Optimizing Your Squarespace Website: The Importance of Squarespace Image Compression and How to Do It
Whichever website provider you are with, be it my personal favourite Squarespace, or others such as WordPress, Wix or Shopify - you should compress your images. I’ll explain why, how, and what it means in this post.
What does compressing images mean?
Compressing images simply means making the file size of the image smaller. You can also make the dimensions smaller which will decrease the file size of an image.
Does compressing an image make it low quality?
Sometimes when compressing images too much, the quality can be impacted. You could be left with grainy or pixelated images that look low quality. To retain a high quality ensure that you’re compressing images to a desired amount without sacrificing image quality.
A quick fix is to make the image size small is to make the dimensions smaller. Websites don’t need excessively large image dimensions like you would need for a print billboard advert as it’s a much smaller space you are occupying. Your website doesn’t need a 4500 pixel image, but a 2500px would suffice for a large background image. In other areas, smaller image dimensions would be acceptable.
Does Squarespace compress images?
Right now, Squarespace does not compress images. You will need to compress images manually before uploading to Squarespace.
Why should I compress images on my website?
Compressing images for your website is important for pagespeed, user experience and ranking.
By not compressing your images, your website has to load a very large file whenever someone visits. Typically, the larger the file size, the longer it takes for the webpage to load or open. Anything over 20 MB can dramatically impact your website speed. This can be frustrating for people visiting your website and can make people exit.
40% of consumers will not wait more than 3 seconds before abandoning a website. This isn’t great for business if many people are instantly exiting your website. You could be leaving money on the table if potential customers decide to shop elsewhere with a better user experience website.
Not only that but search engines like Google don’t favour websites with a slow loading speed. It’s not the entire thing Google measures when deciding on the quality of your website but it is a factor.
Compressing images can be time consuming. Use our website support service to free up your time.
How can I check how long it takes for my website to load?
You can use Google’s own tool PageSpeed Insights to check how long it takes for your website to load. Aim for a maximum of 2 seconds for a standard website and 3 seconds for an e-commerce site.
Please note: Squarespace websites are typically slower due to the platform it is built on.
What file size should images be for a website?
Image file sizes are measured in megabytes (MB) or kilobytes (KB) if less than 1 MB. Aim for no more than 2 MB file size for website images.
How many pixels should images be for a website?
Aim for no more than 2500 pixels for a large background or full-width image. If the image has considerably fewer pixels, it may appear blurry.
How do I compress an image?
There are free online image compressing tools such as ImageCompressor.com. Software including Adobe Photoshop can compress and export your JPEGs by selecting ‘save to web’.
How to make image smaller in Squarespace?
To make your image smaller for Squaresspace, you can use an online file size image compressor tool like ImageCompressor.com or alter the image size dimensions. To alter the image size dimensions for Squarespace, you can use an online image resizer tool like Ezgif.com. If you have a particularly large image, you may need to reduce the dimension and file size to compress your image.
Conclusion
Don’t leave money on the table by implementing this quick fix which will help with your website user experience, ranking and pagespeed. Ensure any images you upload are optimised for your website. Utilise free online tools to make the process easy.
If you’re overwhelmed by the task of creating, redesigning , or optimising your website, get in touch! Find out more about my Squarespace website support service.
