Large Graphics and SEO
It may seem obvious, but having large graphics that take
forever and a day to load on a web page is not a good idea
to attract and retain visitors. Large Flash
graphics or images may have a place, however, on photography
sites and web design sites, but be sure to balance this with
page loading time.
Most web surfers are impatient animals. They want their information
yesterday and you'd better supply it or else they're taking
their ball and going home. The Back button in a browser is
a powerful form of voting on the Internet.
Large graphics may provide a certain "power" to
a web page that photographers and graphic designers are looking
for, but what will be the use if no one sticks around to look
at them?
It's a sad fact that there are still a significant amount
of users who are stuck with 56k modems or use slow satellite
connections in places where high-speed cable and DSL are unavailable.
For these visitors, large graphics may be unbearable to watch
load.
The bounce rate for these visitors and in general will most
likely be high. Having a high bounce rate will adversely affect
the web page's position in the SERPs. So, take some general
advice my friend and use Photoshop or ImageReady to scale
down those large graphics and give your visitors a reason
to stay.
Visitor and search engines will both appreciate your efforts
to deliver to them a new svelte page.
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