Alt Text: Enhancing Image SEO and Accessibility
Alt text, short for alternative text, is a description of an image used for accessibility and to help search engines understand the content of images. It plays a crucial role in both SEO and web accessibility, making your website more inclusive and potentially improving its search engine rankings.
Key Aspects of Alt Text
- Accessibility: Provides image descriptions for visually impaired users using screen readers.
- SEO Value: Helps search engines understand and index image content.
- User Experience: Displays when images fail to load, improving user experience.
- Contextual Information: Offers additional context to the surrounding content.
Importance of Alt Text in SEO
- Improves image search visibility
- Contributes to overall page relevance for targeted keywords
- Enhances the accessibility of your site, which is increasingly important for SEO
- Provides additional opportunities to include relevant keywords naturally
- Helps search engines understand the context and content of your images
Best Practices for Writing Effective Alt Text
- Be Descriptive: Accurately describe the image content.
- Keep it Concise: Aim for 125 characters or less.
- Use Keywords Naturally: Include relevant keywords, but avoid keyword stuffing.
- Avoid Redundancy: Don't start with "Picture of..." or "Image of..."
- Provide Context: Relate the image to the surrounding content when relevant.
- Use Proper Grammar: Write in complete sentences when possible.
- Omit Decorative Images: Use empty alt text (alt="") for purely decorative images.
Examples of Good vs. Bad Alt Text
Image: A golden retriever puppy playing with a red ball in a park
- Good: "Golden retriever puppy chasing a red ball in a sunny park"
- Bad: "Dog image"
- Bad: "Golden retriever puppy dog playing with red ball toy in green grass park on sunny day with trees and blue sky keyword SEO"
Implementing Alt Text
Alt text is added to images in HTML using the alt attribute:
<img src="golden-puppy.jpg" alt="Golden retriever puppy chasing a red ball in a sunny park">
Alt Text and Accessibility
Beyond SEO, alt text is crucial for web accessibility:
- Enables visually impaired users to understand image content
- Helps users with slow internet connections who may see placeholders before images load
- Provides context when images are turned off to save data
- Assists users who may not be able to visually distinguish images
Common Alt Text Mistakes to Avoid
- Keyword stuffing in alt text
- Using generic descriptions like "image" or "picture"
- Neglecting to add alt text to images
- Using overly long descriptions
- Including redundant information already present in the surrounding text
- Using the same alt text for multiple images on a page
By implementing well-crafted alt text for your images, you can improve your website's SEO performance, enhance accessibility, and provide a better user experience for all visitors. Remember to balance descriptive accuracy with SEO considerations, always prioritizing the user's needs and the context of the image within your content.
Free SEO Scanner & AI Site Analyzer

Get a free detailed SEO Analysis report for your website with personalised tips to improve.
Learn More About SEO Terms With Our SEO Glossary
Want to learn more about SEO? Check out our comprehensive SEO Glossary for a wide range of SEO terms and concepts.