Optimising Images In Wordpress Alt text and Size

I have come across many a clients site and it always worries me that they are not optimising images in WordPress. It’s such a simple task to complete and its good for SEO. There is the title image where you should put more than the SKU number. Then there is the Alt tag to populate for even greater SEO potential. If you fail to use these simple steps you will fail to get you images ranked.

What are alt tags on images ? Alt tags should be used to describe exactly what’s in the picture. This description can be read out on your digital device if you have the accessibly mode set to read. This is a function for the visually impaired so google does index the alt Tag. There is a video below to show you how simple it is to populate the Alt text.

Reduce The Size of the images to as close as 100kb as possible. The ShortPixel plugin does a great job.

Where Are The Accessibility Options On My Computer

If you are using a a MacBook, My current software is macOS Mojave.

On the built-in keyboard of a Mac notebook computer, press Fn-Option-Command-F5.
On a Mac notebook with Touch ID (power button),* triple-press Touch ID.
On an external keyboard, press Option-Command-F5.
Or simply ask Siri to open the accessibility feature

this is the accessibility screen on a Mac used when you want the Alt text reading out

Windows Accessibility Controls

Narrator is a screen-reading app that reads on-screen text aloud in some applications and programs. Narrator lets you use your computer without a display or mouse to complete common tasks if you are blind or have low vision. Use Narrator to read and write email, browse the Internet, use apps, and work with documents. Where available, Audio Description describes what is happening in videos.

Narrator In Windows to read the alt text in images

With so many people on so many different levels of the Microsoft software you may need different instructions. This is for Windows 10

The control panel on windows 10 to set the narrator to on plus other options

Optimising Image Size For Quick Loading times

If you do not know that speed is a big part of SEO its time you did. The faster your site loads the better google will rank you. Why you may ask ? Because its part of Google’s mission to give the user a better experience. No one waits that long now for a website to load. Hitting 3 seconds and people will probably close the page themselves.

Google see’s and logs these signals and if it happens on a regular basis they will start to push you down the rankings. Once you start getting de-ranked the slide almost becomes impossible to stop. Do everything to get people onto your site and once there keep them with interesting content

So How Do You Reduce The File Size Of An Image

Personally I use Pixelmator On my MacBook but of course there are many more image manipulation software packages. Firstly I reduce the actual size of the image to fit within my theme. I have several different sites all on different themes and the image size is different on each one. I suggest that you read the documentation of your theme to find out what is optimal for your WordPress site.

The next stage is to reduce the file size. This I do by saving the file as a Jpeg and then saving at a less quality. No this does not really affect the viewing on a web post. You can reduce the file size by a long way before the naked eye can tell. Recently I have discovered Squoosh and the image in my header has been reduced by 83%. The file is now a Mozjpeg and is just 9kb.