What is Alt Text & Why It Matters for Accessibility and SEO

What is Alt Text & Why It Matters for Accessibility and SEO

What is Alt text? Short for “alternative text,” it is a brief description you provide for images on your website. This description is added in the HTML code and serves two main purposes: it makes your site accessible for visually impaired users and helps search engines better understand the content of your images, boosting SEO. Let’s dive into what it is, how it works, and why it’s so important for both accessibility and SEO.

What is Alt Text?

Alt text is essentially a textual substitute for an image on a web page. When an image fails to load, or when a screen reader is being used by someone with visual impairments, it provides a description that allows them to understand what’s in the image. Properly crafted alt text should clearly convey the content and function of an image in a way that adds value to the user’s experience.

Example of Alt Text:

If you have an image of a dog fetching a ball in a park, appropriate alt text could be:

“Golden retriever fetching a ball in a green park on a sunny day.”
This description is both specific and straightforward, which provides enough detail for those who can’t see the image while still being concise.

Why Alt Text Matters for Accessibility

One of the primary reasons it exists is to make the web a more accessible place. For users who are blind or have low vision, screen readers read aloud the alt text to help describe images and other non-text content. Adding thoughtful and accurate alt text ensures that all users, regardless of their abilities, can engage with your website fully.

Benefits of Alt Text for Accessibility:

• Inclusive Experience: It provides visually impaired users with a complete understanding of the images on a website, creating a more inclusive experience.
• Enhanced Navigation: By providing descriptions of images, it helps users make sense of visual elements, such as graphs, buttons, and icons.
• Compliance with Accessibility Laws: It can help websites adhere to legal standards such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which mandates accessibility in online spaces.

Why it Matters for SEO

Beyond accessibility, it is an important SEO tool. Search engines like Google can’t “see” images the way humans do, so they rely on alt text to interpret image content. By providing accurate alt text, you help search engines index and rank your images, which can drive more organic traffic to your site.

SEO Benefits:

• Improved Image Search Rankings: It helps images rank better in image search results, leading to additional site traffic.
• Enhanced Keyword Optimisation: When you include relevant keywords, it strengthens your SEO efforts by signalling the topic and relevance of your images to search engines.
• Overall Site Ranking Boost: Google and other search engines prioritise accessible and user-friendly sites, so properly optimised alt text can have a positive impact on your overall search rankings.

How to Write Effective Alt Text

Creating effectively involves balancing clarity, conciseness, and relevance. Here are some tips to help you write it that is useful for both users and search engines:

• Be Descriptive but Concise: Aim for a description that accurately represents the image without unnecessary details. Keep it to about 125 characters if possible.
• Use Relevant Keywords: Incorporate keywords naturally, but avoid keyword stuffing. For instance, if your blog post is about “best dog breeds for families,” an image could include “golden retriever, a popular family dog.”
• Avoid Starting with “Image of” or “Picture of”: Screen readers already identify the element as an image, so start directly with the description.
• Describe the Function: If the image serves a specific function (like a call-to-action button or a link), describe what it does rather than what it looks like. For example, a button might read “sign up for our newsletter.”

Examples of Good vs. Bad

• Bad Alt Text: “Image of dog in park”
• Good Alt Text: “Golden retriever playing fetch in a park on a sunny day”

The second example provides a richer, more helpful description that improves accessibility and aids SEO.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Avoiding common mistakes can improve the quality and effectiveness of your descriptions:

• Overloading with Keywords: Avoid cramming keywords into the alt text. This can come across as spammy and might even hurt your SEO.
• Using it for Decorative Images: If an image is purely decorative (like a background pattern), it doesn’t need it. Setting it to “null” (alt=””) tells screen readers to skip it.
• Vague Descriptions: Descriptions should be specific. Avoid phrases like “cute dog” and instead provide context, such as “Golden retriever puppy playing with a ball.”

Final Thoughts

Alt text is a simple yet powerful tool for making your website more accessible and SEO-friendly. By thoughtfully describing your images, you’re not only supporting visually impaired users but also improving your chances of ranking higher in search engines. With clear, descriptive text, you enhance user experience and make your content more inclusive, which ultimately benefits both users and your site’s visibility.

Whether you’re running a personal blog, an e-commerce store, or a corporate website, optimising your images with effective AT is a smart, easy step toward a more accessible and discoverable website.

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