Page speed optimization has been Clint’s jam for a quite a few years. One thing that he always did, when possible, was to convert PNG images to GIF, frankly, because they load a lot faster. However, he never tested the idea that a GIF vs PNG could possibly be a ranking factor beyond the load time. This test will allow us to answer that question.
This is a retest of Test 84: PNG vs GIF Test. In that test, There was no apparent winner. We retest if the results are still the same or if Google now has a clear preference.
Test Downloads
Transcription Below
CLINT: All right. Let's see. This one is PNG versus GIF. Hunter and I were talking – he's our HTML guy and I do a lot of page speed stuff and we're looking at different ways to do these kinds of tests. Gifs look cool, the flash and all that other stuff versus a PNG that just sits there.
In this case, we actually had a faster or a smaller GIF image. In kilobyte size it was smaller versus a PNG and I expected or, honestly, I was hoping that the GIF would win because I think a GIF on what pages would be a little bit more advantageous. So, I think it gave away the results there ~.
This is the page with the GIF in test one before it started out. Test 2, you can see that it dropped and then the PNG shot up. The PNG in test one went to the ~ right off at the beginning. Then, there it stayed, dropped one position and the GIF didn't do anything. It was disappointing to me but, at the end of the day, if you're using a PNG versus a GIF and you have that selection and from an SEO perspective in the potential boost you get out of it you have better luck with the PNG.
DORI: Jeff said compressionnow.com makes them load quicker. You can go to compressionnow.com for load speed type of thing. I don't know if it would affect this test but that was...
CLINT: I don't know because the images are so small anyway. We're using like 1.1 megabytes that our ~ like to put on there.
DORI: Mostly, for the last tests because the compression sometimes changes what Google will see as the image.
CLINT: Well, it changes the entire aspect ratio of the picture, etc. Yes, that's interesting.
There's another test where we did the reverse, in the same way, test 1 and test 2. PNG won which is, to me, a little disheartening because I want to put some cool GIFS on my website. It's not going to hurt me but if I don't see any benefit out of it then why do it?
DORI: Why would you prefer to put a GIF on your page instead of a PNG?
CLINT: Well, I write in the SEO space, and as you well know, there's only so many articles you can write about SEO and doing different perspectives. That's why SIA is so valuable or has always been valuable to me because people are thinking outside of the box a little bit.
Say, let's push the buttons and if we mash this like a whack-a-mole what's going to happen versus SEO content? There's only so many "the top 17 ways to link building" or "the ultimate online checklist" or "on-page checklist". It's only so many ways to present that. My thought behind it was if I start using some gifs and I can spice up the content and make it a little bit more fun to read while trying to come at it from a new angle. SEO, unfortunately, is not ~ reinvent the market kind of thing.
Testing was a reinvention I would think. A lot of people talked about "Oh, I tested that.", which really meant "I changed this on my website and I watched what happened to the rankings" versus a single variable scientific test. So, that was a leap forward for SEO mobile first that became the leap forward for SEO. But you think about those, how are they happening? Like, once every two or three years you get a new thing and right now I don't see the new thing coming anytime soon.
So, it's how you present the basics - onpage and offpage, in a new way and be competitive. That's why I was doing it.