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- Optimization and Web Vitals
When we talk about websites, we are also directly referring to SEO strategies, which manage to highlight all the flaws that these may contain and that complicate their overall optimization. Among the first irregularities that SEO tools identify are definitely images, their format, and their weight.
This happens because images are among the first digital content of a website to provide a strong initial impact to viewers. At the same time, they affect the speed and fluidity of the website, as well as the loading time. Therefore, formats like JPEG, PNG, or GIF, while they have excellent quality, are not properly optimized for web pages, where the inclusion of lighter images is preferred. In short, an image that is technically and SEO-wise imperfect proves to be detrimental to the optimization of the entire web page and, consequently, loses visitors. So how can we tackle this problem that photos often generate? The answer is easier than it may seem: just use the WebP format. If you are wondering what it is and why it is so important, then you should probably keep reading.
WebP format: a great help for image optimization
The WebP format is a modern image format created by Google, the most well-known search engine in the world. This new standard ensures compressed photos without loss of quality. In fact, this is one of the biggest issues concerning images. It is a format that makes images 26% lighter compared to a classic PNG, and 34% lighter compared to a JPEG format. Despite being significantly lighter, the difference between WebP and JPEG or PNG is non-existent.
The WebP format was developed in 2010 by Google with the aim of encouraging copywriters and webmasters to optimize websites more effectively, including sites representing businesses and companies, as well as blogs and online magazines. The main goal was, and still is, to provide users with a significantly better browsing experience. In this way, already eleven years ago, loading times were greatly reduced, while websites began to boast a certain speed. This innovative format is supported by: Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera, and others, as long as they are based on Chromium. Therefore, in less well-known browsers, it will be more complicated to use WebP.
Why use the WebP format?
Needless to say, using Google's WebP format has highly beneficial effects for your website. First of all, using a WebP format, being lightweight, ensures an excellent user experience, as the site will load faster. Moreover, as is well known, Google rewards every optimized element of a website.
All the more so if you take advantage of the format created by it. Consequently, there will be an improvement in the web page ranking, a factor that determines a certain flow of visitors. Finally, it allows for saving web space due to its significantly reduced size compared to other formats. Thus, the website will be optimized in every aspect, it will load quickly, and it will be rewarded by Google, which will increase its position in its SERPs. A series of advantages that cannot and should not be overlooked. It is true that there are some limitations, but these can easily be outweighed by the benefits. In fact, the overall quality of images is certainly not the best, but this was already known. Additionally, it is worth noting that this format is not available in less well-known browsers.
In general, it can be officially confirmed that the image format developed by Google generates a long list of advantageous effects for your website. The limitations are very few, and there are no significant negative results. Therefore, it is advisable to convert every image on the website to the WebP format. How to do it? We will explain it to you right away.
How to set the WebP format
Inserting this format is really simple. Just proceed exactly as you would with all other types of formats, as long as, of course, the browser supports it. Otherwise, there is another solution, which is also simple: convert the image. There are many tools available online for converting images to WebP format, and most of them are completely free. If you are using WordPress, you need to enable this feature through specific plugins, as it is blocked by the CMS. There are several plugins available. The best one at the moment seems to be Shortpixel. Anyway, using this format is simple and effective.
Using WebP with PrestaShop
Prestashop does not have native support for the WebP format, but we can integrate it in the following ways:
- Google PageSpeed: the WebP format can also be set as a conversion of GIF, PNG, and JPEG formats directly from the server via the Google PageSpeed module. Using this module provides many benefits to unoptimized e-commerce sites, but it costs in terms of TTFB. Another disadvantage is the management of image cache after modifications. This methodology is compatible with any e-commerce platform and CMS. For servers and hosting with the Plesk control panel, installing the module is very simple; just install the extension: Google PageSpeed Insights.
- Through a CDN service that offers image conversion to WebP - for example, Cloudflare Pro - these services, however, come at a high cost, but obviously offer much more than just conversion, such as greater protection from bots and attacks, and are highly recommended for e-commerce sites selling worldwide, not just in Europe. CDNs allow for bringing many contents closer to the user, reducing latency including TTFB for those visiting from overseas or the East. Configuring CDNs in PrestaShop is very simple; before the advent of HTTP/2, it was also used to speed up loading through a specific VHOST configuration. As with the Google PageSpeed module, the drawback is the external management of the cache when changes are made to see them immediately.
- Through specific modules for PrestaShop, just like for WordPress, there are several modules to implement WebP images in PrestaShop. A very comprehensive module is JPresta Speed Pak from Jpresta.com (available on PrestaShop Addons), this module allows you to extend the Smarty Cache of PrestaShop, optimize the database, in addition to converting images to WebP format. If our need is only to use the WebP format, I recommend the module Google WebP by PrestaCamps. All available in the PrestaShop marketplace.
Never again without WebP.
The Google WebP format, necessary for images on a website, has become a must for optimization. It will create a real chain reaction: an optimized website means a better user experience, which in turn leads to an overall improvement in Google, rewarding your website with a better ranking. What more could you want? In any case, visitors to the webpage will greatly appreciate that it is fast, does not freeze, and has really limited loading times. It is worth noting that the quality of the images changes very little, so the differences will be minimal and no one will notice the changes from a format like JPEG or PNG. The entire website will be lightened. Digital images have a significant influence on all the content of a webpage. If they are optimized correctly, the rest of the website will be as well. Better to convert photos to WebP right away!
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Author: Loris Modena
SENIOR DEVELOPER
For Ind Loris Modena, owner of Arte e Informatica, started working in the IT sector in 1989 as a system administrator responsible for the maintenance and installation of computer systems. He began programming for the web in 1997, focusing on CGI programming in PERL and later transitioning to programming in PHP and JavaScript. During this time, he became familiar with the Open Source world and the management of Linux servers.