WordPress Website Images Advice – Everything You Need to Know

Wonderful World of Websites | Website Wonder Woman

Introduction to WordPress Website Images

One of my most popular queries is about WordPress website images. Where to find images? How to optimise them? How to size them? What sizes should they be? Where should you put images? And so on...

So, let's delve in and get your questions answered!

wordpress website images a computer screen graphic with multi-coloured squares on the screen

Let's talk WordPress Website Images...

Ok, so first things first. When you are planning a page on your website, you will need to know how many images you need, what images you need and whether they need to be portrait, landscape or square.

Therefore, when you first start creating a website page, it helps to first plan out what you want in terms of layout, text and those all-important WordPress website images.

So if you haven't planned out that page first, then go ahead and do that right now.

No clue where to start?

Feel free to sign up to my free planning course and then map something out and come back here...

If you don't have time for that right now, then why not draw a quick box sketch on paper? Basically, pop your planned layout in boxes with text or images in those boxes.

A lot of people like a full-width header image at the top; for that, you are looking at a landscape image. If you have a long piece of text in one column and want an image in a second column by the side of it, then you are looking at a portrait image and so on.

Therefore, it's good to map out where you plan to place your WordPress website images and text on the page, so you can roughly know which shapes you are looking for.

Next is choosing what images you need.

Do you already have images of you or your products? Or maybe images relating to your services? Which ones would be relevant on that page? Consider these points carefully as you plot the page out.

But what if you don't have images?

MASSIVE TIP: DO NOT USE IMAGES FROM GOOGLE IMAGE SEARCH!

Sorry for the shouting, but this could be one of the biggest mistakes you ever made. Most of these images are copyrighted. People who own these images can easily discover the websites that are using their images, and you can be fined thousands of pounds.

It's just not worth it.

So, where do you find images?

The best place to find royalty-free images is stock photo sites. As you are running a business from your website, they also need to be royalty-free for commercial use.

Suggested sites to use that are free are https://pixabay.com, https://pexels.com, and https://unsplash.com

If you can't find what you are looking for on these sites, then there are paid sites such as https://istockphoto.com or https://stock.adobe.com

There's also the option to have photos taken for your WordPress website images. If you are going to have them taken by a photographer, I suggest having a mix of landscape and portrait images. Likewise, if you are using images for headers, and they are photos of you, stand to the right or left of the photo so that the other side can have writing on it for your header when you put it on your website (such as in my main header on the home page of my website)

WordPress Website images laptop in the background with size guide written over the top

WordPress Website Images: Sizing

Then there's sizing. What is the optimum size for your WordPress website images? Sizing is a minefield, as it depends on where your image is and what shape your image is, etc. There are so many variables. There are image size guides out there, depending on your theme, which give estimated image sizing. I have popped one on here to make life a little easier for you.

Image sizing is really important because it is usually one of the biggest reasons that you get a slow loading websites. To avoid the search engines and your visitors having a slow loading website use correctly sized images, it is a must. Consequently, what happens is that when your browser loads your WordPress website images, it has to resize the image before the page loads. Have a few images? It can add extra precious seconds to your loading speed.

How to resize WordPress website Images

Another way to speed up your WordPress website's image loading speed is to use image optimisation, and I always recommend the Smush plugin for this. This plugin will automatically optimise your images for you, and you can also switch on the toggle to show incorrectly sized images, just to double-check.

If you do need to resize images, you can use various software such as Photoshop or Affinity, or there are many free websites that you can Google and find that will resize your images for you. You can also resize them in WordPress by going to Media in the WordPress dashboard. Click on the image you want to resize and click edit underneath. You can then crop and scale the image.

TOP TIP for WordPress website images. I often have people asking me why a few images in a line are not the same size. It is simple. WordPress doesn't automatically size images for you, so if you have a row of images, you need to make sure they are the same size before placing them on your page.

3d Graphic of WordPress website images with a speech bubble coming out of it to represent alt text

Title and Alt Text

Giving your WordPress website images clear titles and alt text is essential for both accessibility and search performance. Alt text (alternative text) describes an image for people using screen readers, ensuring that visitors with visual impairments can understand the content and context of your visuals. Without it, images become invisible to a significant portion of your audience, which not only limits inclusivity but may also put your site out of alignment with accessibility standards and best practices.

Beyond accessibility, image titles and alt text also support better SEO. Search engines can’t “see” images the way humans do, so they rely on descriptive text to understand what an image represents. Well-written alt text helps your images appear in image search results and reinforces the relevance of your page content, potentially improving rankings. It also enhances user experience if images fail to load, since descriptive alt text still communicates the intended message. In short, taking a few extra seconds to label your images properly makes your site more inclusive, discoverable, and professional.

Final Word

So, there we have it, everything you need to know about WordPress website images. That should answer most of your questions. However, if you have more questions, then the place to be is inside my tech support membership, The Tech Tavern - See you there!

Join The Tech Tavern

Help ChatGPT find your website a laptop with a megaphone coming out of the screen

I know that sounds ridiculous, but spend a few minutes browsing small-business websites, and you will see why it matters.

For example: A homepage might say: "Helping you achieve your goals." That's great, but what goals? Who are you helping?

A web visitor might work it out from the logo, photographs and navigation. Machines have less tolerance for ambiguity.

Compare that with: " We provide commercial cleaning services to offices, schools and healthcare businesses across South Wales."

Suddenly, there's much less to decipher. Who are you? A commercial cleaning company. What do you do? Clean commercial premises. Who for? Offices, schools, and healthcare businesses. Where? South Wales.

Clear website copy isn't unsophisticated copy. If you want to help ChatGPT find your website, clarity can be a big advantage.

3. Create Proper Pages for Your Main Services

One mistake I regularly see is businesses trying to squeeze everything they offer onto one service page. Imagine a building company offering extensions, loft conversions, kitchen renovations, and garage conversions. Giving each important service its own useful page creates far more context than mentioning all four in a short bullet list.

A strong page can explain:

what the service involves;
who it is suitable for;
common questions customers ask;
the process;
relevant experience;
examples of completed work;
geographical areas covered.

This is not only useful information for potential customers, but also useful for conventional SEO and will help ChatGPT find your website and understand exactly what your business provides.

However, a word of caution. The important word here is useful. Creating 30 near-identical pages simply to target 30 slightly different phrases isn't the answer. Websites are ultimately for people, so create pages because you have something worthwhile to tell them.

4. Answer the Questions Your Customers Really Ask

3d speech bubbles with Q & A in them for Help ChatGPT find your website blog

This is where good blog content becomes particularly valuable and can help ChatGPT find your website.

People often interact with ChatGPT and other AI bots in a conversational way. Rather than searching for something like: "loft conversion Cardiff", they might ask "Do I need planning permission for a loft conversion in Cardiff?" or "Is my house suitable for a loft conversion?". You get my drift.

Think about the questions customers ask you on the phone, in emails, during quotations, or at meetings. Those questions can become extremely useful website content. And don't limit yourself to just obvious FAQs. Some of the best content comes from the questions that require actual expertise to answer: comparisons, costs, pitfalls, misconceptions, alternatives, and situations where one option is better than another. That is where your knowledge becomes valuable. Put that into blogs, and it will help ChatGPT find your website.

5. Don't Just Say You're an Expert - Demonstrate It

Almost every business website claims some variation of: "We pride ourselves on providing a professional, high-quality service." The problem is that anybody can write it. Evidence is much more persuasive.

If you want to help ChatGPT find your website and understand why your business might be a credible source, then you need to give your website substance.

That could include detailed case studies, named authors with relevant experience, customer reviews, original photographs, accreditations, qualifications, awards, research or data you've produced, and genuinely knowledgeable articles/blogs.

A case study saying: We recently completed this project for a client in Newport", isn't particularly informative. Explain the problem. What did the customer need? What did you recommend? Why? What difficulties arose? How did you solve them? What was the outcome?

That is useful information for humans, and it gives search and AI systems considerably more context about your real-world expertise.

6. Make Your Location Clear

Naturally, this is particularly important for local businesses.

If you are an electrician serving customers across South Wales, make that clear on your website. Your address, service areas, and contact details shouldn't require detective work to find.

Your About and Contact pages can reinforce where you are based, while individual service pages can naturally explain areas you cover. However, avoid creating dozens of thin location pages where the only difference is swapping one town name for another, like "Electrician Newport", "Electrician Cardiff", and "Electrician Cwmbran."

That's not useful content. If a location genuinely warrants its own page, give the reader something specific and worthwhile.

7. Build Your Reputation Beyond Your Own Website

Your website doesn't exist in isolation.

If you claim to be a leading expert in your field but nobody else on the internet appears to know you exist, that's not a particularly convincing signal. Therefore, I want you to think about your wider digital footprint.

Are you listed accurately on relevant professional or industry websites? Have local publications mentioned your business? Do reputable websites link to you? Are there genuine customer reviews? Have you contributed expert comments or guest articles elsewhere?

You see, digital PR, quality guest blogging, and traditional link building still have a place. However, the aim shouldn't be to scatter links across hundreds of low-quality websites to help ChatGPT find your website. On the contrary, it's to build a recognisable business with a credible online presence.

8. Write Content Worth Citing

Graphic woman sat at a computer with pages of content coming out of it

This may be one of the biggest opportunities created by AI search.

If everybody writes a generic article called "10 benefits of X", then there is very little reason for any search or AI system to favour yours above the others. To help ChatGPT find your website, you need to give it something better:

Share your experience.

Explain what customers commonly get wrong.
Compare two approaches and say when you'd choose each one.
Publish original examples.
Answer awkward questions.
Discuss pricing honestly where possible.
Challenge a commonly repeated piece of industry advice if you disagree with it – and explain why.

The internet doesn't desperately need another 800-word blog saying the same thing as the previous 100 ones. What it does need are people who actually know their subject sharing information that isn't available everywhere else. Tricky, yes. Impossible, no.

9. Don't Forget Traditional SEO

As I mentioned right at the beginning of this article, trying to help ChatGPT find your website doesn't mean forgetting Google and other search engines. In fact, as I'm sure you've realised by now, many of the fundamentals overlap.

You still need a technically sound, crawlable website with logical navigation, descriptive page titles, useful headings, strong internal links and well-written pages focused on genuine customer needs. Ultimately, your content should make sense to a person first; I always stress this to my clients. There is little to be gained by contorting every single paragraph into something you imagine AI or search engines want to read.

Cater for your customer. Ensure your website clearly explains who you are, what you do, where you operate, and why you know what you're talking about. That's what they need to know, and by doing that you are already building a much stronger foundation for both traditional and AI-driven searches.

Help ChatGPT Find Your Website - But Write For People

Help ChatGPT find your website a 3d graphic of a person in front of a laptop with books and text

AI is changing how people discover information online, but that doesn't mean websites suddenly need to be written for robots. Quite the opposite. After all, humans, your potential customers, are asking ChatGPT the questions. So, if you want to help ChatGPT find your website, you must make it clear, informative, and more authoritative for the people you're trying to reach.

Follow the guidance listed above. None of it is particularly technical (save point 1); it is simply about making sure you have good website content. The difference is that today, a well-written website isn't only helping a potential customer decide whether to contact you; it may also help ChatGPT find your website and decide whether or not to list it in response to a query, ultimately driving fresh traffic your way.

If you would like help reviewing your website content, or creating quality blogs that appeal to both humans and bots, please do not hesitate to get in touch. My name is Heather, and I'm The Content Creator.

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A bit about the author

Heather founded The Content Creator nearly three years ago, combining her love of writing with a genuine passion for helping small businesses and solopreneurs get seen online. She supports her clients with everything from website copy and SEO to AI search visibility, newsletters and social media, taking the stress out of creating content that not only sounds like them, but helps their business grow.

If you need a helping hand with any of these areas, Heather is your go-to girl! We can speak from experience, too, because she works on our own website, helping us keep up with the ever-changing world of SEO and AI search and making sure our content continues to work hard for our business.

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