A featured image is the main photo or graphic assigned to a specific WordPress post. This image is displayed in many places on the website – for example:

• as the main image of the post, e.g. above or below the post title,
• in the list of posts,
• when sharing on social media,
• in Google results.

Of course, the above examples depend on the theme structure, installed plugins, etc., but in most cases, we can consider the featured image to be a kind of calling card for our blog post.

What should a featured image be like?

Each WordPress theme may have slightly different requirements regarding the size of the featured image. In order for the image to look good on our website, it is worth:

• making sure that all featured images in our WordPress are in one format – consistent with the theme (displaying well on the post subpage or on the archives page),
• so that it does not have complicated compositions and texts that may be illegible,
• reflects the subject of the post,
• is optimized in size so as not to overload the page,
• constitutes a coherent whole with other images.

If we do not know where to get photos for featured images, we invite you to read our post about websites with free photos (also for commercial use).

What is the format of a featured image in WordPress? There is no single, good answer to this question. As a rule, featured images are in horizontal orientation, but this is not a rule (on Smarthost.eu we have square ones, for example). Therefore, it is worth adding a test photo to your WordPress at the beginning and seeing how it will look in a given theme. This will be the best indicator of which format will be best in our case.

How to set a featured image

To add a featured image to a post, create a new post or edit it. In the sidebar on the right, find the Set Featured Image section, then add the file and save.

We can change the featured image multiple times, but for SEO reasons it is not recommended. If we want to change the theme, remember to check later how the current image will look after the changes..