How Image File Size Impacts Your Website's SEO
If your website feels sluggish, don't blame your hosting provider just yet—check your images. While many SEO "gurus" obsess over keyword density, I have found that the single fastest way to boost a ranking is often just shrinking the image folder.
It's All About Speed: Core Web Vitals
Google doesn't care how pretty your site is; they care how fast it renders. They measure this using "Core Web Vitals." The big metric here is LCP (Largest Contentful Paint), which measures how long it takes for the biggest element (usually your hero image) to show up. If that image is 3MB, Google notices, and they will penalize you for it.
Faster Load Speed = Higher Ranking
It is a direct correlation. I have seen pages jump up in search results simply by compressing images and shaving a second off the load time. Faster sites make Google happy because they save Google (and users) bandwidth.
User Behavior: The "3-Second" Rule
Here is a scary stat: nearly half of mobile users will leave a site if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load. A high bounce rate is a red flag for search engines, telling them your page isn't delivering value fast enough.
Winning with Mobile-First Indexing
Google now ranks your site based on its mobile version, not the desktop version. If your images are huge, they might load fine on your office Wi-Fi, but they will choke on a 4G connection. Well-compressed images are the foundation of good mobile SEO.
Smart Compression is Key
You don't have to turn your images into pixelated garbage. Aim for images under 150KB for large banners and under 50KB for smaller content images. This simple step can yield significant and measurable improvements in your search performance.