To be able to use SEO to its fullest potential there is WebP, which helps to increase SEO search speed. There are other formats that you can use and some have their own perks and setbacks. But with WebPs smaller image sizes, SEO is greatly enhanced. But does WebP really help webpage owners with their SEO needs?

WebP is the best for SEO because it will make your webpage and your images load faster on your website and Google, it prioritizes websites that load faster which means this will boost your search engine ranking. Having speed is important to be able to enhance your SEO performance and WebP does just that.

Using WebP images is one of the newest ways to optimize your blog or webpage. WebP is specifically made for producing smaller file sizes to modify the speed of loading pages. This image format can heighten the overall speed of websites and ultimately increase your SEO efforts. To find out how this is possible keep reading below.

What makes WebP images best for SEO?

Google’s great idea to combine the very best of PNGs and JPEGs, ultimately creating WebP has been helping webpage owners give their users the best experience on their sites with the increased loading speed and image loading being faster than ever. WebP happens to be the best thing to optimize images.

In fact, there happen to be two kinds of WebP images. One is called WebP, and just uses lossy compression. You could call this the JPEG version of the WebP image format.

The other one is known as WebP Lossless and is most like a PNG.

Both of these image formats create an image that is smaller than their actual JPEG and also their PNG equivalent.

Google’s data shows that on average, WebP images are 25-34% smaller than JPEGs and actually 26% smaller than PNGs.

But Safari doesn’t support it, however, Firefox does now support it, so at this moment in time WebP isn’t a fully supported solution. But you can get passed this limitation by using the PNG or the JPEG equals for those who happen to use a browser that is not supported for WebP.

The fact that WebP can create a smaller image is crucial to the better performance of SEO.

How is WebP Better for SEO?

Did you know that smaller image sizes keep much of their original image quality and actually make the pages load faster for a great user experience?

 

Speed is key for your SEO, and WebP images can, in fact, optimize your largest Contetntful Paint (LCP). LCP is one of Google’s leading ranking signals.

Pros And Cons of WebP Files for SEO

Before you start using WebP image format you should get to know the pros and cons of this file format.

Pros Of WebP Files

  • Has a better user experience because it loads webpages much faster than other formats.
  • Helps to boost a website’s ranking in search engines.
  • WebP is undoubtedly compatible with a lot of different web browsers.
  • Can free up storage space for businesses by actually compressing images on their website into more manageable sizes overall.

Cons Of WebP Files

  • This format is made with the internet in mind so you may have a hard time using it for use of images offline.
  • Older browsers such as Internet Explorer may not be great at supporting WebP images.
  • The smallest amount of compression can actually reduce the quality of an image.

There are always going to be an advantage and a disadvantage to a product. Getting familiar with the product can better help you understand what those are.

Can you use WebP for SEO Purposes on All Browsers?

On average most web browsers do in fact support WebP format. But there are still some known browsers like Internet Explorer that still struggle to support WebP images. So you should definitely check out Google’s latest compatibility list about WebPs browser support can be found at this link, to see which browser works best for you.

Conclusion

WebP is one of the best image file formats for SEO purposes. There are pros and cons to using this format. It does work on Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Edge. However, it isn’t supported very well on Internet Explorer.

WebP image file format creates smaller image files which cause the loading of website pages to load increasingly faster. This actually immensely helps Google to find it through Search Engine Optimization.

There are two known formats of WebP, and both of these formats produce smaller image files than JPEG and PNG. You really can count on this image file format to help you with your SEO needs making your website easier to scroll through and able to load much faster than the WebPs counterparts. WebP is what you need for better SEO.

 

Sources

https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/file-types/image/raster/webp-file.html

https://www.searchenginejournal.com/ranking-factors/top-ranking-factors/

https://noblestudios.com/digital-marketing-services/search-engine-optimization-seo/is-your-website-ready-for-webp/

https://www.theegg.com/seo/apac/image-seo-what-is-webp-and-how-to-implement-it/

https://wpmudev.com/blog/best-image-formats-png-vs-jpg-svg-gif-webp/

 

 

 


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