Mobile devices have become the dominant way of accessing the internet, and that means your images need to be optimized for different screen sizes, bandwidths, and user preferences. In this article, you'll learn how to optimize images for mobile viewing using some simple techniques and tools.
The format of your images can affect their quality, size, and loading speed. For mobile viewing, you want to use formats that are web-friendly, responsive, and compatible with most browsers and devices. Some of the most common formats are JPEG, PNG, and WebP. JPEG is good for photos and complex images, as it compresses them without losing too much detail. PNG is good for graphics and logos, as it preserves transparency and sharp edges. WebP is a newer format that offers better compression and quality than both JPEG and PNG, but it's not supported by all browsers yet.
One thing I've found helpful is starting social media graphics in a standard 1200x629-pixel size and adjusting and resizing graphics from there. Also, using a platform like Canva makes it very easy to change formats and resize graphics without compromising quality or content.
The size of your images can also impact their performance and user experience. Large images can take longer to load, consume more data, and look distorted or pixelated on smaller screens. To optimize images for mobile viewing, you want to resize and crop them according to the dimensions and aspect ratios of the devices you're targeting. You can use online tools like Resize Image or TinyPNG to easily resize and crop your images without losing quality. You can also use CSS media queries to specify different image sizes for different screen widths.
Definitely crop images according to the platform you are using. For example, for Facebook I use 16x9 to fill the screen of the viewer, but a 2x3 and 4x3 usually works okay as well. For Instagram I would use a square instead to make sure it doesn't cut the picture awkwardly on its own. For Facebook I also use PNG format to ensure my images are high quality, because FB tends to reduce JPG image quality and sizes. I don't overly shrink my images and make sure it has a at least 300dpi to make sure it keeps its quality on social media. :)
Another way to optimize images for mobile viewing is to compress and optimize them to reduce their file size and improve their loading speed. Compression reduces the amount of data in an image by removing unnecessary or redundant information, while optimization improves the image quality by enhancing its colors, contrast, and sharpness. You can use online tools like Compress JPEG or Optimizilla to compress and optimize your images in bulk. You can also use plugins like WP Smush or EWWW Image Optimizer if you're using WordPress.
In the dynamic field of SEO and digital marketing, the speed of your website and optimized images are key factors for potentially boosting your search rankings. Whether you're an industry expert or a casual blogger, it's clear that a fast, mobile-compatible site is a game-changer. For those using WordPress, plugins like WP Rocket and Imagify offer an automated solution for compressing images and improving page load times. Remember to check each page of your website after utilizing image compression; although page load times and condensing the size of images are important, so too is the quality of the images for user experience.
Lazy loading is a technique that delays the loading of images until they are needed or visible on the screen. This can improve the performance and user experience of your website, as it reduces the initial loading time, saves bandwidth, and prevents unnecessary requests. You can use JavaScript libraries like LazyLoad or Lozad to implement lazy loading on your website. You can also use HTML attributes like loading="lazy" or srcset and sizes to tell the browser how to handle your images.
The final step to optimize images for mobile viewing is to test and measure their results. You want to make sure that your images are displaying correctly, loading fast, and enhancing your website's usability and SEO. You can use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to test and measure your website's speed, performance, and optimization score. You can also use tools like Google Mobile-Friendly Test or Responsive Design Checker to test and measure your website's responsiveness and compatibility with different devices.
When considering images on websites, I would be remiss if I did not mention that using “Alt Text” to describe a photo is an element of best practices. If a reader is visually impaired or using a screen reader for other reasons, they highly benefit from a clear descriptive alternative text that you can add to the image under image options. It’s also best to have a high contrast between background and foreground to help those with visual sensitivity.