Optimize images for your website: smaller, faster, better ranked

Updated: 2026-07-03 · 4 min read

Images make up most of the data a typical website loads. Optimizing them pays twice: visitors wait less, and Google rewards fast pages in its rankings. The workflow has exactly three steps.

Step 1: Resize to the actual display size

The most common mistake: a 4000-pixel camera photo loaded into an area that displays only 800 pixels. The browser shrinks it visually - but every pixel still gets downloaded.

Rule of thumb: display width times two (for sharp retina screens). For an 800-pixel area, 1600 pixels of image width are plenty. Everything above that is wasted load time.

Step 2: Convert to WebP

WebP delivers noticeably smaller files than JPG at the same perceived quality and supports transparency like PNG. Every modern browser displays it - in 2026 there is rarely a reason to use JPG or PNG on your own site.

The one exception: images your users should download and reuse (e.g. press photos) - there, JPG remains the more compatible choice.

Step 3: Reduce quality deliberately

For photos, the difference between 100% and 75% quality is barely visible to the eye - but the file size often halves. For web images, 70-80% is a proven range.

Important: always start from the original; never re-compress repeatedly - every lossy round costs visible quality.

What this means for rankings

Google measures loading performance via the Core Web Vitals; the largest visible element (often an image) determines the LCP score. Optimized images are the most direct lever to improve it.

You can do all three steps with the BiGimg tools right in your browser - no upload, and in batch for whole image sets.