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WEB 100 · Web

Website Image Optimisation Manchester

Images are often the heaviest part of a web page, and oversized photos slow sites more than almost anything else. Our Manchester team converts, resizes and compresses your images, sets up responsive loading and fixes the layout jumps images cause. It suits shops, portfolios and any site packed with photography that feels slow on a phone.

  • Since 2003trading in Manchester
  • 20,000+UK businesses helped
  • Collect M8Unit 3, 116 Bury New Road
  • A personchecks every file
Get a free quote Call 0161 315 1151 WhatsApp us
WEB 100

Speed and performance

Every job is a fixed quote, agreed in writing before any work starts. No obligation.

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Why images slow pages down, and what fixes them

A typical problem: a photo straight off a camera or phone, several thousand pixels wide, uploaded and shown in a box a few hundred pixels across. The browser downloads the full file regardless. Across a whole gallery, that adds up to many megabytes.

Modern formats help a great deal. WebP and AVIF usually produce much smaller files than JPEG or PNG at similar visible quality, and current browsers support both. Responsive images, using the srcset and sizes attributes, let the browser pick a file sized for the screen in front of it rather than one size for every device.

Images also affect Core Web Vitals. The main hero image is often the Largest Contentful Paint element, and Google’s threshold for a good LCP is 2.5 seconds or less. Images without width and height attributes push content around as they load, which counts towards Cumulative Layout Shift, where a good score is 0.1 or less. Image work is often the quickest win in wider Core Web Vitals optimisation.

Sites with the most to gain

The more photos a site shows, the bigger the difference.

  • Online shops with large product catalogues and zoomable gallery images.
  • Photographers, interior designers and builders running portfolio galleries.
  • Hotels, venues and restaurants using full-width photography.
  • Blogs with years of uploads that were never compressed.

How we optimise your images

1

Measure the starting point

We run PageSpeed Insights and inspect page weight to find the largest and slowest images.

2

Back up the media library

Originals are kept safe before anything is converted or compressed.

3

Convert and compress

We generate WebP or AVIF versions, resize oversized originals and compress the existing library in bulk.

4

Fix how images load

We add srcset, width and height attributes, lazy loading and fetchpriority where each belongs.

5

Retest and compare

We rerun the same tests and send you a before and after comparison.

What changes on your site

  • Images served in WebP or AVIF with fallbacks where needed.
  • Oversized originals resized to sensible maximum dimensions.
  • Existing media library compressed, with originals backed up.
  • Responsive srcset markup on templates.
  • Width and height set to stop layout shift.
  • Alt text gaps flagged or filled on key images.
  • A before and after speed and page weight report.

Lazy loading done properly

Lazy loading delays images until a visitor scrolls near them. It is useful, and often misapplied.

  • Below the fold: gallery, product grid and blog images should use loading=”lazy” so they do not compete with the first screen.
  • The hero image: should never be lazy loaded. Delaying it pushes back LCP. It should load straight away, ideally with fetchpriority=”high”.
  • Background images in CSS: not covered by the lazy attribute, so large ones may need preloading or replacing with a proper image element.

For sites with heavy traffic or visitors abroad, a CDN can serve images closer to each user. Alt text matters too, both for screen reader users and for image search, and is covered in our accessibility audit.

Frequently asked questions

Will compressing images make them look worse?

Done well, the difference is very hard to see on screen. We choose quality settings per image type and check the results visually, especially on product photos where detail matters. Originals are kept, so any image can be regenerated at a higher quality.

Should I use WebP or AVIF?

Both are well supported in current browsers. AVIF often compresses further, while WebP encodes faster and is supported by more tools. Many sites serve AVIF with a WebP or JPEG fallback. We pick based on your platform and hosting.

Is an image optimisation plugin enough?

A good plugin handles conversion and compression for new uploads. It will not fix a hero image that is lazy loaded, missing dimensions in your theme or oversized CSS backgrounds. We set up the plugin and fix the template issues it cannot reach.

Can you optimise thousands of existing images?

Yes. We back up the media library, then process it in batches so the server is not overloaded. Large libraries take longer, but the site stays online throughout and existing image URLs keep working.

Will faster images help my Google rankings?

Page experience, including Core Web Vitals, is one of many signals Google uses, so we cannot say how rankings will move. Faster pages are better for visitors, especially on mobile data, and that is what we measure and report.

Related services

Want to know how much your images are slowing you down? Request a check through our image optimisation enquiry, ring 0161 315 1151 or send your web address on WhatsApp to 07737 902425.

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