WordPress Featured Image Size
We often get questions about WordPress featured image size from website owners struggling to utilise the featured image to full extent. High quality, relevant and proper WordPress featured images contribute hugely to your website performance and user experience.
In this post, we will discuss the WordPress featured image, size, changing its dimensions and best practices.
Table of Contents
- What is the featured image in WordPress?
- What is the size of the featured image in WordPress?
- How to set a featured image in WordPress Post or Page?
- How to change featured image size in WordPress?
- Common Issues & Best Practices For WordPress Featured Images
What is the featured image in WordPress?
Featured image in WordPress is a primary image in a page or a post. It’s often the image that is shown as a thumbnail of your page or post and most probably the first thing visitors notice when they land on your content. It is often displayed at the top of the post, on archive pages, and in social media shares.
Think of it as the cover photo for your blog post or article acting as the visual introduction to your content.
What is the size of the featured image in WordPress?
1200 x 628 pixels is the most common WordPress featured image size. But this can change with Theme or other configurations on your website. WordPress has its default image sizes that can be used in pages and posts as per your requirements and context across the website.
These are the default image sizes in WordPress.
- Thumbnail: 150×150 pixels
- Medium: 300×300 pixels
- Large: 1024×1024 pixels
- Full Size: Original dimensions of the uploaded image
How to set a featured image in WordPress Post or Page?
Setting the featured image in WordPress is fairly straightforward and easy for most WordPress themes. Follow the steps below to set a featured image to your WordPress post or page, it works for most themes and setups.
Log In to the WordPress Admin dashboard.
Open the post or page where you want to set a featured image.
In the right-hand sidebar, find the “Featured Image” panel.
Click “Set featured image” to upload a new image or choose an existing one from your media library.
Once the image is set, publish or update your post.
How to change featured image size in WordPress?
You can change the size of the featured image in a couple of ways. One with the media settings within the WP-Admin Dashboard and another by using the Featured Image Management plugins. You can also change the featured image and other default image sizes in WordPress by editing the functions.php file.
Changing Featured Image Size from WP-Admin
Login to your WordPress Dashboard
Go to Settings > Media
Here, you can adjust the pixel dimensions for thumbnail, medium, and large image sizes.
Using a Plugin For Custom Featured Image
If your requirements are more than what Media Settings offer, you can use plugins to manage Featured Image sizes in WordPress.
Useful WordPress Plugins For Managing Featured Images
Quick Featured Images and Featured Image from URL (FIFU) are some of the best plugins to manage your Featured Images with features like quick edit and bulk updates.
If you want to resize your featured images without re-uploading the images, reGenerate Thumbnails Advanced is the plugin to go for.
Common Issues & Best Practices For WordPress Featured Images
Blurry Images
Blurry images are one of the most frequent issues we hear about. This often happens when incorrect image sizes are selected or low quality images are used in the featured images. Make sure to use high quality images with proper dimensions and sizes to ensure best functionality.
Incorrect Cropping
Sometimes, WordPress may crop images in a way that cuts off important parts. You can use plugins like Crop-Thumbnails to manually adjust the crop for each image. There might also be other settings or configurations being implemented through your functions.php file that crops your images.
Featured Image Too Big or Small
This is another common issue. If your featured image is too big or small for the viewport, you will need to upload an image that best fits the viewport. You will need to check your theme settings to find out the size and then edit or update the image as necessary.
Slow Loading Times
Slow website loading times are the result of large images being used in the webpage. Best practice to address this issue you will need to use optimised images. You will need to ensure that your images are compressed and optimised before uploading. Optimised images do not necessarily mean using the lowest file size possible. It simply means finding the fine balance between quality and size. Keep your sizes to a minimum but it should not affect your user experience.
Tools like TinyPNG, Smush, and ShortPixel can compress your images without losing quality to improve your site speed. These plugins automatically optimise your images upon upload, making the process seamless and efficient.
Using Responsive Images
Responsive images are necessary to ensure your website experience remains uncompromised even when using the site on mobile or desktop devices. You can use the ‘srcset’ attribute in HTML or plugins like Responsive Images to implement responsive images. This ensures your images look great on desktops, tablets, and smartphones.
Adding Alt Text, Caption and Image Name
For better SEO visibility, you might want to add Alt Text, Caption and Image name. These describe the content of an image for screen readers and helps search engines understand the image context.
Using Videos As Featured Images
You might be wondering if you can use videos as featured images. And the answer is Yes! Some themes and plugins allow you to use videos as featured images. However, you should be careful about the video size and impact it might have on site speed optimisation.
Featured images are crucial in enhancing your website experience. Implement the above best practices to ensure you get the maximum out of your featured image. I hope this guide helped you with your WordPress featured image questions. We offer WordPress website care plans for busy website owners and marketing managers to help manage their WordPress site. Book a free 30-minute consultation to learn more.
