Important Alert:
Summary: Alt text, commonly referred to as alternative text, is an important aspect of SEO and website accessibility. Learn how to create effective alt text for images that not only improves search engine results but also the user experience. Gain suggestions and best practices tailored to businesses in 2024.
Key takeaways:-
Alternative text, or alt text for short, is the description of an image’s function or appearance as a user sees it on your webpage. If an image fails to load on the screen, the alt text shows up to give you an idea of what the image was. Screen readers for visually impaired users also read your alt text aloud for users with low or impaired vision. Therefore, the perfect alt text should help users visualize the image along with the people/person and things being shown. Also known as alt attributes and alt tags, alt text is generally implemented within the specified field marked in a content management system or within the HTML code.
Generally, an alt description would look something like this:
Many business and website owners still don’t use alt tags on their websites. It might seem like a small ‘take it or leave it’ move, but its impact is manifold and long-lasting.
1. Improves website accessibility: Using alt tags on your website images makes your website more accessible for visually impaired users. These users access screens using screen readers, and without alt text, they might not be able to understand what an image is about.
2. Improves UX when the internet is slow: If your internet connection is unstable or the web page doesn’t load properly, images often don’t load. In such a case, the alt text will show up to give users an idea of the image that they’re unable to see.
3. Improves crawlability: Search engines get better context to an image when there is an attached alt description with it. This allows it to rank and index images properly for accurate image SEO, while providing contextual data about the image.
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The internet and all its websites offer a highly visual experience. You will rarely find a website today comprised of only text, without any graphic elements or visuals. Plus, more digital content is being upgraded to images or other visual formats. This makes alt text almost fundamental to your website.
Alt text helps translate the content of an image into words, making it more easily accessible to larger audiences including people with visual disabilities, as well as search engine bots and crawlers that are still not smart enough to completely understand all contexts, visuals and meanings. Effective alt text is a key component of on-page optimization as it contributes to better search engine rankings and user experience.
By now you have understood that there are several reasons to add alt text to your images. But is there a specific way to write alt text to optimize crawlability and accessibility?
While there is no one right way to do it, here are the best SEO best practices to help you optimize your website with the perfect alt text.
The first rule is never to write alt text for the sake of writing. It’s more useful to use a null alt attribute that tells users and the search engine to ignore that image. If you leave out the alt tag entirely instead of using a null alt attribute, image readers might read out the file name of the image instead.
However, wherever alt text adds meaning for the user, make sure you add it. This could mean:
While writing alt text, the rule of thumb is ‘this is the most concise description of the purpose of the image on your website. The context important for the image changes according to the purpose of your website. Thoughtful alt text can enhance your website’s visibility in search engines and aid users searching for SEO services.
For example, consider a picture of a man working out. At first glance, it might seem sufficient. But for an image leading to a complete workout guide or on a page talking about the importance of fitness, the description is incomplete.
While writing alt text, keep in mind how you would talk about this image to someone during a conversation. It doesn’t need to be long or pretentious. Some of the things you should NOT add to your alt text are:
If you are trying to get your content to rank in Google search results, add keywords to your alt text to improve crawlability and indexing. For example, if you have an infographic on the importance of SEO services, use the relevant keywords in the alt tag to improve your appearance and ranking on Google as well as Google Image search.
Uploading content on your owned WordPress domain gives you more control over the content you create, upload and share. While uploading images on WordPress, you can edit its metadata, alt text and much more. You will see a menu like this below the image preview before you upload an image.
There are several alt text combinations that you can try. However, you should try to stick to simple terms that a user would search for. This makes it much easier for search engines to identify the intent of your content and match it with the end user’s search intent.
For example, in the image above, the alt text ‘car modification’ or ‘car mods’ will be much more effective for search optimization than ‘yellow car with door open’.
In WordPress, you can easily add alt text when uploading an image. Make sure to add concise, keyword-optimized alt text in the designated field.
Example: For a product image on an e-commerce site, instead of alt=”Shoes”, use alt=”Black leather dress shoes for men, size 10″.
In e-commerce, alt text can influence product search rankings. Ensure your alt text is product-specific and includes relevant keywords users are likely searching for.
Missing alt text is a missed opportunity for both SEO and accessibility. Always include alt text for meaningful images.
Alt text should provide specific context about the image. Avoid vague descriptions like alt=”group of people”. Instead, add context, such as alt=”Team of employees collaborating during a business meeting”.
Make sure the alt text accurately reflects the image. Misleading alt text can confuse both users and search engines.
Consider this image on a coworking space’s home page.
alt=”Five people talking to each other in an office space”
While this text gives the information you need, it has too much specific information and not enough context to be relevant to a search engine. The audience you are targeting is searching with a different intention, which is to find a large enough space to work from. You should also be aware that Google often penalizes websites for stuffing too many keywords into content and alt tags. Therefore, if you are targeting the owner of a small business searching for a coworking space, you should include a few more specific details.
Good alt text:
alt=”large coworking space for small and medium businesses”
Consider the following image on Techmagnate’s website homepage.
Let’s assess this image and its alt description. While this description is concise, it lacks the necessary details that convey the image’s context. A visitor coming to the Techmagnate homepage is likely seeking insights about digital marketing, particularly SEO services. Thus, merely stating it as a homepage image does not address the user’s intent or the specific content being presented.
To better cater to the needs of potential clients, we can enhance the alt description by incorporating relevant details that highlight the services and the benefits they offer.
With this in mind, let us rewrite the alt description for this image.
Good alt text:
alt=”Data-Led SEO Services”
Notice the difference? The improved description is more detailed and accurately reflects what the image depicts.
Take a look at the following image from a business school website.
Bad alt text:
alt=”woman pointing to a computer screen”
In most other contexts or a website with stock footage, this text would be decent. However, since the objective is to publish this image on a landing page about attending business school, several keywords and phrases can make this image more descriptive. These keywords could help Google relate the image with other sections of the article too.
Good alt text:
alt=”business school professor helping a student during class”
Now that you know where to use keywords, details, specificity and context, take a look at these tips on how to write alt text correctly and fulfill the purpose of the image.
1. Don’t stuff keywords when you’re writing alt text. It won’t improve your SERP ranking and could attract penalties.
2. Add sufficient details without making the alt text too long. Always try to avoid multiple sentences while adding alt text.
3. Use keywords in a way that appears natural while writing an alt text. If the targeted keyword doesn’t fit in the description, avoid it entirely.
4. Using text ON the image is not the same as using alt text. All alt text must be added to the HTML code.
5. Whatever your image may be, make sure the user can identify and visualize the content of the image just by reading the alt text. This rule is the best method to ensure your alt text is apt.
And there you go. That’s everything you need to get started. Take the first step by performing a basic content audit to understand where you can add or improve the alt text on your existing images. Our SEO experts with nearly two decades of experience can help optimize your website’s content and images to give measurable results and move your SEO strategy forward.
Yes, missing alt text can make your site less accessible to screen readers and users with visual impairments.
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