What is Alt Text?
Alt text (alternative text) – also known as “alt description” or “alt attribute”, this is a written description for images, logos, drawings & graphics on a webpage.
In SEO, this is often referred to as an “alt tag,” but technically, this is incorrect. Alt text is the attribute contained within the HTML tag.
The alt description for imagery starts with “alt=” followed by the description within quotation marks. It will look like this:
<img src=”image.jpg” alt=”Image alt text” title=”Image Title”/>
Why is alt text important?
Alt text is designed to make your website more accessible.
This description assists screen readers and accessibility tools to describe images to visually impaired readers and is a key part of WCAG compliance.
Along with this, it improves both user experience & image traffic for a website.
User Experience: Alt text promotes accessibility and provides a better user experience for all users.
Image Traffic: Allows Google’s crawlers to index and showcase imagery within Google Images based on relevant alt text and imagery.
Alt text in SEO?
The purpose of alt text is to improve accessibility by describing what an image displaying visually to visitors who may not have the ability to see them. However, it also helps search engine crawlers and so improves SEO.
By including comprehensive, detailed alt text in alignment with your imagery and content on a webpage, you can further enrich your content. Google has stated that they treat alt text like any other text on your page – and as text on your page contributes to rankings, then so does alt text.
Best practices for alt texts
Adding alt text to images is both great for creating a more accessible website, along with supporting your SEO efforts. Optimising your photos and optimised alt texts isn’t difficult… here’s a few key tips for successful alt texts:
Be Specific: Alt text should provide a clear mental image of the content being displayed
Keyword Integration: Include relevant key terms from your keyword research in your alt text for increased relevancy.
Avoid keyword stuffing: Keyword stuffing is considered black hat SEO – along with this can distract from user experience.
Remove redundant phrases: Remove unnecessary phrases such as “this is an image of” or “picture of”.
