Images can make up a massive proportion of your page weight. And WordPress image optimization plugins help you to optimize your website image easily. That means that optimizing them can make a great deal of difference in your site speed. Given page speed's importance for search rankings and user experience, this is an area worth getting right.
Optimizing your images can greatly impact the speed of loading pages. Optimizing them for web accessibility was one way to improve Google's algorithms and give users an improved experience! Image size optimization is an important part of optimizing your WordPress site for speed.
If you use the right plugins, they can make quick and consistent work of shrinking or growing images on pages without sacrificing quality. Luckily, there are several WordPress image optimization plugins to help you out. In this article, we'll take a look at 10 of the best plugins for the job.
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Google Wants You To Optimize Images & Speed
A few months ago, Google announced that it would be using page speed as a ranking factor for mobile search. This was big news for website owners, as it meant that improving site speed could help you rank higher in search results.
While Google has not explicitly said that page speed is a ranking factor for desktop search, it's widely believed that the company takes into account all of the signals that are important for a good user experience. And since page speed is important for both desktop and mobile users, likely, it's also a ranking factor for desktop search.
So how can you improve your site speed? One of the best ways is to optimize your images. Images can take up a lot of space, and if your site is not optimized, it will load slowly. That's why you need to find a plugin that can optimize images for you.
10 WordPress Image Optimization Plugins
A WordPress site can be a great tool for your business, but only if the visitors can load it quickly. Otherwise, they'll just leave, and you won't get any benefit. So you must optimize your images correctly to improve page speed.
This is easy with the use of image optimization plugins. These are 10 of the best WordPress image optimization plugins on the market today. They are all free, so read the specifications about the 10 best plugins below and install your desired plugin to your WordPress CMS.
1. EWWW Image Optimizer
EWWW Image Optimizer is one of the most popular image optimization plugins for WordPress and good reason. It's easy to use and can dramatically reduce the size of your images without sacrificing quality.
2. WP Smush's best image optimization plugins
WP Smush is another popular image optimization plugin with a wide range of features. It can reduce the file size by up to 50% and includes options for optimizing images for retina displays and removing metadata.
3. Imagify Image Optimization Plugins
Imagify is a newer plugin, but it's already gained a lot of popularity thanks to its impressive compression rates and user-friendly interface. It's worth checking out if you're looking for a good all-around image optimization plugin.
4. TinyPNG Image Optimization Plugins
TinyPNG is a plugin that specializes in compressing PNG images. It can reduce file sizes by up to 50%, making it a great choice for WordPress sites that heavily use PNG images.
5. JPEGmini Image Optimization Plugins
JPEGmini is a plugin that specializes in compressing JPEG images. It uses intelligent compression techniques to reduce file sizes without sacrificing quality, making it a great option for photos and other high-quality images.
6. WP Fastest Cache
WP Fastest Cache is a caching plugin that can also be used for image optimization. It's not as dedicated as some of the other plugins on this list, but it can still achieve some good results when used in conjunction with other optimization plugins.
7. Optimus
Optimus is another caching plugin that can be used for image optimization. It's not quite as popular as WP Fastest Cache, but it's still worth considering if you're looking for a good all-around caching and optimization plugin.
8. ShortPixel Image Optimizer
ShortPixel Image Optimizer is a plugin that specializes in optimizing JPEG and PNG images. It's not as popular as some of the other plugins on this list, but it's still worth checking out if you're looking for a lightweight plugin that packs a lot of power.
9. Kraken Image Optimizer
Kraken Image Optimizer is another image compression plugin that specializes in JPEGs. It includes the usual optimization features and additional tweaking quality and metadata options. It's not quite as user-friendly as some of the other plugins on this list, but it can achieve very high levels of compression when used properly.
10. WP Smush Pro
WP Smush Pro is a premium version of the popular WP Smush plugin mentioned above. The price might be a little steep for some people, but it does include several extra features over the standard version, including bulk smushing and automatic image processing via FTP.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are several great WordPress image optimization plugins to choose from. If you want to improve the speed and performance of your WordPress site, then be sure to give one or more of these plugins a try. We’ve collected 10 WordPress image optimization plugins that will help you speed up your page load times in 2022.
This is especially important for e-commerce sites, which often rely on fast-loading pages to keep customer satisfaction high and conversion rates high. Read the full blog post to find out more about these tools or how they can help your site.
