What Is Featured Image? Featured Image Size, Optimizing Featured Image & More
What Is Featured Image: Featured Image is an important element of a blog.WordPress themes allow users to set a representative image for blog posts and pages. This image is called Featured Image.
When a certain post that has a Featured Image, for example, is shared on Social Media, say on Facebook, the resulting post will show the Featured Image along with the title of the post, thus, making it more attractive. It is also known as Post Thumbnail.
Apart from Social Media sharing, Featured Image is also used with excerpt of blog post.
What Is Featured Image And How To Set It?
There is this common misconception about Featured Image – many people think that it is the image that appears on top of a post. The image on top of a post can be manually inserted. But Featured Image is attached to a post through the “Set Featured Image” option in the post editor.
Also, Featured Images are not necessarily on top of the post. It can vary from site to site.
Another difference between Featured Image and other images (inserted through the ‘Add Media’ option) is that you can set a custom URL in the other images (i.e. another URL opens when you click on the image). This cannot be done in case of Featured Image.
When Should You Use Featured Image?
According to reports, 40 percent of people respond better to visual information than just plain texts. Featured Images should, therefore, be used wherever possible. Of course, it will depend upon your theme, design of the website, the content of the post as well. Some themes demand Featured Image to be set; otherwise, the thumbnail shows a blank, grey box which is not appealing at all.
What Is The Dimension Of Featured Image?
The dimension of Featured Image varies from one WordPress theme to another. On WordPress, you can set the dimension of the Thumbnail Image from the Thumbnail Size field in Settings -> Media. Once that is done, make sure you create the Featured Image as the same dimension as Thumbnail Size. This will prevent awkward cropping of the image.
How To Optimize Featured Image?
The size of the Thumbnail Image is different for different Social Media. For Facebook, it is 1200 pixel x 680 pixel. For Twitter, it is different. As a result, images are cropped as per the requirement of the Social Media the posts are shared on. However, Yoast SEO Plugin allows you to upload specific images for different Social Media.
Also, make sure you use your keyword in the title and Alt Text (Alternative Text) for the Featured Image.
I hope this article answers all your queries in regards to what is Featured Image. Drop your comments below if you have any question and I will get back to you.