Google’s recent announcement that AVIF images are now eligible to appear in Google Search and Google Images is a sweet development for SEO. This new image format offers smaller file sizes and improved Core Web Vitals scores, making it a delicious way to sprinkle some sugar on your website performance and search rankings.
What is AVIF?
AVIF (AV1 Image File Format) is a next-generation image format that offers better compression compared to traditional formats like JPEG and PNG. It also supports transparency, photographic images, and even animation, making it a versatile choice for a wide range of web content.
How AVIF Images Improve SEO
- Faster page load times: Smaller file sizes lead to quicker page loading, improving user experience and search engine rankings.
- Increased crawl efficiency: Faster page rendering allows search engines to crawl more pages of your website.
- Improved Core Web Vitals: AVIF can help increase Core Web Vitals scores, particularly Largest Contentful Paint, which is a key ranking factor.
AVIF vs. WebP
While both AVIF and WebP are modern image formats, AVIF generally offers better compression and image quality. WebP may be more suitable for lossless images where maintaining high quality is most important. However, for most web use cases, AVIF is the sweetest option.
AVIF Support and Compatibility
- Browser support: AVIF is supported by major browsers like Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera, and Safari.
- CMS support: Popular CMS platforms like WordPress and Joomla support AVIF.
- CDN support: Cloudflare and other CDNs also support AVIF.
AVIF Adoption and Future Outlook
While AVIF adoption is still relatively low, it should grow rapidly now that it is supported by Google Search. Given its advantages in terms of performance and SEO, AVIF is likely to become a standard image format for the web.
Overall, AVIF is a promising new image format that offers delicious benefits for SEO strategies. Adopting the AVIF format can improve website performance, enhance user experience, and potentially boost your search rankings.
Google specifically warns against making hasty changes.
It’s not recommended to blindly make sweeping changes to images across a website: take the time you need to evaluate which format works best for your specific needs.
So, if you’re not quite sure what route to take, we suggest you reach out to cyberlicious® to see how we can make this sweet new image format work for you.