Why it matters
Google supports pretty much all popular image formats and recommends high-quality modern formats such as WebP with small files. Its documentation lists AVIF as supported, but Gary Illyes said at Search Central Live that AVIF currently has hiccups and Google may have problems ingesting it.
How to meet it
Offer AVIF and WebP through source elements inside picture, keep a WebP or JPEG file in the img src, set width and height, compress the files and serve responsive sizes with srcset.
How to test it
Lighthouse format and sizing checks pass; the img src of key images is WebP or JPEG; key images appear in Google Images after launch.
How Regensbot covers it
Decided from one URL.
An audit reads the response, the headers, the HTML, robots.txt, the sitemaps and the structured data, and the finding shows the evidence it saw.
Sources
Google documents02
- 01Google image SEO best practicesGoogle Search Central (opens in a new tab)
- 02Supporting AVIF in Google SearchSearch Central blog (30 August 2024) (opens in a new tab)
Claims in the knowledge base05
- D2-C544ConsistentUsing images to your advantage and Engaging Search users with videosSaid on stage
- D2-C541ConfirmedUsing images to your advantage and Engaging Search users with videosSaid on stage
- D2-C543SourceUsing images to your advantage and Engaging Search users with videosGoogle's documentation
- D2-C542UndocumentedUsing images to your advantage and Engaging Search users with videosSaid on stage
- D2-C545n/aUsing images to your advantage and Engaging Search users with videosThe author's interpretation
Claim IDs refer to the Search Central Live 2026 knowledge base. The knowledge base (opens in a new tab)
- Confirmed
- Google's documentation states the same thing.
- Consistent
- Google's documentation supports it without stating it.
- Undocumented
- Said or shown at the event, not in the documentation.
- Source
- The claim is the cited document itself.
- n/a
- Nothing to verify: a quotation, framing, opinion or analysis.