Why is image optimization an integral part of building a Shopify store business?

What are customers drawn to on an online store website? Well, of course, the product sold, the quality, and the price factor. It is, however, important to note that these customers are buying online, and do not have access to the feel and look of the product. The way the products reach the customer is through visual content, images, and videos. Once, the product image is clear and focused, the customer plunges into the buying experience. The customer is happy and so is the business owner. Photos are a great way to engage your customers and get them invested in your products and content. When you use well-composed and beautiful photos in your eStore, you can increase the click-through rate, overall engagement, and conversions. When you want to share something important with your customers, it’s best to use a combination of text and images. This way, your product website will be more engaging and easier to understand. You will also have the opportunity to tell a more visual story about your products, their features, and their quality with images. Visual information always stands out. Our visual processing abilities are extraordinary. Research says that people tend to absorb 65% of the information if you pair it with a picture, but only remember 10% if the text is used. Product photography is not just about clicking the images and posting them on your website. The images must be website-worthy, clear, and of good quality. Blurry, small, or pixelated images are unprofessional, spoil your brand, and dissuade customers from buying. To achieve well-composed and impressive images on the website, it is important to execute image optimization. Image optimization brings immense benefits to Shopify store business owners as it is the key to bringing in more customers and profits. In this blog, we will learn,

It is important to keep your customer intrigued on your website for a long time, in order to convert and make profits. One way to entice customers to stay on your website is great product photography. Photography is a critical part of a successful Shopify store business. Image photography is not limited to just clicking pictures and uploading on to your Shopify platform. Even the best camera cannot render shots that are complete and well-composed. It also includes research and sourcing of the right image for the right product, editing the image to make it look better, and then uploading it onto your Shopify platform. Image photography has a greater impact on conversions and sales than you can imagine. It is more than that. It has greater potential to influence buying decisions. There are various aspects of image photography that are important for shopfiy store businesses to keep in mind. These aspects will help you create images that will improve conversions.

• Why image optimization is important to an Shopify store business

• How does optimizing images on a website bring in more customers and revenue

• How does image optimization affect the SEO of your website

• What are the different aspects of image optimization

Why is it important to optimize images for Shopify stores ?

Image optimization is an integral part of image management. Image optimization is crucial to the success of an Shopify store website. Optimized images are easier to crawl and index and will rank higher in search engines. It also uses less bandwidth and disk space saving time and resources. Image optimization makes your website faster and lighter leading to customer satisfaction and elevating user experience. Having discussed the importance of image optimization, let us dig deeper into what constitutes image optimization.Image optimization essentially takes care of the following aspects

• Deciding appropriate image resolution based on the devices and screen sizes

• Planning the correct Shopify product image sizes and Shopify image file sizes for the correct rendering and loading on the website

• Planning correct Shopify image sizes based on product and its categories

• Deciding the right image formats based on the online website and platform

• Removing background from the images to produce the correct product focus

• Planning appropriate badges and watermarks for the Shopify product images

• Adopting the best Shopify image SEO practices

Aspects of Shopify image optimization

Shopify Image resizing and compression

Shopify Image resizing and image compression are image optimization methods by which file size and image size can be optimized for best performance. Image resizing changes the dimensions of the image thereby affecting the file size and quality. Sometimes a very large resizing of a small image can lead to pixelation. On the other hand, image compression reduces the file size without compromising the image quality or resolution so that it improves page load time and user experience. As a rule of thumb, try to keep your image file size below 70kb. It is very important to understand the difference between image size and file size. Image size is the dimensions of the image and the file size is the space it occupies in the image storage. A very large file takes a long time to load and will make your website very slow. It is possible to have a large image dimension with an optimal file size. The best way to maintain image quality while keeping file size down is to use image editing software such as Adobe Photoshop. You can reduce the size of a 10 MB image to 5 MB and double its speed of delivery by reducing its size. This will help your site load faster, especially on mobile devices. You can also utilize responsive photos throughout your website. This will allow the photograph to adjust to the screen size it is seen when viewed on a screen. For example, if you have a photograph on your website that is viewed on a desktop computer and someone clicks on it, it will automatically adjust to the screen. On a mobile device, the image will automatically adjust to the screen. This will help you avoid potential Google penalties while also ensuring your site loads rapidly for your customers. Large, high-quality images (created with a professional camera) slow down your webpage load times. They are suitable for print reproduction, but to function well on the web, you must reduce the file size without losing too much quality. ​​

An excessively compressed photo has a small file size but poor quality, whereas an excessively large file size results from low compression. You should test different file types and compression rates to see which works best for each image. Adobe Photoshop, among other image-editing tools, offers the “save for the web” function, which minimizes file size while preserving image quality. When the images are of the best quality and light in weight, then your page load speed increases. Page load speed is the amount of time taken by a web page to load completely. If the website is light, it can also improve your SEO ranking by decreasing the number of bytes transferred to load the website and decreasing the number of images. With a decrease in the size of images, you will be able to load a larger number of images on your site. This will enhance the user experience of your website and your SEO ranking. A better search ranking means you can capture more users and maybe get more conversions. Page load speed is closely linked to SEO rankings and conversions. There are many ways to optimize Shopify images for size, such as decreasing their resolution, decreasing the number of megabytes per image, and reducing their file size.

Image formats

While any image will do the trick, there are some things to think about when choosing a file type to ensure the best browsing experience for your visitors. First, you want to make sure your images are in an accessible format. There are many different types of images, and not all of them are usable by all devices. Not all images are created equal, and some file types are better than others when it comes to SEO. The best image file types for SEO are PNG, JPG, and GIF. Avoid using SVG images whenever possible, as they provide no SEO value. While it’s not a deal-breaker if you upload the wrong file type, it can significantly impact the look and feel of your site. There are several image formats to choose from, and selecting the right one is the first step towards ensuring your images load quickly and correctly. JPEG is the most widely used image format, but it cannot be adjusted after it is saved. PNG is another popular option that offers transparency and flexibility. There are also vector graphics programs available, which allow you to create high-quality images without the need for large file sizes. When selecting an image format, consider the desired usage of the image, and whether it is something that needs to be edited in the future. PNGs are the preferred file type for most major search engines. When it comes to optimizing images for search engines, PNGs have one major benefit over JPGs, which is, transparency. With a PNG, you can fill the image with whatever keyword you want the image to rank for. With a JPG, you are stuck with whatever keywords were used when the image was first created. PNG formats are typically used for graphics, screenshots, or images that require the preservation of background transparency. The best option for high-quality results for images of a smaller size is Webp. WebP is lossless, so there’s no quality degradation when you save a file in this format. It supports both animated and non-animated images. WebP has a wide range of compatibility. It’s compatible with most common browsers and devices. WebP files are smaller and richer in comparison to JPEGs, and that’s enough for many users. WebP supports transparency, animation, and zoom. The last one is especially important because it allows you to increase the quality of your images if needed. WebP has been accepted by Google Search, Chrome, YouTube, and Facebook. One can open WebP images with any browser, so you don’t have to rely on a particular piece of software for these benefits. Due to the smaller file sizes, pages with WebP images load faster. That’s a huge boost to site enjoyment. Having reduced storage space is a wonderful advantage of WebP because of its enhanced compression. WebP saves money and saves storage space by compressing images more efficiently. WebP combines PNG's ability to handle transparency with GIFs ability to handle animation, with JPEGs ability to compress images.

Shopify image optimization for SEO ranking

Having the right images on your content is just as important as ensuring that it is accessible, attractive, and engaging for users. Images are vital to SEO because they provide context, make content more appealing and engaging, and drive user engagement. They're also important because they provide search engines with valuable context. In addition to speeding up page load times, image optimization also increases user engagement and search engine rankings. Google’s algorithms are increasingly focused on image analysis, and the more they can glean from your images, the better your rankings will be. Having accurate, relevant alt tags for each image will improve the likelihood that Google’s algorithms will recognize and index that image. Additionally, the more you populate your site with high-quality images, the more likely Google is to rank your site higher. Additionally, images can also help to improve your SEO by helping with your click-through rate. If you have relevant images that are used in your post, you can increase the chances that readers will actually click on the image, which will then take them to a different landing page. This is another way to diversify your SEO efforts, and you can also use SEO plugins to make sure that each image has relevant SEO keywords in the alt tag. Using the correct alt text on your site can assist Google to understand your image and the page on which it resides. For visually impaired individuals visiting your website, this information can be used to describe the picture. If an image cannot be loaded, its alt text will be displayed instead. The alt text should be a keyword-rich sentence that tells the reader what the image is. The alt text should be relevant to the image. It also should not be4 not too long with no spelling or grammar mistakes. Even if images are not loading because of a glitch, search engines can still read the alternative text to help rank a page.

Choosing the right file name is vital for both your page SEO and search engine image results. To maximize SEO power, choose descriptive, relevant file names before uploading any image. File names should be comprehensible to both machines and humans. Including descriptive titles, descriptions, and file names on your site helps Google and users better understand your website. It is best to strategically place your keywords in the key text on your website so that Google and users are able to better understand your site. To ensure that all of your text components are meaningful, you should strategically place them in the text that will be prominent in the search engine results. Avoid using symbols like underscores because Google algorithms don't recognize them. Every word you employ should have a purpose in a search result. Although image titles aren't as significant for SEO, they may provide additional context through alt text. Because users are most interested in image titles, they are able to provide additional context to the image. The image caption, unlike the file name or alt text, is visible on a website page and therefore has the potential to enhance user experience. Using image captions, rather than file names or alt text, may reduce your bounce rates and maintain your credibility with search engines. Having an image sitemap is just like having a regular sitemap; it gives search engines additional information to help them crawl a website. An image sitemap may lead search engines to pictures that are difficult to find, particularly those accessed with JavaScript code. An existing sitemap may be expanded to include images, or a new one might be created just for them.

Having the right images on your content is just as important as ensuring that it is accessible, attractive, and engaging for users. Images are vital to SEO because they provide context, make content more appealing and engaging, and drive user engagement. They're also important because they provide search engines with valuable context. In addition to speeding up page load times, image optimization also increases user engagement and search engine rankings. Google’s algorithms are increasingly focused on image analysis, and the more they can glean from your images, the better your rankings will be. Having accurate, relevant alt tags for each image will improve the likelihood that Google’s algorithms will recognize and index that image. Additionally, the more you populate your site with high-quality images, the more likely Google is to rank your site higher.

Background removal

Creating original pictures can be time-consuming and costly. Since most small business owners don't have the budget for photographers or digital artists but still need distinctive pictures for their site, try removing the background. altering it slightly to fit the brand and website, the site will become more recognizable to search engines. It will not only make your website more interesting to potential customers, but it can also help you rank better on a picture search. Removing background photographs from your internet site could significantly boost conversion rates. Eliminating the background from all photos establishes consistency, balance, and conformity across your online shop. Visitors will have less eye discomfort and fewer distractions as a result. Your CTAs, core services, and featured products will be the focal point of the page unless they are distracted by intrusive, annoying background photographs. A simple improvement like this may significantly boost website visitors, particularly returning visitors. Shopify store owners frequently use product images to prepare digital advertisements, customized promotional graphics, or email marketing blasts. Getting rid of background images on your website is a key reason why optimizing photos for alternate use is beneficial. You may even use your background-free images to conduct giveaways or cold outreach campaigns about your services. Using transparent backgrounds online allows you to enhance the visual impact of all your website photos. Another reason to eliminate background images from your website is to enhance the visual impact of your photographs. Having no background images allows you to delete unnecessary objects. Unwanted background elements may distract your website's visitors and convey an unprofessional appearance. By removing such objects, you can keep your audience's attention as you produce clean images.

Shopify image overlays, watermarks, and badges

In-image ads and badges let you grab attention and keep it with a large, high-quality image that’s likely to spark curiosity. People scrolling through their newsfeeds on social media sites are more receptive to image overlays because they are coming across them during a planned activity. People using search engines are also more receptive to in-image information. These are a part of a broader content piece, but they’re also standalone images that will draw people in. When you’re creating an in-image badge, you want to make sure that the image itself is an attention-grabber. It can be something as simple as a question that piques curiosity. It is a great way to promote a new product or service. Promotional badges and overlays make sure that the most popular products, free shipping, and any other offers are immediately visible on your product images. It does not require any image editing. It makes important information more visible to your customers by embedding it directly into your pictures. You can add promotional text without fear of it interfering with your shopping feeds since it doesn't alter your original photos. It lets you display targeted information directly on the images, which are clicked most by your customers. You can add a badge or overlay to any image on your site and start showcasing information with your images. Promotional badges and overlays can range from something as simple as a “best selling” ribbon or sticker to something more complex like a piece of software that allows you to change the background of your images to any colour with a quick click of a button. They are easy to make and quick to use.

There is frequently more to pictures than meets the eye on the internet. Images are becoming more crucial for various reasons, ranging from supporting user experience and content to allowing users to locate more items directly from photo searches visually. Your business type and goals will dictate how you optimize and implement pictures, so start with the conclusion in mind and tell your editorial team how to capture as many (transaction-driven) consumers as possible! Every aspect of your website's performance in this digital world is vitally important. Visitors' demands are growing with time. The advantages of image optimization go beyond page load speed and search engine rankings. In addition to those benefits, image optimization can increase conversion and revenue numbers.