What Are Image Alt Tags And How Do They Affect Your Website SEO?
If you have an internet presence through a website, search engine optimization (SEO) is an integral part of being discovered online. However, while many website owners understand that they must incorporate SEO through content or keywords, images can often fly under the radar.
The alt-image text is pivotal in being discovered online and ensuring your site is accessible to all users. To use alt image tags effectively, you need to understand what they are and how they can affect your website’s SEO.
What Exactly Are Alt Image Tags?
Alt image tags are like your website’s invisible little helpers. This text is not typically seen in the foreground, except for two specific circumstances: when an image fails to load or when a user relies on a screen reader to understand what is shown on screen.
For example, let’s say you include the below image on your website:
A user that does not need alt text would see the above image. However, a user that relies on audio that explains what the image is would hear “a close-up image of a unicorn floatie in an outdoor pool.”
In both cases, the user will understand what image exists on the page.
By describing the image content, alt tags make your website more inclusive and accessible to users with visual impairments or those using screen readers.
How Alt Text Tags Increase Your Website’s Visibility
While search engines are certainly getting more intelligent with constant algorithm updates, they still rely on textual cues to understand and index images.
By adding relevant alt tags, you're helping search engines like Google grasp the context of your visuals, leading to better indexing and visibility in image search results. Using the above example, since we have used alt image text for the above image, Google can categorize this image with “unicorn.” You can get even more detailed and use “white unicorn,” “unicorn pool float,” and so forth.
All of this helps Google index the image.
Alt tags can also contribute to your overall on-page SEO, as they create more opportunities for search engines to identify keywords and rank your content higher in search results.
Additionally, remember that Google and other search engines have an “images” option when searching for something online. Thus, you create even more potential for your image and your site to be found when a user searches for that specific keyword.
Creating the Perfect Alt Image Tags
To use alt image tags to their fullest, follow these best practices:
Be Concise but Descriptive
Try not to be too vague or overtly lengthy when describing what you see in the image. Instead, think of how you would explain the image to someone who could not see and let that guide your text.
Use Keywords Naturally
Using keywords that relate to your business can help your SEO efforts. However, this should be done primarily to assist users who need alt-image text to convey meaning. Avoid keyword stuffing and ensure the keywords fit the image. For instance, in the above example I would not write “SEO strategy unicorn in a search engine pool.”
Don’t Neglect Buttons and Other Functional Images
Buttons, icons, and other types of functional images should also have appropriate alt tags to enhance accessibility.
Avoid Redundancy
If you include information in the text around the image, you do not need to be as detailed or repeat the information in the alt text. It is best to have visual identifiers, but you do not need to incorporate information already there.
Use Alt Image Tags to Elevate Your Website
Ensure that your website is accessible for all audiences through alt tags. Not only will you ensure your website is accessible, but these unseen helpers can also boost your SEO efforts, ensuring you get more backlinks through images.
Not sure what to write for your images or want to save some time? Don’t worry; we can provide alt-image text at scale!
