How Do You Use Google Pagespeed Insights For Image Recommendations?

Story Based Question

You’re working on improving the performance of a website for a client who sells digital art. The site includes high-resolution images of the art pieces, but it’s loading slowly. You’ve decided to use Google PageSpeed Insights to analyze the website’s performance. After running the tool, it provides several recommendations related to image optimization. How do you use Google PageSpeed Insights to implement these recommendations and improve the site’s image performance?

Exact Answer

To use Google PageSpeed Insights for image recommendations, you should analyze the performance report, focus on the image-related suggestions (such as image compression, resizing, or serving images in next-gen formats), and implement the changes accordingly. Google will suggest specific images to optimize, provide file size reduction tips, and guide you on how to make images more efficient for faster loading.

Explanation

Google PageSpeed Insights is an excellent tool for evaluating website performance, particularly when it comes to images. It not only gives you an overall score for your site but also provides detailed recommendations to optimize images for better load times. Here’s how to use it effectively for image optimization:

1. Run the Analysis: First, enter your website’s URL into Google PageSpeed Insights. The tool will analyze the website’s performance and provide a score (out of 100) based on factors like page load time, accessibility, and overall user experience. Focus on the specific image-related recommendations in the report.
2. Look for Image-Specific Recommendations: PageSpeed Insights will typically highlight areas where images are affecting load times, such as:
   • “Serve images in next-gen formats” (e.g., WebP)
   • “Efficiently encode images” (suggesting image compression)
   • “Properly size images” (indicating that images are too large for their display size)
3. Implement Image Compression: PageSpeed Insights will likely suggest compressing images that are too large. It might recommend specific images (with URLs) that can be optimized. Use online tools like TinyPNG, ImageOptim, or Photoshop to compress the images while maintaining quality. Reducing image sizes without sacrificing too much detail is crucial for performance.
4. Serve Images in Next-Gen Formats: If the tool suggests serving images in next-gen formats like WebP, consider converting JPEG or PNG images to WebP. WebP provides better compression and quality than traditional image formats. Tools like Squoosh or CloudConvert can help convert images to WebP.
5. Resize Images: If PageSpeed Insights recommends resizing images, this means the images you’re using are larger than necessary. For example, an image used for a thumbnail might be 2000px wide, while it only needs to be 400px. Resize images to the dimensions they’re displayed in on the page.
6. Lazy Load Images: If images are below the fold, PageSpeed Insights might suggest implementing lazy loading. Lazy loading ensures that images are only loaded when the user scrolls to them, reducing initial load time.
7. Use Image-CDN (Content Delivery Network): For faster image delivery, consider using a CDN. PageSpeed Insights may suggest this if it detects that images are hosted in a way that slows down the page. A CDN can cache your images and serve them from locations closer to your users, speeding up load times.
8. Re-run Analysis After Changes: After implementing the recommended changes, re-run the PageSpeed Insights analysis to see how your optimizations have impacted the overall site performance. This helps ensure you’re on the right track and that image optimizations have improved your score.

Example

Let’s say you’re working on a website that sells digital art. The homepage has high-resolution images of paintings, and Google PageSpeed Insights gives the following recommendations:

1. Serve images in next-gen formats: The tool suggests converting some of the JPEG images to WebP to reduce file size and improve load times. You use an online converter to change these images to WebP format.
2. Efficiently encode images: PageSpeed Insights highlights that some images are over 1MB in size, but they can be compressed without losing quality. You run those images through TinyPNG, reducing their size by 50% without sacrificing detail.
3. Properly size images: The tool indicates that some images are displayed at a smaller size than their original dimensions. For example, a thumbnail image was originally 1500px wide but was being displayed at 300px. You resize the images to match their display size, ensuring they aren’t unnecessarily large.
4. Implement lazy loading: Since some images are below the fold, you add the lazy loading attribute (loading="lazy") to those images so that they only load when the user scrolls to them.
5. CDN for faster image delivery: The tool suggests using a CDN for faster delivery of your images. You set up a CDN to cache and serve images from servers closer to your users, improving load times, especially for international customers.

After implementing these changes, you re-run PageSpeed Insights and notice a significant improvement in the performance score, with faster page loads and more efficient image handling.

Using Google PageSpeed Insights for image recommendations helps you identify areas where images are affecting page speed and SEO. By compressing, resizing, and serving images in next-gen formats, you can dramatically improve your website’s load times and overall user experience.