Images are an important part of any website. They can help break up text, convey information, and add visual interest. However, when images are not properly optimized, they can slow down your page loading speed.
One common issue that can occur is when an image is linked to via a redirect. This forces web browsers and search engine crawlers to make an additional HTTP request in order to reach the destination picture URL. On a vast scale, this can increase page loading times for your website.
In this article, we’ll discuss what a redirected image is, how to check for them, and how to fix them.
What is a Redirected Image?
A redirected image is an picture that is linked to via a URL that redirects to another URL. This usually happens when the original image URL has been changed and the website owner forgot to update the picture link.
For example, let’s say you have an image located at http://example.com/image.jpg. You then change the location of that picture to http://example.com/new-folder/image.jpg but forget to update the picture link on your website. When someone visits your website and clicks on the image, they will be redirected to the new URL, which will then load the picture.
How to Check for Redirected Images
There are a few different ways that you can check for redirected images on your website.
The first way is to use a tool like Google Chrome’s Developer Tools. To do this, open your website in Google Chrome and then press F12 to open the Developer Tools. Click on the “Network” tab and then reload your page.
All of the HTTP requests that are made when loading your page will be listed here. If there are any images that are being redirected, you will see a “302” status code next to them.
Another way to check for redirected images is to use a tool like Screaming Frog. This is a desktop application that you can download and run on your computer. Once you have it installed, open the program and enter your website’s URL. Screaming Frog will then crawl your website and list all of the pictures that it finds.
If there are any redirected images, they will be listed under the “Status” column with a status code of “302”.
Analyze not only pages having redirected images but the entire site!
To detect not only the issue but other kinds of site level and page level problems, just make the full site audit.
To learn more about Redirects and Google Search from Google search central, watch this helpful video below!
How to Fix Redirected Images
Once you have found all of the redirected pictures on your website, you’ll need to update the picture links to point to the correct URL.
If you’re using WordPress, you can do this by going to the “Media” page and then editing the image. In the “Link To” section, update the URL to point to the correct picture location.
If you’re not using WordPress, you’ll need to update the picture links in your page code. For example, if you have an image tag that looks like this:
<img src=”http://example.com/image.jpg”>
You would need to update it to the new URL:
<img src=”http://example.com/new-folder/image.jpg”>
For more information about redirects, see https://developers.google.com/search/docs/advanced/crawling/301-redirects.
Conclusion
Redirected pictures can slow down your page loading speed and should be fixed as soon as possible. In this article, we discussed what a redirected image is, how to check for them, and how to fix them.
