diff --git a/apps/www/app/(home)/blog/[slug]/page.tsx b/apps/www/app/(home)/blog/[slug]/page.tsx
index a9734b5a9..662939ebb 100644
--- a/apps/www/app/(home)/blog/[slug]/page.tsx
+++ b/apps/www/app/(home)/blog/[slug]/page.tsx
@@ -74,8 +74,9 @@ export default async function BlogPostPage(props: {
 											alt={page.data.author}
 											width={32}
 											height={32}
+											sizes="32px"
 											className="blog-page__avatar"
-											unoptimized
+											preload
 										/>
 									</a>
 								) : (
@@ -84,8 +85,9 @@ export default async function BlogPostPage(props: {
 										alt={page.data.author}
 										width={32}
 										height={32}
+										sizes="32px"
 										className="blog-page__avatar"
-										unoptimized
+										preload
 									/>
 								)
 							) : null}
diff --git a/apps/www/app/(home)/blog/page.tsx b/apps/www/app/(home)/blog/page.tsx
index e66d41424..8848109c9 100644
--- a/apps/www/app/(home)/blog/page.tsx
+++ b/apps/www/app/(home)/blog/page.tsx
@@ -70,8 +70,8 @@ export default function BlogIndexPage() {
 												alt=""
 												width={20}
 												height={20}
+												sizes="20px"
 												className="blog-page__avatar blog-page__avatar--sm"
-												unoptimized
 											/>
 										) : null}
 										<span>{page.data.author}</span>
diff --git a/apps/www/lib/blog-author.test.ts b/apps/www/lib/blog-author.test.ts
index 97201bfb5..2108225e9 100644
--- a/apps/www/lib/blog-author.test.ts
+++ b/apps/www/lib/blog-author.test.ts
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ describe("blog-author", () => {
 
 	it("generates avatar url", () => {
 		expect(getAuthorAvatarUrl("yamcodes", 32)).toBe(
-			"https://github.com/yamcodes.png?size=32",
+			"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/yamcodes?s=32",
 		);
 	});
 });
diff --git a/apps/www/lib/blog-author.ts b/apps/www/lib/blog-author.ts
index bd71d72d2..d0a3c388b 100644
--- a/apps/www/lib/blog-author.ts
+++ b/apps/www/lib/blog-author.ts
@@ -22,8 +22,12 @@ export function getAuthorGithub(
 }
 
 /**
- * Returns a direct GitHub avatar image URL.
+ * Returns a direct GitHub avatar image URL (no redirect).
+ *
+ * Prefer `avatars.githubusercontent.com` over `github.com/{user}.png`, which
+ * 302s with `Cache-Control: no-cache` and forces a cold fetch on every render
+ * when `next/image` is marked `unoptimized`.
  */
 export function getAuthorAvatarUrl(githubHandle: string, size = 64): string {
-	return `https://github.com/${githubHandle}.png?size=${size}`;
+	return `https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/${githubHandle}?s=${size}`;
 }
diff --git a/apps/www/next.config.ts b/apps/www/next.config.ts
index 6b628e36a..8da6a9dd9 100644
--- a/apps/www/next.config.ts
+++ b/apps/www/next.config.ts
@@ -13,10 +13,6 @@ const config = {
 	outputFileTracingRoot: path.join(__dirname, "../../"),
 	images: {
 		remotePatterns: [
-			{
-				protocol: "https",
-				hostname: "github.com",
-			},
 			{
 				protocol: "https",
 				hostname: "avatars.githubusercontent.com",