What is Alt Text? How to write Alt Text effectively in Image SEO

Google provides you with the option to search for information using images in addition to words. Images make your post more readable, appealing, and entertaining for readers.

Images are also thought to be a crucial component in ranking your website highly on Google. It will be quite difficult for Google to interpret the content of your image if you merely upload an image, so you must describe your image in HTML, and this description is known as Alt Text.

What is it, then? And how can it be optimized to be search engine friendly? Join me in this article to find out!

What is Alt Text?

Alt Text also called the “Alt attribute,” is the text that will be shown when the image can’t be shown on the website. Even though it is also part of the HTML code, it only describes the image content in the Alt tag, not all of the Alt tag attributes.

It’s crucial since it gives search engines a better idea of what an image’s about. Adding alt tags to your photographs will improve your search engine rankings.

What are Alt tags?

The Alt tag, which is often referred to as the “Alt attribute” or “Alt description,” is an HTML attribute given to an image tag to succinctly describe the content of that picture. The usage of alt tags enables Google to more accurately decipher what this image refers to and provide the user with the most relevant results.

Additionally, there may be instances where an image cannot be displayed but the user can still comprehend what the image is about thanks to the Alt Text that is included in the Alt tag.

The Alt tag’s standard format is: <img src=”url” alt=”alt text”>

Why is Alt Text important?

Increase accessibility

Its main objective is still to describe the image to people who cannot see it. The cause could be a poor network, a browser that blocks the image, or individuals who cannot see the image.

Additionally, tools that enable blind users to communicate with computers by producing audible audio descriptions make use of the alt attribute. All users, even those with visual impairments, may understand the website’s information thanks to image alt text.

Image SEO

It not only improves user experience but also has a significant positive impact on both website SEO and image SEO. This is a crucial element of on-page optimization that no SEOer should overlook.

Interpreting photos makes more sense because search crawlers still prevent websites from seeing images, despite search engines’ advances in image recognition. By doing this, you prevent Google from ranking your website incorrectly and losing out on ranking.

You have the chance to include your target keyword here as well. Using primary keywords can improve your website’s search engine rating. Creating a meaningful description that also incorporates the keywords and keyword phrases you want to rank for is important.

Google advises SEO professionals to avoid using an excessive amount of photos instead of using text to substitute the content of those images.

How to write Alt Text that works

As I mentioned earlier, in addition to the image description, it also offers a chance to provide pertinent and valuable target keywords to enhance the content and improve the user experience.

The following considerations must be made while writing Alt Text for images:

• Clearly describe the image: If the upload of the image or the upload itself fails, it will be displayed. So, when the image is hidden, allow the viewer still comprehend what it contains.
• Give image context: Data will be gathered to ensure accurate indexing.
• It should be succinct and clear: Avoid long, ineffective descriptions and visual expressions.
• Keep your keywords natural: The finest content quality is the goal when creating it. Stuffing the content and Alt Text with keywords will not work.

How to Create a Good Alt Text

Describe specific images: When an image cannot be displayed, a description of the image aids viewers in understanding its significance. Design intent means just that.

Short: Keep it around 125 characters, as most screens only have that many characters.

Use keywords: Why are keywords used in alt text? You have the chance to add your desired keywords to your page, which will aid search engines in determining which particular inquiry is pertinent to the information on your page. Despite this, giving visual context and being descriptive remain the top priorities.

Avoid keyword stuffing: Google will penalize you if you make a keyword stuffing mistake that doesn’t provide any context for the image. Alt text only adds relevant target keywords when it makes sense.

Avoid using text in images: The tool cannot read text in images, so avoid using text in images but add image explanations in Alt Text.

Do not use the phrases “image of”, “photo of” in Alt Text: The image used already references it as an image, no need to use redundant words to make it more verbose.

Use the longdesc=”” tag: This is useful when you have complex images that need long descriptions.

Use it for Form Buttons: If you use an image as a “submit” button or a command button, provide an Alt attribute describing the function of the button such as “register now”, “search”, “buy now”,…

Some common problems with Alt Text images

The description of it when optimizing for image SEO will sometimes encounter some problems that you need to understand. When auditing your website, you need to check and check what is wrong with the image.

Broken image

Broken, poor-quality images give a bad impression to the website, immediately you are underestimated no matter how good your product or content is. This is also recognized by search engines and low-ranking websites.

The website audit tool will highlight the causes of broken web images, you can rely on that and fix:

• Wrong URL or invalid path: Correct typos in the URL, if the moved image file no longer matches, fix the URL to point to the correct location.
• The image does not exist: If the image file is deleted, damaged, or changed to another location, remove it from the HTML of the page if it is not needed.

There should be a clear perception between internal and external damaged images. If the images aren’t the best approach, replace them.

Image without Alt attribute

An empty image with the Alt Text attribute is like missing a better image rating opportunity. In addition, it does not bring a good experience for users who are visually impaired.

Use the website audit tool to check all images without alt attributes and fix it.

Notice the empty alt Text attribute here:

<img src=”magename.png” alt=” “>

Change this to:

<img src=”imagename.png” alt=”alt text well written with keywords”>

Frequently asked questions about Alt Text

How to find the Alt tag on the page?

To find the Alt tag on the page, right-click on a white space in the page and select “inspect” or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+I. The source code will appear on the right side of the screen.

Next, you select the first icon to the left of the HTML encoding, then find the images you want to see and click on them. The HTML code of that element to be highlighted, which contains the image attribute.

How to read Alt Text in HTML code?

You perform the above operations to display the source code table of the page. Alt Text tags have content such as alt=”abc”, the abc part is the Alt Text description.

How to tell if an image has Alt Text?

When you check the source code, if after alt=” ” shows 2 quotes without content, the alt attribute is empty.

How to add Alt Text to a JPG file?

When you work in Microsoft Word, right-clicking on an image will have the command “Edit Alt Text”. Fill in the image description in that input box and select Close.

Is it possible to use commas, and periods in Alt Text?

Yes, normal use, as long as the content properly describes the image, provides a good user experience.

How long should Alt Text be?

Up to 125 characters.

It contributes to expanding user reach and is a crucial component of image SEO. Although optimizing it may seem like a little issue, if you want your website to rank highly on search engines, you must take it seriously.

If you are using the WordPress platform then this job will be a lot easier. Hopefully, the knowledge that I have just shared will help you understand what Alt Text is, the importance of Alt, and create user-friendly pages.