Table of Contents
Uploading images to your articles is a good way to attract your customers or readers attention, and gives additional value to your content.
It can also be a good way to rank high in images search results, if only you can add a good Image Alt Text. That is what we are talking about in this article.
What is Image Alt Text?
Image Alt Text is also known as Alternative Text, Alt Attributes, and Alt Descriptions.
It is commonly known also as (Alt Tag) and (Title Tags), but actually, they are attributes, not tags.
It is an HTML Code describes the function of images on-page, or in other words, it describes what is on the image, and it looks like the following:
<img src=”image.jpg” alt=” description” title=”image tooltip”>.
Why is image alt text important?
In fact, alt texts are very important and have a lot of benefits, let’s find it out:
1- For visually impaired people
The alt texts are very important, especially for visually impaired people.
Screen Readers are using alt texts to tell those people what is in this image, to help them understand what is on screen, and a lot of digital marketing Agencies pay great attention to that.
2- It loads instead of an image
Alt attributes are displayed when the image can’t be loaded.
3- Helps in indexing
The most important part is that; the alt text helps the image to rank high in image search engine results, by providing better descriptions to search engine crawlers.
That helps the search engine crawlers to index the image.
Alt texts help Google recognize how the image is related to the surrounding text.
How to write a good Image Alt Text?
Now you can recognize the importance of alternative texts, so how can you write a good one?
I am going to tell you:
1- Describe accurately:
Here is the first piece of advice; describe the image you uploaded, as accurately as you can.
2- Short Description:
It is important to describe the image accurately; but at the same time, you should make it within 125 characters or less, so here is the second piece of advice; do not make it too long, not too short.
3- Use Keywords:
It is another chance to add your keyword to the web page, and at the same time, it is a sign that your content is highly relevant.
So the third piece of advice is; include your keywords within the alt text, but keep in mind to avoid Keyword stuffing.
4- Avoid some words:
Avoid words like “picture/image of…” on it, Google knows that already.
5- Add longdesc:
Do not forget to add = and “.
Let’s summarize:
Image Alt Text is very important for both; visually impaired people and SEO, keep it accurate and within 125 characters.