Alt text for images for SEO is essential for making your website accessible and visible to search engines. It allows screen readers to describe images for users with visual impairments. Additionally, search engines like Google use alt text to understand the content of images, which helps improve rankings in image search results.
Centric understands the importance of combining accessibility with SEO. It ensures that your digital content reaches the right audience while being user-friendly. In this blog, you will learn how to write effective alt text that enhances both user experience and SEO. We will cover best practices, the role of alt text in SEO, and how to avoid common mistakes.
By following these guidelines, you'll be able to optimize your images and make your content more accessible and discoverable.
What is Alt Text?
Alt text for images for SEO is a brief description added to images. It helps search engines understand the content of the image. Alt text is also used by screen readers to describe images to users with visual impairments. This makes websites more accessible.
Why Is Alt Text Important for Accessibility?
Alt text improves accessibility by providing a description of images for users who rely on screen readers. Without alt text, these users may miss out on important visual content. By writing clear and concise alt text, you ensure everyone can access your content.
Alt Text’s Role in SEO
Alt text plays a crucial role in SEO. Search engines can’t see images, but they can read alt text. By writing alt text that describes the image accurately, you help search engines understand the content and rank your page higher. Image alt text optimization also improves the visibility of your images in search results.
4 Best Practices for Writing Alt Text for SEO
Writing effective alt text for images for SEO is essential for both accessibility and SEO performance. By following the best practices outlined here, you can ensure that your images are optimized for both users and search engines. These practices will help improve your content's visibility in search results while providing a better experience for all users.
1. Be Descriptive Yet Concise
Alt text for images for SEO should be clear and to the point. Keep it under 125 characters, describing the key elements of the image. The goal is to give users and search engines enough context without being too wordy. A concise description ensures readability and accessibility.
2. Avoid Redundancies
When writing alt text, skip unnecessary phrases like “image of” or “picture of.” These words don't add value and can make alt text less effective. Focus on what the image represents and its purpose. For example, instead of saying “image of a smiling person,” simply write "Smiling person at a desk."
3. Use Relevant Keywords Naturally
Incorporating keywords into your alt text is essential for SEO. However, avoid keyword stuffing. Use natural, relevant keywords that align with what the image represents. Proper image alt text optimization can boost your page’s SEO without overwhelming the description with keywords. Keep the alt text focused on the image's context.
4. Focus on Image Function, Not Just Appearance
When writing SEO-friendly image descriptions, consider the image’s purpose. For example, describe the action or function of a button or icon. If an image is a clickable button, write alt text like "Submit form button" instead of focusing solely on its design. This helps users and search engines understand the image's role.
Explore Our Digital Marketing Services!
6 Different Types of Images and How to Write Alt Text for Each?
Writing alt text for images for SEO can vary depending on the type of image. Each image type has its own requirements for effective alt text. Proper SEO image optimization tips can help boost your page’s rankings and improve accessibility. Let’s explore how to write effective alt text for different image types.
1. Logos and Branding Images
For logos, describe the brand and its purpose clearly. For example, “Centric logo – digital transformation and SEO solutions.” This helps both search engines and users understand the brand’s identity while keeping it relevant for SEO.
2. Product Images (eCommerce)
When writing alt text for product images, focus on key details such as the product name, features, and color. For example, “Blue cotton t-shirt with V-neck – Men’s size medium.” This description provides search engines with information that enhances SEO and helps potential customers find the product.
3. Infographics and Charts
Alt text for infographics and charts should summarize the key data or message. For example, “Bar chart showing 10% increase in sales over the last quarter.” This allows search engines to index the data and makes it accessible for users.
4. Buttons and Icons
For functional images like buttons or icons, focus on their purpose. For example, “Sign up button” or “Search icon.” This helps screen readers convey the button’s function to users and improves SEO by providing clear context.
5. Decorative Images
For purely decorative images, use an empty alt attribute (alt=””). This tells screen readers to ignore the image, preventing unnecessary clutter. Decorative images don’t add meaningful content, so it’s best to leave them out of SEO considerations.
6. Images of People
When describing people in images, include relevant context such as actions, expressions, or roles. For example, “Smiling woman using a laptop in a workspace.” This provides useful information for search engines and users, improving accessibility and SEO ranking.
4 Common Alt Text Mistakes to Avoid
When writing alt text for images for SEO, it’s important to avoid common mistakes that can harm your accessibility and SEO efforts. By following best practices, you can ensure that your images contribute to both user experience and SEO performance. Let’s look at some common mistakes and how to avoid them.
1. Being Too Vague
Avoid overly generic descriptions like “Image1234.jpg.” Instead, describe the image’s content in a way that adds value for both users and top search engines. For example, “Golden retriever puppy playing with a red ball” is specific and meaningful. Clear, descriptive alt text improves alt text for SEO ranking and accessibility.
2. Over-explaining
Using phrases like “This is an image of…” is unnecessary. Screen readers already identify images, so avoid redundant wording. Simply describe the image’s content, such as “Man working on a laptop in an office.” This ensures that alt text is both accessible image descriptions and optimized for SEO.
3. Keyword Stuffing
While it’s important to use relevant keywords, overstuffing alt text with keywords can make it unnatural. For example, writing “SEO, SEO strategies, SEO tools, and SEO experts in this image” is excessive.
Instead, aim for concise, natural alt text that includes relevant terms without overloading it. This helps maintain the flow of the description while improving alt attributes for SEO.
4. Neglecting to Add Alt Text to Informative Images
Failing to add alt text to key images like charts, graphs, and product images can negatively impact both SEO ranking and accessibility. For example, missing alt text for a chart showing sales trends makes it difficult for screen readers to convey essential information. Always provide meaningful alt text for informative images.
Get Your Free SEO Audit Report Today!
How to Check Alt Text for SEO Optimization?
To ensure your alt text for images for SEO is optimized, it's essential to review it regularly. By using the right tools and methods, you can easily track and improve your alt text to boost your SEO ranking and accessibility. One of the best approaches is utilizing SEO audit tools to analyze your image alt text and identify areas for improvement.
1. Using SEO Tools (e.g., Centric)
Tools like Centric make it easy to check alt text directly from your browser. It ensures that all images have properly optimized alt tags, improving both accessibility and SEO performance. Through detailed reports and actionable insights, Centric helps clients enhance website visibility and achieve better rankings in search engines.
2. Manual Review
While SEO tools are helpful, manual review is also essential. Go through your images' alt text to ensure it’s descriptive, concise, and relevant. Manual checking, combined with SEO ranking report softwares, can help identify missed optimization opportunities and enhance your image SEO ranking. This process ensures your alt text for SEO ranking is truly optimized for both search engines and accessibility.
3. CMS Tools and Platforms
Most content management systems (CMS) have built-in tools for adding and optimizing alt text. For example, using an SEO website builder like WordPress, Shopify, and Wix, you can easily add alt text when uploading images to the media library. Be sure to fill in the alt text field with descriptive, keyword-friendly text. This step is vital for alt text for SEO ranking and helps improve the discoverability of your images.
Alt Text for Different Platforms and Devices
Optimizing alt text for images for SEO is crucial for different platforms and devices. Whether users are browsing on mobile devices or social media, alt text plays a key role in improving accessibility and search engine visibility across all platforms.
1. Mobile SEO and Alt Text
Alt text for images for SEO is especially important for mobile users, particularly for those with slow or no internet connections. When images fail to load on mobile devices, alt text provides users with a description, ensuring they still get the relevant information. This improves the overall mobile user experience and helps with SEO ranking.
2. Image SEO on Social Media
Alt text also plays a significant role on social media platforms. On platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, alt text helps describe images for users with visual impairments and makes images discoverable in search results. By writing clear and concise alt text, you improve the image's visibility and engagement on these platforms, supporting image SEO.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What Is Alt Text For Images For SEO?
Alt text is a brief description added to images that helps search engines understand the content. It improves accessibility for visually impaired users by allowing screen readers to describe images, boosting SEO by making images more discoverable in search results.
Why Is Alt Text Important For Accessibility?
Alt text improves accessibility by describing images for users with visual impairments. It allows screen readers to convey information about images, ensuring that all users, regardless of ability, can understand and engage with web content, making websites more inclusive and user-friendly.
How Does Alt Text Help With SEO?
Alt text helps search engines understand the content of an image, making it easier to rank in search results. By describing images with relevant keywords, alt text enhances a page’s SEO performance, leading to better visibility and higher rankings in image search results.
Can I Use Keywords In Alt Text For SEO?
Yes, using relevant keywords in alt text can improve SEO. However, avoid keyword stuffing. Focus on describing the image naturally while including important keywords that align with the image's content. This helps boost SEO without making the alt text feel unnatural.
Conclusion
Alt text for images for SEO is essential for both accessibility and SEO performance. It ensures that images are understood by search engines and accessible to all users. Proper alt text enhances user experience and improves SEO rankings.
At Centric, we prioritize accessibility and SEO optimization. By implementing the best practices for alt text, you can create a more inclusive and discoverable website. This not only benefits users but also boosts your site’s search engine visibility.
We encourage you to follow these best practices to improve website accessibility and enhance image search rankings. By doing so, you'll provide a better experience for all users and ensure your content is optimized for both accessibility and SEO.
