Alt text, or alternative text, is a brief description added to an image on a web page. It has many essential functions like aiding screen readers in conveying picture content to visually impaired individuals, offering a fallback in case images do not load, and helping search engines recognize the image content for better ranking and indexing.
Alt text is generally added using the alt attribute of HTML or through content management systems. Its importance lies in enhancing web accessibility, making web content available for everybody, and improving SEO efficiency. By including clear, descriptive alt text for images, website owners can create a more accessible and search-friendly online environment.
Web accessibility is a contemporary digital necessity for web owners and content creators. It is not simply about meeting legal requirements but upholding a moral obligation to make web content available to everybody, irrespective of ability.
One technique to achieve this is to use alt text for images. Alt text, or alternate text, can accommodate users who work with screen readers because of visual impairments and also aids in search engine optimization. This article discusses the significance of alt text, its role in internet accessibility, guidelines for including alt text properly, and its impact on improving SEO for an accessible online experience.
Alt text or alternate text is a description of a picture contained in the HTML code of a page that utilizes the alt feature. This text has many basic purposes:
For example, if you have an image associated with a scenic mountain range at sunset, your alt text could state, “A scenic view of a mountain range at sunset.” This brief, descriptive text helps screen reader users comprehend the complex image and helps search engines index the picture correctly for increased accessibility and SEO performance.
Alt text is important for online accessibility and SEO, so your content reaches more visitors, and your website ranks well in search engines like Google.
Add alt text to your images with HTML or content management systems (CMSs). Explained below is how to add alt text in different scenarios to make your images accessible and search engine friendly.
Whenever you manually code a web page, you can add alt text into the HTML image tag directly. This method uses the alt attribute within the image tag for describing the picture. For instance, if you have an image of a scenic mountain range, you’d include a description that correctly describes the image’s content.
For example,an image of a mountain range at sunset could have the alt text “A scenic view of a mountain range at sunset.”
Contemporary CMSs like WordPress provide fields for adding alt text to images (which simplifies things significantly). This is how you can get it done on a CMS:
For example, when you upload a picture of a stack of books arranged on a table, you’d enter something like “Stack of books on a table” in the alt text field.
Effective and optimized alt text must be descriptive but succinct. Below are some examples of bad and good practices:
A good example of alt text would be a picture of blueberry pancakes with powdered sugar. “A stack of blueberry pancakes with powdered sugar” as an alt text clearly describes this picture. This alt text helps screen reader users comprehend the picture and enables search engines to index the image correctly.
Conversely, there are examples of poor alt text that violate accessibility or SEO requirements. A picture without alt text is unavailable to screen reader users as it gives no information about the picture. For example, leaving the alt text field empty for a picture of pancakes results in a missed opportunity for SEO and accessibility.
Another poor practice is keyword stuffing, where the alt text includes an assortment of irrelevant keywords like pancake, pancakes, hotcakes, and breakfast meal. This gives no useful description, and it is unhelpful for visitors and search engines.
Writing quality image alt texts is essential to SEO and accessibility. The following are best practices:
Check your site regularly for images without alt text and update them. Various tools can discover missing alt text and other accessibility problems. Regular audits keep all images accessible and SEO-friendly.
Keyword stuffing in your alt tags may hurt user experience/search engine perception. Create brief, appropriate descriptions that serve the user first. For instance, write Stack of blueberry pancakes with powdered sugar instead of writing pancakes, food, breakfast, or sugar pancakes. This gives meaningful information without keyword stuffing.
There’s no tight character limit on alt text; however, keeping it below 100 characters guarantees it’s completely read by most screen readers and user-friendly. As an example, “Red-crested rooster crowing in the morning” is descriptive and short. Longer alt text may be trimmed or rendered unreadable by users using screen readers.
Avoid using redundant words like image of or photograph of in your alt text. It already implies the alt text is describing a picture. For example, rather than writing “an image of a stack of blueberry pancakes,” write “Stack of blueberry pancakes with powdered sugar.” This method keeps the alt text short and sweet.
Be sure the alt text offers context that is unclear from the image alone. This is particularly essential for complicated images or purely decorative images. For instance, if a graph image is used to depict product sales growth, the alt text needs to say, “Graph showing 20% increased sales in the previous quarter.”
Alt text should be succinct without being cryptic about what the image contains. The goal is to form a mental image for screen reader users. For instance, for a picture of a mountain range at sunset, “A scenic view of a mountain range at sunset” is descriptive enough to express the image’s content without needless detail. Avoid long descriptions that overwhelm or bore the user.
Including relevant keywords in your alt text could enhance SEO because search engines understand and index your complex images better. But keep away from keyword stuffing. For instance, if you have a picture of a mountain range applied to a travel article, using “mountain range at sunset” as the alt text uses relevant keywords naturally and effectively.
Alt text plays a huge part in on-page SEO, influencing how search engines list your website’s content. This is how it impacts your site’s online search engine performance:
Alt text helps search engines understand what your pictures contain so they can appear in image search engine results more quickly. Using descriptive and relevant alt text enables search engines to index your images more quickly. This is helpful for driving traffic from Google Images (which users search for just visual content).
For instance, an image of a mountain range at sunset with alt text, such as “Mountain range at sunset with a pink sky,” will show up in related picture searches and attract more visitors to your website.
Search engines use alt text, page content, and context to determine the pictures and page subject matter. This complete understanding can boost the rank of your page. Search engines that recognize the information in your images will then figure out how relevant your page is to search queries.
For instance, if a blog entry on traveling contains pictures with alt text describing various locations, search engines will realize the webpage is all about travel and could rank it higher for related searches.
Making your website accessible to everybody, including individuals with disabilities, will enhance the image of your website and lower the danger of legal issues concerning accessibility. Numerous guidelines and regulations, like the WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines), demand that sites be accessible to individuals with disabilities.
By ensuring all images have alt text, you meet these standards – possibly avoiding legal challenges and improving your brand’s image for inclusivity and accessibility.
Alt text is essential for both web accessibility and SEO. Writing effective alt text can make your web content available to everybody, increase your online search engine rankings, and enhance the user experience on your website.
Auditing your website for missing alt text often and following best practices will produce an inclusive and enhanced web presence. To make your website more navigable and welcoming for everyone, prioritize your alt text and discover greater engagement and success in the digital space.