Tips on how to Optimize Images Before Uploading Them to your Blog

If you want your content to shine online, images are essential.

Adding images to any piece of content, be it a blog post, a web page, an ebook, or anything else, enhances the overall user experience.

But you can’t just take pictures from the internet; you have to figure out if and how to use them without violating copyright.

Every image, whether you find it on a stock photo site, Google, or social media, acquires copyright as soon as it is created. You are responsible for determining whether you have the legal right to use the image.

Even if copyright violations happen by accident, they have serious repercussions

Imagery is significant because it:

• Is visually appealing
  Images can be used as text breaks to allow readers to take a break from reading several paragraphs of black-and-white text. The post will appear longer and more appealing as a result of this.
• Allows for traffic from search engines
  Do search engines like Google let you look for images? Well, if you use images on your blog, people will be able to visit your site simply because they found the picture you’re using on a search engine.
• Is on social media
  If you want your blog to be successful, you need to share content on social media. As a result, social media platforms will extract images directly from your article when you share it. 

Know the various types of image licenses before looking for images for your blog

There are numerous websites that provide images for download, but their licenses vary: 

• Rights Managed — Most of the time, images with this license can only be used once per payment. Those are the most expensive items, but they are typically the best.
• Royalty Free — requires a paid fee for an image that you can use anywhere and any number of times.Numerous websites sell images in packages and offer subscriptions.
• Creative Commons Zero – images that are completely free to use by anyone.A few locales expect you to make reference to the picture taker, so remember to really look at the standards prior to downloading.

Read about the different creative commons licenses here.

So, where can you find images? 

To find creative commons images on Google, follow these steps:

Step 1: Navigate to Google.

Step 2: Click on the Images tab.

Step 3: Click on the Tools tab.

Step 4: Click on the Usage Rights tab.

Step 5: Click on the Creative Commons License tab.

Last but not least, examine the “License Details” button to confirm the license information for an image and determine which creative commons license applies.You are required to give credit to the image, for instance, if it is a CC BY image.

Some places to find images: 

• Google images
• Yahoo images 
• Bing images
• Unsplash 

Bonus tips before uploading to blog: 

Check for resolution

To use great images on your website, you don’t have to be a professional photographer. There seem to be more and more high-quality stock photo websites where you can get free photos for use in businesses. Unsplash and Pixabay are two of our favorites.

Format and file size & use the right file type

Just know that you will most likely use a JPEG (JPG) or a PNG format on your website if you are curious about various image files such as SVG, GIF, PNG, and JPG. Graphics, particularly those with large, flat areas of color, should be saved as PNGs and uploaded as JPGs, while photographs should be saved and uploaded as JPGs.

Optimize images for web

When working with images for the web, you need to strike a balance between size and resolution. The file size will be larger the higher the resolution. Images with a high resolution are advantageous in the print industry. However, large images can impede your website’s page speed online.Your users’ experience suffers as a result, as does your search engine ranking. Mobile visitors are particularly irritated by large images and lengthy loading times. Remember to name your files correctly to help your SEO!

By following these steps, your images will look better, your website will load faster, and your SEO will benefit in the long run (bookmark this page for later).

You’ll see results across your entire website if you get into good image habits now!