Image ‘alt’ is the Alternate Text used inside the HTML tags to describe the picture. If due to any technical error or internet issue the images on the website do not load, then instead of the image, the alt text will appear.
Usually, alt text is considered as a minor thing and ignored, but it is not so. In order for the website to crawl on the search engine pages, these alt texts also play a vital role.
If any image on the website is not loading the search bots can still index the images with the help of these alt texts. Too long or keyword stuffed alt texts are not recommended.
It is always good to keep the description short and real.
The code looks like this:
<img src=”https://www.example.com/wp-content/themes/example/images/ddimg1.png” alt=”hand holding phone”>
If the alt text for any image is missing the code will look something like this:
<img src=”https://www.
example.com /wp-content/themes/example/images/ddimg1.png” alt=” “>
Some of things to keep in mind while adding Alt text are:
- Keep it short
- Do not stuff keywords
- Describe the image as specifically as possible
- Do not include words like “image of”, “picture of” etc
- If any image is very complex or need long description, use longdesc=”” tag
- If there are any image on the form or buttons, add alt text to those images as well.
