It’s easier for search engine bots and people who use screen readers to find your content. Here’s how.
This guide will explain what alternative text (or alt text) is and why it is vital to SEO. It also explains how to use it properly.
This guide is practical and straightforward. It contains valuable tips and advice that you can use immediately to improve your website’s SEO and accessibility.
What is Alt Text?
Alt text, called alternative text or the alt attribute (technically incorrect because it’s not a tag), describes the image in HTML code.
What are the Uses of Alt Text?
Alt text was initially used to describe images that couldn’t be loaded.
Alt text was a helpful tool in the past, back when the internet was slower. It allowed you to see the content of images that were too large to load in your browser.
Images rarely load today, but you’ll see alt text instead of the picture.
Alt text is now being used by screen readers and search engine bots.
- Alt text is a way for people with disabilities to learn more about the image’s contents (e.g., screen readers).
- Alt text helps search engine bots understand the image’s context and content.
It is possible to misuse or, in some cases, even abuse it, as with all elements of SEO.
Let’s take a closer look at alt text and its importance.
Why is Alt Text Important
Websites and the web are visual experiences. It isn’t easy to find websites without images and graphic elements.
Alt text is, therefore, essential.
Alt text is a way to translate an image’s content into words. This makes it more accessible to people with disabilities and search engine bots who aren’t smart enough to understand every vision, context, and meaning.
Why is Alt Text Important for SEO
Alt text is an essential element in on-page SEO optimization.
Your website will have a higher chance of being found in Google image searches if you optimize alt text.
Yes, alt text is a ranking factor in Google image search.
Google image search traffic can play an essential role in the success of your website, depending on its niche and specialty.
Ecommerce websites are one example. Users often use a Google Image Search to search for products instead of entering the product name in the standard Google search.
You could lose a lot of potential consumers and traffic if your image optimization is not done correctly.
Alt Text is Important for Accessibility
Google image search visibility is essential. But accessibility is even more important.
In recent years, accessibility has received more attention.
Let’s say that alt text in your images describes the content of your ideas instead of just putting keywords into them. This will allow people who cannot see the web page’s image and contents to better understand the image.
Let’s suppose that one of your pages contains screenshots from different crawling tools.
It would be more efficient to describe each screenshot than to use the same alt text “SEO audit” in every image.
Let’s look at some examples.
Alt text examples
It is easy to find examples of alt text that are both good and poor. Let me give some examples using the same model above and an SEO audit guide.
Good Alternative Text Examples
Our example SEO guide includes screenshots from Google Search Engine and Screaming Frog tools.
Alt text can be used in a variety of ways, including:
Tip – It’s a good idea also to pay attention to the file name. Although descriptive file names are not considered a ranking factor, I recommend them as a good SEO practice.
Examples of Spammy Alt Text
There have been many poor alt text usage instances, such as keyword stuffing and spamming.
Here’s how to turn these good examples into bad ones:
The above images don’t show what they look like, as you can see.
Google Search Central also has examples and more image SEO tips.
Common Alt Text Mistakes
You can also make the faukt of putting keywords in your alt text.
Here are some examples of common errors in alt text:
- Use empty alt text or the alt text.
- Use the exact alt text to create different images.
- Use very general alt text which does not describe the image. Instead of listing the dog’s details, such as its color and breed, you could use the alt text “dog” to describe the image.
- It is automatically using the name of the file as the alt text – which may lead to very unfriendly alt text, such as “google search console” or “google-search-console,” or “photo2323,” depending on the name of the file.
Alt Text Writing Tips
Finally, these tips help you write the correct alt text.
- Don’t put keywords in the alt text. This will not help your website rank for these keywords.
- Description of the image, but keep it short. Do not add multiple sentences to the alt text.
- Include your target keywords in the description of the image. Don’t use your target keyword if it doesn’t fit the picture’s caption.
- Do not use text on images. All text should be in HTML code.
- Do not write “this image of.” Google, users, and others know that it is an image. Describe the content.
- You can visualize the image’s contents by simply reading the alt text. This is the best way to ensure that your alt text is correct.
