If your website is unusually slow, an image audit might be a quick way to reduce the server space it is using.

Check how many image files are stored on your website server, especially if you use WordPress. If your website is slow, it’s usually because the server has to search through reams of data to find the required files. You can makeyour website leaner by cutting down the files stored on the server. This is one of those boring jobs that can improve user experience and help your business make sales. (It also reduces the energy used when people access your website, improving your web sustainability.)

What is taking up so much server space?

Sometimes Redbox and other disk storage readers will show 20Gbs used, when WP only shows 1Gb.

WP routinely generates multiple files for each item in your Media library. For each image upload, WordPress creates 3 versions in Thumbnail, Medium and Large. It might also store rotated & cropped versions.

This is to make it easier for you to select different image sizes, but it can become a problem when your site has thousands of images.

Most large websites use >4000 images. This translates to >12,000 images in the folder that are functionally the same image.

There could also be unused files that are no longer linked on the site but are in the uploads directory.

How to Conduct an Image Audit:

1. Check all image sizes: the bigger the initial upload, the more impact this duplication issue has. You might be able to export a list of media files and their sizes.

Best practice is to routinely compress images before uploading them, using TinyPNG or another web tool.

2. Run a thumbnail regeneration and remove all the image sizes you don’t need.

Force Regenerate Thumbnails is a WP plugin that deletes old image sizes and regenerates thumbnails.

3. If this doesn’t work thoroughly, large sites may need a scripted solution in CSS.

Check with the theme for which images have been generated, then script a deletion. Look for commonalities between the file names of unwanted images, such as the generated size. Write the script to search for and remove file names that contain this commonality, “-1243×1809”, for example.

4. Finally, prevent repeat instances. Install an image compressing API such as TinyPNG API or WP SmushPro.

This can halve the server space used for large sites with high volumes of images.

Speed up your website with an image audit

Cutting down the unwanted files on your website has a huge impact on load times because the server does not have to search through so much data to return each page when someone accesses your site. A faster website offers a better user experience, which has a knock-on effect on both SEO and conversions: it’s worth doing.

While it sounds like a simple process, an image audit can be hundreds of hours of work when you manage a large website. If your in-house team doesn’t have time, it’s worth talking to an agency. At eSterling, we manage hundreds of websites and offer support with audits like these. Contact eSterling today at 0121 766 8087, or email hello@esterling.co.uk.