How to Write SEO-friendly Alt Text for Your Images

Wondering how to write SEO-friendly alt text for your images?

Including images on your website content will increase your search engine rankings.

Today, we will learn how to improve our SEO rankings and user experience using the right alt text on our images.

Let’s get started.

Table of Contents

Definition of Alt Text

Alt text is a super short description for images.

It’s the words that help people with visual issues understand what the picture shows.

Alt text makes your images available to prospects with visual impairments. It also helps search engines understand what’s in your photos.

So it’s vital to write alt text that is both helpful and SEO-friendly.

How Alt Text Impacts SEO Rankings and User Experience

When you add alt-text to explain visual content on your site, you’re helping people who can’t see it. It’s like giving them a look at what they can’t see.

It also helps search engine crawlers know more about the photos on your site. The right alt text can help your website appear in more search results and make it easier to consume on screen readers.

So take the time to make sure your alt text is SEO-friendly.

The Link Between Your Image Text and Content

Your alt text is text describing what is happening in your image.

The best way to boost your SEO rankings is by making sure your image, contents, and alt text are in synch with another.

A good example is a website offering designer clothing.

For this website, you would need to have content including text, to explain the image you have chosen. You would use the keyword phrase, “unique designer clothing,” to describe it.

You can emphasize your keyword with an image of a woman wearing a designer outfit. Your content would explain the picture with your keyword included in your alt text.

Using Primary Keywords for Your Alt Text

Never choose your images before you select your keywords for the content if you can help it.

Before you look for pictures, think about what words match your topic. Then, find images that match the words you chose. That way, the pictures make sense with your alt-text.

If your page has many pictures, you need to start at the end and work backward.

Do your best to find target keywords that match the images in those situations.

Examples of Good and Bad Alt Text

Good alt text helps you give images meaning.

It should describe what the picture looks like and its purpose and a keyword you want the content to rank for.

For example: “A close-up of a yellow daffodil blooming in the sun.” Bad alt text doesn’t tell you much about the image. Instead of doing that, it might be too long or contain words that don’t make sense.

Or it may contain too many keywords in an attempt to rank higher on search engines.

Better alt text should be short and descriptive.

Best Practices for Writing SEO-friendly Alt Text

Here are some tips to help you optimize your images for SEO.

1. Be as descriptive and specific as possible when writing alt text for a single image. This will help search engines understand what your image is about.

2. Use relevant keywords that relate to your image and that you want the content to rank for on Google. Doing this will also help search engines know what your image is about.

3. Keep it short and sweet. Alt text shouldn’t be too long, or it could sound like you’re trying to ‘trick’ search engine algorithms.

4. Avoid keyword stuffing and over-optimization because this won’t help your image rank higher.

5. Consider context – how does your image fit into the page? This will help you create better-quality content.

6. Don’t use alt text as a caption – this will over-optimize your content and could hurt your rankings.

7. Lastly, make sure you add your keywords to your image files.

Be Descriptive and Specific

When writing alt text, use words that best depict the image.

Don’t be too general – make sure your words describe the specific details of the photo.

Think about how you would explain it to a third grader. Use simple language, but don’t leave out anything important.

Use Relevant Keywords

Using words that match the picture makes it easier for people to find it when looking for a specific thing.

Using the right words is vital so everyone knows what you’re talking about.

Keep it Concise

The job of your alt text is to help your readers unable to view your images to understand what your image shows.

Your alt text needs to be kept short.

Use your keywords to convey the main description of your image. Only use more text as necessary. If your alt text is too long, you will confuse the search engines.

The recommended length of your alt text is approximately 125 characters. Keep in mind specific browsers only allow one line for your alt text.

Some web browsers might show only part of your writing. That means some readers won’t get to see all the alt-text.

Avoid Keyword Stuffing and Over-Optimization

You must ensure you don’t use too many keywords when writing alt text.

Putting too many words in your alt text looks weird and can make it hard for people to find your website.

Keep your alt text specific and descriptive to get the most impact from your images.

Be Mindful of Context

To get more people to find and read your website, you must ensure all the words and pictures work together.

Doing this helps your website show up higher in search results.

It’s the only way alt text can help you rank better.

If any are out of synch with one another, no extra rank boosts for you.

Don’t Use Alt Text as a Caption

Don’t use alt text as a caption when adding pictures to your website.

Alt text should be simple so that everyone can understand it.

Keep it concise and focus on describing the image in a way accessible for anyone to understand.

How to Write Alt Text for Different Types of Images

Writing the right kind of alt text can make your pictures stand out on search engines.

In this section, we’ll show you how to write SEO-friendly alt text for different types of images.

You’ll learn to:

choose the right words,
use relevant keywords,
and avoid keyword stuffing and over-optimization.

You’ll also get tips for using tools and resources that can help you in your alt text writing process.

So let’s get started.

Product Images

Providing alt text that best describes the item is vital for product images.

So when you’re looking at a picture of a cool tech gadget, make sure to tell people what it is. Include the item name and details about it, like color or size and your primary keyword for it.

This way, everyone better understands what they’re looking at in your content.

Infographics and Charts

When looking at an infographic or chart, ensuring your alt text is descriptive is vital.

Alt text lets people who can’t see the picture understand what it is trying to show.

Use alt text to explain significant numbers, trends, and ideas in images like graphs or charts.

This way, everyone can get the same information and improves your SEO rankings!

Decorative Images

Sometimes your images aren’t straightforward to decipher.

So focus on describing the emotions they evoke.

For example, if it’s a sunset photo, your alt text might say, “A golden sky blankets the horizon at Our Miami Beach Resort.”

This gives people with visual impairments a better idea of what’s happening in the photo.

It also gives you a chance to optimize your content for the keyword, “Miami Beach Resort.”

Images with Text

When you come across an image with text, like a sign, it’s vital to ensure that the alt text describes it.

Make sure you don’t just write something like “green sign,” but instead be more specific.

Say say something like “Welcome to our Las Vegas Divorce Law Firm Sign.”

That way, it’ll help your website show up higher in search results for “Las Vegas Divorce Law Firm .”

Images of People

Focus on the image’s subject rather than any background elements.

For example, if you have a picture of a person smiling, your alt text might be: “Smiling woman in a blue long sleeve shirt.”

You want to describe the person, but also include your primary keyword in the description.

Tools for Writing SEO-friendly Alt Text

What tools and resources can help you write SEO-friendly alt text for your images?

Keep reading to learn more and start crafting excellent alt text today.

Accessibility Tools

You can use special tools to help you write SEO-friendly alt text.

Some of these tools are Wave, WebAIM, and Color Contrast Analyzer.

They’ll help you make sure your images help improve your SEO rankings.

Keyword Research Tools

If you’re looking to find some keywords for your pictures, you can use many good tools.

For example, Ubersuggest and Ahrefs can help you find the right words.

Or you could try using SEMRush to understand better what people are searching for.

With the right keywords, your images will be more likely to appear in searches!

Image Optimization Tools

When writing SEO-friendly alt text, it helps to use image optimization tools.

These tools include ImageOptim, RIOT, ShortPixel, TinyPNG, and Compressor.io.

They all can help ensure your images are the right size for SEO purposes.

Alt Text Generators

Writing your alt text can be tricky, so try using a tool to help!

Some excellent alt text generating tools are:

These tools will help you make sure your alt text is SEO-friendly and accessible!

Conclusion

Both your keywords and alt text are critical for the success of your website.

Using the tips described above is how to get the best benefits from your alt text.

You will also need to make changes to your alt text.

You can do a test to figure out which words help your website the most. If some words aren’t working, you should get rid of them.

Good luck and happy rankings!

Frequently Asked Questions

What is alt text?

Alt text, short for alternative text, is a brief description of an image that appears when the image cannot be seen. It helps people with visual impairments understand images on web pages. Alt text also helps search engines understand the content of images for better SEO.

How does alt text help with SEO?

Alt text allows search engines like Google to understand what an image contains. Using relevant keywords in your alt text can help search engines index and rank your web pages better for those terms. Descriptive alt text also improves the user experience.

What are some best practices for writing good alt text?

Some best practices include being concise yet descriptive, using relevant keywords, avoiding keyword stuffing, keeping the context of the image and page in mind, and not writing alt text like a caption. Ideally, the alt text should be 125 characters or less.

How do I write alt text for different types of images?

For product images, include the product name, color, size, and other descriptive details. For infographics and charts, summarize critical information. For decorative images, describe the mood and emotions evoked. For images with text, explain the text. For pictures of people, tell them without too much background detail.

What tools can I use to write better alt text?

Helpful tools include accessibility checkers like Wave and WebAIM, keyword research tools like Ubersuggest and SEMrush, image compression tools like TinyPNG, and alt text generators like GenAlt.

How often should I update my image alt text?

You should periodically review and update your alt text to ensure it is optimized with relevant keywords for each page. Alt text should evolve along with changes in your content and target keywords.

What are some common mistakes to avoid with alt text?

Don’t keyword stuff, write generic descriptions like “image of product,” use alt text as captions, have identical alt text across multiple pages, or rely solely on auto-generated alt text. Take the time to write optimized alt text manually.

How do I add alt text in my content management system or website builder?

Most CMS platforms and site builders like WordPress or Squarespace have settings to add alt text when you upload images. Look for an “Alt Text” or “Alternative Text” field when adding images. Refer to platform docs for exact steps.

Glossary

Alt Text: Alternative text that describes an image and appears when the image cannot be seen. It helps search engines understand image content and assists visually impaired users.

Keywords: Relevant words and phrases that describe your content’s topic. Using keywords in alt text can help optimize images for search engines.

SEO: Search engine optimization. The process of improving a website’s rankings in search engine results pages through tactics like keyword optimization.

Accessibility: Making web content usable for people with disabilities, such as visual impairments. Alt text improves accessibility.

Context: How an image relates to the content on the webpage. Keeping context in mind helps write descriptive alt text.

Caption:- A sentence describing an image’s content. Alt text should describe rather than caption a photo.

Keyword Stuffing: Overloading alt text with forced keywords to manipulate search rankings. This is an ineffective SEO tactic.

Image File Name: When uploaded online, the name is assigned to an image file. Useful to include keywords in file names for SEO.

Content Management System: Software like WordPress that helps manage website content. CMS platforms allow adding alt text to images.

Decorative Image: A non-informative image that doesn’t add context to a page. The alt text should describe its visual appearance.

Infographic: A chart, diagram, or illustration represents information visually. Alt text should summarize critical data points.

Product Image: Pictures of products on e-commerce or marketing websites. Alt text should include product name, color, size, etc.

Rankings: Where a webpage appears in search engine results for specific keywords. Higher rankings equal more visibility.

UX:- User experience. Alt text improves UX by conveying visuals to those unable to see images.

Let me know if you need any other vital terms explained!

A Special Offer from the Author

Matt LaClear

Remember, the SEO tips on how to write optimized alt text for your images were provided by Matt LaClear, co-founder of America Gets Ranked.

With over 13,277 successful SEO campaigns under his belt since 2009, Matt is an expert in ranking websites higher on search engines.

Take advantage of Matt’s special offer for a free custom SEO strategy call.

On the call, Matt will assess your website’s SEO health and develop a tailored plan to boost your rankings.
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