Alt Text Is Not Primarily An SEO Decision? Google Confirms!

Being a digital marketing professional, you dearly follow the best alt text practices available today while generating alt text. For years, image SEO best practices have been helping our SEO directly considering its vivid benefits. But it is not entirely true according to Google’s John Muller. There is no point in developing alt text for your website and landing pages if you really do not catch up with the real purpose and practices of alternative text. In this blog, you will learn about alt text a ranking factor, and Google updates about alt text.

What is alt text?

Alt text or alternative text is a short and informative text that elucidates the images on a web page. It is primarily introduced making WWW a haven for everyone including those who use screen readers or disabled people; so that user experience will be uniform. Besides, if the image is not loading on your screen for some reason such as device issues or network settings, search engines can also index images better. The best practice is to describe an image considering its context as well as briefly summarising the image’s purpose. Moreover, you can also get to know about Google updates about alt text.

Alt text differs depending on different types of images such as functional, decorative, informational, and complex. 

An example of alt text is  <img src=”ant. jpg” alt=”Ants carrying rice.”>

W3C recommendation of alt text

W3C stands for World Wide Web Consortium is an internationally authorized organization that sets standards for World Wide Web. Alt text is an HTML tag and you know that. W3C standards are used by search engines to crawl and index HTML tags including alt tags. Therefore, the W3c standard is part of the alt text Google update, and looking into its details helps us craft the best alt text.

W3C provides an alt decision tree that is a guideline for creating better image text for various purposes. It is a guide under web accessibility. It contains yes or no questions and once you answer it goes to another tier. As per the questions in the alt decision tree, you can better create alt text images. It provides so many questions such as:

• Does the prescribed image own a context?
• Is the inclusion of an image necessary if it is part of a button or link as the lack of an image confuses the reader?
• Will the alt text of the image contribute to the overall context of the current page?
• Does the image carry a decorative purpose?
• Is it difficult to tell the purpose of the image?

Is alt text a ranking factor?

Indeed. Alt text can be a ranking factor for search engine optimization if you have written it in an apt manner. Google certainly indexes images and considers their relevance. According to W3C, ACCESSIBILITY is the main reason for the inclusion of alt text not necessarily SEO. If you create alt text considering these questions and their relevance, you can accentuate your SEO efforts in a meaningful manner. A good alt text helps you achieve good SERP ranks, online visibility, and organic traffic. Finally, helps you be an SEO publisher on a successful journey. 

The best alt-text  image practices for successful SEO

No keyword stuffing and redundant text in the alt text

Is alt text part of SEO? Yes, it is written in an elucidated but non-redundant manner. To achieve this you can avoid unnecessary keyword stuffing and unnecessary words such as image or photo. Instead, stick to a simple specific description of the image and possibly a keyword if it only fits the copy.

Opt for concise alt-text

This is especially true if you are writing an alt text for decorative images. You cannot write a long piece it is best to stick to a concise copy. Images are a good way to communicate a message to your target audience and it will certainly accentuate your SEO optimization. 

Consider W3C accessibility guidelines

When you write different alt texts, you can consider the accessibility guidelines of W3C. It is especially true if the image is part of a link or button or it is intricate in appearance. For instance, if the image is complex, you can try to include its content anywhere on the image instead of alt text. Or the alt attribute helps if it is a graphical image. 

Be specific as you can

What is an excellent alt text? Is it a simple one? Not necessarily. The thing is in alt text you need to be specific considering the context of the image as well as the overall context of the current page. 

Alt text for buttons

Website button images are included in the website and examples of web buttons are subscribe, read more, download, book now, and watch now. Almost all image buttons should have alt attributes to describe the content of the web buttons. 

Know how to empty alt attributes

Though alt text is important for accessibility you can make use of empty alt attributes if your web page contains images that are purely intended for decoration. Or you can use single empty spaces. Just like humans, screen readers can also detect decorative images and skip them entirely. A tool like ScreamingFrog helps you identify insufficient alt tags. 

So you have got an answer to the question” Is alt text part of SEO” and how it can be created using W3C standards and top industry practices? Before writing an alt text, you need to meticulously consider the overall purpose of the image, the specific context of the image, and the use of clear and concise language.

Keep it in less than 125 characters

There is no hard and fast rule about the length of an alt text but keeping it in less than 125 characters is a good rule to follow. It allows you to craft a concise yet context-specific alt text. Besides, screen reading tools also tend to avoid longer alt text.

Search engine optimization services in Dubai can help you be certain about the best industry practices to create useful alt-text pages.