As a digital marketing consultant and coach, I’ve guided countless entrepreneurs on their journey to becoming DIGIPRENEURS. One aspect that is often overlooked in SEO strategy is alt text. In 2024, as search engines become more advanced and users increasingly rely on visual search, optimizing your images with alt text is more crucial than ever. This article will explain why alt text is important, how it can boost your SEO efforts, and how you can ensure you’re using it effectively.

What is Alt Text?

Alt text, short for alternative text, is a description added to the HTML code of an image on a webpage. Its primary function is to provide context for the image, particularly for visually impaired users who rely on screen readers to navigate the web. However, alt text also plays a significant role in SEO by helping search engines understand the content of your images.

In simpler terms, alt text is a brief description that tells search engines and users what the image is about. It’s a small piece of code, but it can have a big impact on your website’s visibility and accessibility.

Why is Alt Text Important for SEO?

1. Improves Accessibility

One of the most important reasons to use alt text is to improve accessibility. For users with visual impairments, screen readers rely on alt text to describe images. Without descriptive alt text, these users would miss out on the content of your images, which could result in a poor user experience. By ensuring that all images on your website have appropriate alt text, you make your content accessible to a broader audience, which is not only good practice but can also enhance your site’s overall engagement and reduce bounce rates.

2. Enhances SEO and Search Engine Ranking

Alt text helps search engines like Google understand the content of your images. When Google crawls your website, it can’t “see” images in the same way humans do. Instead, it relies on alt text to understand what the image is about. This information is then used to index the image and potentially rank it in image search results.

Well-written alt text that includes relevant keywords can also help improve your page’s overall SEO. While alt text alone won’t drastically boost your rankings, it is one of the many small factors that contribute to your site’s overall SEO health. Including keywords in your alt text, when done naturally, can enhance the relevance of your content for specific search queries.

3. Supports Visual Search and Multi-Search

As technology advances, visual search is becoming more popular. Tools like Google Lens allow users to search the web using images rather than text. Additionally, multi-search, which combines images and text to refine search results, is gaining traction. Alt text can play a role in these search scenarios by providing a description of the image that search engines can use to match the content with relevant queries.

John Mueller from Google suggests that alt text might have some utility in visual and multi-search because of its descriptive qualities. As more users turn to visual search, having well-optimized alt text can give your content an edge in these emerging search methods.

4. Helps in Image Optimization

Images often contribute to a website’s loading time. By including descriptive alt text, you ensure that even if an image fails to load, users and search engines can still understand what the image represents. This can help maintain user experience and keep your website’s SEO intact.

Best Practices for Writing Alt Text

1. Be Descriptive and Concise

When writing alt text, focus on accurately describing the image. Avoid vague descriptions like “image1” or “picture2.” Instead, be specific. For example, instead of “flower,” write “red rose in a vase on a wooden table.” The goal is to provide context for both users and search engines without being overly verbose.

2. Include Relevant Keywords

Incorporating relevant keywords into your alt text can help improve your SEO, but it’s essential to do this naturally. Avoid keyword stuffing, as this can be seen as manipulative and may hurt your rankings. Instead, focus on writing alt text that makes sense while subtly including keywords when appropriate.

3. Keep it Short

Alt text should be concise. Aim for a description that’s around 125 characters or fewer. While it’s important to be descriptive, remember that alt text is meant to be a brief summary of the image. If the image requires more explanation, consider adding a caption or providing context within the surrounding text.

4. Avoid Redundancy

If the image’s purpose is purely decorative and doesn’t add any informational value, it’s okay to leave the alt text blank or mark it as “null” (alt=””). This prevents screen readers from reading unnecessary information to users, improving the overall user experience.

5. Test Your Alt Text

A pro tip to ensure you’re getting your images and accompanying alt text right is to run your images through Google’s Cloud Vision API. This tool helps you see how Google interprets your images and alt text. If the results align with your intended description, you’re on the right track. If not, you can adjust your alt text to better match your content.

Examples of Good and Bad Alt Text

• Bad Alt Text:
  “Dog”
• Good Alt Text:
  “Golden retriever playing fetch with a tennis ball in a park”
• Bad Alt Text:
  “Image123”
• Good Alt Text:
  “Businesswoman typing on a laptop during a video conference call”

These examples illustrate the importance of being specific and descriptive in your alt text.

Common Mistakes to Avoid with Alt Text

1. Keyword Stuffing

While including keywords in your alt text is beneficial, overloading the text with keywords can be detrimental. Search engines may penalize your site for keyword stuffing, so focus on natural language.

2. Ignoring Alt Text Altogether

One of the most common mistakes is not adding alt text at all. Every image on your site should have appropriate alt text, especially those that convey important information. Ignoring alt text can negatively impact both accessibility and SEO.

3. Writing Non-Descriptive Text

Simply labeling an image with terms like “image” or “picture” offers no value to users or search engines. Make sure your alt text accurately describes the content and context of the image.

Why Alt Text Matters for Accessibility

Beyond SEO, alt text is a key component of web accessibility. For users with visual impairments who rely on screen readers, alt text provides essential information about the images on a page. Without it, these users would miss out on important content, potentially leading to frustration and disengagement.

Incorporating alt text is not just a best practice—it’s also a legal requirement in many regions under accessibility laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Ensuring your website is accessible to all users not only improves the user experience but also helps you avoid potential legal issues.

FAQs

1. Why is alt text important?
Alt text is important because it enhances accessibility by describing images for visually impaired users and helps search engines understand image content, boosting your site’s SEO. It also supports visual and multi-search scenarios by providing descriptive information about the images.

2. How does alt text impact SEO?
Alt text improves SEO by allowing search engines to index and understand images, which can help your images appear in search results. Including relevant keywords in alt text can also enhance the relevance of your content for specific queries.

3. What should I include in alt text?
Your alt text should be a concise, descriptive summary of the image that accurately reflects its content. Include relevant keywords naturally, but avoid keyword stuffing.

4. How long should alt text be?
Alt text should be short and to the point, ideally around 125 characters or fewer. Focus on providing a clear description without being overly detailed.

5. Can I leave alt text blank?
You can leave alt text blank or mark it as null (alt=””) for purely decorative images that don’t add informational value. This prevents screen readers from reading unnecessary descriptions.

6. How can I test if my alt text is effective?
You can use tools like Google’s Cloud Vision API to see how Google interprets your images and alt text. This helps ensure that your descriptions align with the content and intent of the image.

Conclusion

Alt text is a powerful yet often overlooked element of SEO and web accessibility. By writing clear, concise, and descriptive alt text, you can improve your website’s accessibility for all users and enhance its visibility in search engine results. As visual and multi-search continue to grow, optimizing your images with alt text becomes even more critical.

As a digital marketing consultant and coach, I always emphasize the importance of these seemingly small details in a broader digital marketing strategy. By implementing best practices for alt text, you can not only boost your SEO but also create a more inclusive and user-friendly website. Start optimizing your alt text today, and watch your website’s performance improve across the board.