There are plenty of image formats you can use on your web design. The most common being JPEG, PNG and GIF. Each serve a specific purpose, but we’re seeing more and more PNG’s being used unnecessarily.
I say unnecessarily, because when used incorrectly, PNG’s have a negative impact on your SEO.
You only want to be using a PNG on your website when an image requires a see-through background. Now, before I explain why this effects your SEO, I want to drive this home.
PNG’s are super smart files, and are essential to web designers, but they come with a cost. PNG file sizes are bigger, so take longer to load on a website.
You’ll hear me go on about speed whenever I’m talking about how to improve your SEO. That’s because everybody loves a speedy website. And keeping inline with what Google really want: if people love speed, so does Google…
Only use PNG images in your web design when a see-through or transparent background is essential. For other areas on your site, make use of SVG and compressed JPG’s. It’s really easy to convert a PNG to a JPG. This will contribute towards your page load time so in turn will help improve your SEO.
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