How To Save Images for Web in Photoshop
In this article I’ll go through each step you need to take to save images for web in Photoshop, including how to balance size vs resolution, and optimising for SEO.
Why does image size affect SEO?
If you want to add new images to your site, it’s important that they are not too large. If you are uploading anything over 1MB it will slow down your site speed, which will have a direct impact on your site’s SEO (Google prioritises fast loading sites).
Not only that, it’s a huge turn-off for site visitors. No one likes a slow loading website – and this is fact backed by Google themselves, their page speed study revealed that if a website page on a mobile takes over 3 seconds to load, the visitor will click away.
Big images are almost always the culprit of a slow site.
Don’t have Photoshop?
The easiest way to save and optimise images for websites is in Photoshop, in my opinion. This allows for the best resolution at the smallest image size, and gives you the most control and customisation.
There are a few great tools out there that you can use that will at least drop the size, such as Tiny JPEG and Tiny PNG. You won’t have as much control over the outcome but at least you won’t be uploading huge images to your site, which is a no-no.
Not every image is the same.
Some images may need more or less compression, so exporting them in batches won’t do much use. I suggest that, if all your images are different sizes and resolutions, you export them out one by one.
Here’s how to save your images for web in Photoshop easily:
Time needed: 5 minutes
Saving Images for Web in Photoshop
- Make sure you own the image or are licensed to use it
Avoid any potential copyright issues from the beginning. If you don’t have the budget for buying a license, use a free stock image site like Pexels or Unsplash.
- Open the image in Photoshop
Or, drag and drop it into Photoshop
- Edit and crop the image as needed
Use the layer adjustment options to edit your image i.e. brighten, reduce contrast. Cropping it to a square size is always a good idea for consistency and use on social media.
- Go to File – Export – Save for Web (Legacy)
- Select your image format
Use JPEG for photos, PNG for graphics. GIFs are for looping videos.
- Take note of the current image size in the left hand corner
You’ll want to keep an eye on this as you optimise it in the next step.
- In Image Size, toggle the Percent % box
You’ll want to reduce this down, then click out of it to see the total image size.
- Aim for smallest size – highest resolution
Toggle the Image Size Percent until the image is the best resolution possible at the smallest file size possible. I find the sweet spot to be between 300-500kb. You can click ‘Preview’ to see how it will actually look on a webpage if you aren’t sure.
- Click Save and ensure the title is SEO friendly
This is possibly as important as the actual image size – give your image a new name that 1. reflects what is actually on the image and 2. Contains at least one of the keywords on the page it is going into. You can make your alternative text the same as the title to save time. This is important for accessibility (people using screen readers) and for SEO – Google can better understand what the image is, so it adds SEO value to your page and anyone searching for the term in Google Images can find it!
And that’s it!
Your image is now saved for web and SEO optimised, ready to be uploaded into your website.
If you have further questions about this process, or need web design assistance, please get in touch.
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