert Images to WebP.

There are multiple settings for that feature. Take a look at the screenshot.

Apply them on Your WordPress site

After you set everything, you need to apply it properly. For example, you want to detect large images or unused Images. You have to apply it on your website.

To detect large images, go to the Detect Large Image submenu, enter the size, and click the Detect button.

The same process applies to detecting unused images. Go to the submenu and click the Detect button to find unused images on your website.

Final Words

Optimizing images is crucial for keeping your WordPress website fast and efficient. By following the ten best practices we’ve discussed, you can significantly improve your site’s speed, boost SEO, and provide a better experience for your visitors. From choosing the right image format to using a CDN and regularly cleaning up your media library, each step helps maintain a quick and responsive website.

Tools like ThumbPress make this process easier by offering features to manage and optimize your images effectively. Regularly optimizing your images can prevent common issues that slow down your site and drive visitors away.

A faster website keeps users happy and improves your search engine rankings, helping your business grow. Start optimizing your images today and see the positive impact on your website’s performance and user experience.