What is Alt Text and Why is it Important for SEO?
Alt-text is an important attribute for HTML-based SEO for visual and graphic elements of a website. It is the text that is shown when a browser cannot load the visual content of a web page or, in the case of a screen reader user.
Alt text serves as an alternative text that improves accessibility for people who have visual impairment using screen readers.
In terms of SEO, the alt attribute helps understand the image’s content and improve the page’s search engine visibility. When alt text is used correctly, it provides a better user experience by explaining the context of the image to search engines. It is also an untapped source of search engine traffic from image search.
What is Alt Text?
We all know that behind every website are thousands of codes (HTML, CSS, java, python, etc.) that help computers process information and display it exactly as the website owner wants.
Alt text/alt tags/alt description/alt attribute/alternative text are all references to the piece of code that helps computers understand images.
When it comes to SEO, alt text is essential. An image alt text conveys the information in an image and its relevance with textual content to search engines.
Alt tags can describe videos, charts, an illustration, or any other visual aspect of your content. When you create alt text, include relevant keywords contextually and avoid keyword stuffing.
A good alt text that genuinely helps describe the appearance and context of the image is an essential component of creating well-indexed and compelling websites.
When to Use Alt Text?
Alt-text is important for SEO because it describes the image, form, or file uploaded to your blog. This helps the readers easily understand what they’re looking at and locate it more easily on your blog.
Additionally, alt text is used to describe the image, form, or file when it’s being indexed to search engines like Google. This helps your site appear on search engine results pages (SERPs).
Images and Pictures
Images and pictures are an important part of content marketing. Alt text is key to ensuring search engines correctly index them. When using images for your website or blog, always ensure they’re tagged with the right keywords so visitors can find them easily. Furthermore, alt text can be used to provide additional information about the image, such as creator credits or copyright information. Ensuring all this information is properly captured will help ensure your images rank high on search engine results pages (SERPs).
Diagrams, Flow Charts, and Graphs
Alt-text is important for both the reader experience and search engine optimization (SEO). By using alt text correctly, you can help improve the CTR of your pages and site. Publishing diagrams, flow charts, or graphs using alt descriptions will boost web accessibility of extraneous information such as research findings and trend analysis.
Conclusion
We live in a world of excessive information. Your target audience is bombarded with similar websites on every topic. We must use every chance to get in front in such a fiercely competitive market. A helpful yet concise description of the image is a general best practice.
Alt text is important for SEO because it helps search engines understand the content of a page. It also facilitates search engines in indexing and ranking the page better in search results. If you want to dive deep into the world of alt texts, you may find the blog, How to Use Alt Text for Better SEO on Your Website helpful. Happy Reading!
