Page speed is a ranking factor, and images usually account for most of a page's weight. Google's Core Web Vitals punish slow loading — and the fix is mechanical: serve images no wider than they're displayed, in a modern format. WebP is supported by every current browser and beats JPG and PNG on size in almost every case.
A solid workflow: set the max-width field to the largest size your layout actually displays (1200–1600 px covers most designs), drop your images, download the WebP versions and keep your originals as masters. Repeat the run whenever you add new visuals — the whole batch converts in seconds, locally.