A major tenet of SEO is ensuring all content on a web page can be easily reviewed by both search engines and people. Alt text is an accessibility tool that improves on-page optimization and ensures all users are able to understand images and their context on a web page. We’ll review what alt text is, why it is important, and how to write it.
Alt Text Definition
Alt text refers to alternative text, which is text that describes an image on a web page. Alt text is primarily used so visually impaired people who use a screen reader can get a better understanding of the images on a web page and why they are being used. But, alt text is also used by search engines to identify relevant content. Additionally, alt text can be helpful when an image is taking too long to load on a web page.
The Importance of Alt Text
Though you may be thinking alt text is something you can skimp on when improving or designing your website, it is actually an incredibly important part of a web page that contains images. Accessibility should always be a major focal point of web design, and alt text is one way to ensure those with disabilities or impairments are able to use your website to the fullest extent possible. On top of this, many countries, like the United States, have laws in place that require some sites (like government websites) to have alt text.
From an SEO standpoint, alt text is a great place to implement your target keywords on a web page. Also, since search engines don’t read and see images the way people do, alt text serves as a reference point for identifying relevant content to present on SERPs.
Writing Alt Text
When writing alt text, you should be as accurate and concise as possible. Think about the visual elements of an image that would be important for a person to understand and are in line with the written content on a website. Aim for 125 characters or less when writing alt text – though it can be difficult to stick to the confines of this limit, there are rules you can follow to ensure you are making the most of each character.
These include:
- Avoiding unnecessary phrases or words, such as “This is a picture of […]” or “An image that shows […]”.
- Not stuffing the text with keywords, as this can prevent you from accurately describing the image.
Great alt text describes the emotion and physical activity of an image. For example, if you were to describe the image below through alt text, you wouldn’t want to say, “This is a picture of a woman holding a pink spoon in front of a smiling baby that has food in their mouth.”
That description, though thorough, is far too long, complex, and redundant. Instead, you would choose a phrase like, “Mother feeding happy baby in high chair a meal”.
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