Why Alt Text Matters: A Guide to Optimizing Your SEO

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If you’re not sure what Alt Text is, you’re not alone. Alt Text, or “alternative text” is a hidden gem of optimizing your content for better search engine results. Though it’s not as well known as other methods like Title Tags and Meta Descriptions, Alt Text can be a powerful tool in improving your site’s visibility.
What is alt text and why is it important?

Alt text is an attribute added to an image to provide a textual alternative to the image for people who are visually impaired. It is also used as a tool for SEO, as it can help to improve the ranking of a website on search engines.

How to create effective alt text

There are a few things to keep in mind when creating effective alt text:

  1. Keep it short and concise.
  2. Make sure it accurately describes the image.
  3. Avoid using generic descriptions like “image of a cat.”
  4. Use keywords to help improve SEO.
  5. Be sure to test the alt text on different devices.
  6. Tips for optimizing your alt text for SEO

There are a few things you can do to help optimize your alt text for SEO.
First, make sure your alt text accurately describes the image.
If there is text in the image, make sure to use that text in the alt text.
Also, make sure to use keywords relevant to your site in your alt text.

This will help your images rank higher in search engine results pages.

Alt Text Best Practices

Alt text is an important part of any website, as it is the text that is displayed when an image is not available. It is also important for people who are visually impaired, as they may rely on the alt text to understand the image. Alt text is an important part of web accessibility. It is used to provide a textual alternative to images for people who are visually impaired.

There are a few best practices to follow when creating alt text:

Keep it Brief
Alt text should be brief, to the point, and easy to read. You don’t want to overwhelm people with too much text.

Use descriptive keywords
When writing alt text, use descriptive keywords that accurately describe the image. This will help people who are visually impaired understand what the image is about.

Avoid describing the appearance of the image
Don’t describe the appearance of the image in your alt text. This is something that people who are visually impaired can’t see. Focus on describing the contents of the image instead.

Use proper grammar and spelling
Make sure your alt text is written in proper grammar and spelling. This will help ensure that it is easy to read and understand.

Check your alt text for accuracy
Before you publish your website, be sure to check your alt text for accuracy. Make sure all the images are properly tagged with alt text, and that the alt text accurately describes the image.

Keep Alt Text 125 Characters or Less
Screen readers and other assistive technologies usually stop reading alt text at the 125 character mark.

It’s best to cap your alt text at this number so it doesn’t get cut off.

Include One Main Keyword for Context
It is a good idea to include a main keyword in your alt text if it provides context for the page the image is on.

Don’t Include “Image of” or “Picture of” in Alt Text
As mentioned, you only have 125 characters to describe your image. Including filler text like “picture of” or “image of” will only waste that space, since it’s already implied to both users and Google that these are images.

Find & Fix Missing Alt Text
To check if there’s missing alt text on your site, use our Site Audit tool like semrush

4 Comments

  1. Sanjeev sharma March 22, 2023
    • B Sinha March 22, 2023
  2. John March 22, 2023
    • B Sinha March 22, 2023

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