What is alt text and how does it help with SEO?
Alt text is the written description of an image.
First and foremost, alt text is for visually impaired people and text only browsers. It's what gets read aloud by screen readers so it must help the person reading your post understand what the image is about.
As the alt text is going to be read by screen readers it should be formatted as normal written text. You don't need hyphens (dashes) between the words. Use punctuation as you would for normal text.
Sometimes, if an image can't be loaded then the alt text may appear in its place.
And the search engines read the alt text so having a descriptive alt text helps get your images indexed properly.
Next Page: Images and SERPs
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kevin928
Premium
Thank you for this Marion, I'm not sure if I have been giving my pictures sensible names. Can I just confirm its the title and the alt text that we fill in (unless we want a caption) I maybe have been trying to be to clever by adding something to do with the article title in the naming. Also is it in the title section that we separate with hyphens? If I want to amend the titles do I have to go to each post because when I click on edit I don't seem to get the full list of options that I do in Media, so the other question can I amend in media.
To give you an example in an article about healthy vegan food I have a picture of blueberries and have titled it healthy vegan blueberries. Will Google not like this?
Sorry for so many questions and thank you in advance for any response
Kevin
To give you an example in an article about healthy vegan food I have a picture of blueberries and have titled it healthy vegan blueberries. Will Google not like this?
Sorry for so many questions and thank you in advance for any response
Kevin
Reply
MarionBlack
Premium
"Healthy vegan blueberries" is the perfect title and alt text for an image of healthy vegan blueberries. It's also ideal for the caption if you want to use a caption.
You don't need to add hyphens for the alt text or the title or the caption. Hyphens are only used for the image's URL and they are automatically added by WordPress.
You don't need to add hyphens for the alt text or the title or the caption. Hyphens are only used for the image's URL and they are automatically added by WordPress.
kevin928
Premium
Thanks Marion, I didn't know if I was trying to be to clever by adding Vegan to the title as most of the images on my post I added it. Thanks for the heads up re hyphens, should I remove those I have added? Also while I am chatting, I am just finishing an article that 3 or 4 quotations about nutrition from famous people. These are easily found online and I wondered what level of quotations Google would start to see as plagiarism, any ideas? I promise thats the last question for today. And as always thanks so much for your help and your tutorials.
Kevin
Kevin
MarionBlack
Premium
Adding vegan to the title or alt text is fine when it's helpful to your readers.
Keyword stuffing is not OK. e.g. "healthy vegan blueberres, vegan berries, vegan fruit, healthy berries, healthy fruit, healthy blueberries for vegans" Keyword stuffing can get your article google-slapped.
It's up to you whether you want to go back to your existing articles to remove the hyphens. They're probably not doing any harm, it's just that they are a bit awkward and not necessary.
Properly attributed quotations are fine, Kevin. The search engines expect them to be duplicate content. Just write a lot of unique stuff too.
Keyword stuffing is not OK. e.g. "healthy vegan blueberres, vegan berries, vegan fruit, healthy berries, healthy fruit, healthy blueberries for vegans" Keyword stuffing can get your article google-slapped.
It's up to you whether you want to go back to your existing articles to remove the hyphens. They're probably not doing any harm, it's just that they are a bit awkward and not necessary.
Properly attributed quotations are fine, Kevin. The search engines expect them to be duplicate content. Just write a lot of unique stuff too.
kevin928
Premium
Thanks Marion, lots of unique stuff. No not been keyword stuffing, just the single vegan along with a basic picture description. Same in the text.
Thanks as always, hopefully in the future the help will be reciprocal
Kevin
Thanks as always, hopefully in the future the help will be reciprocal
Kevin
Mubs1
Premium
This topic always confuses me simply because alot of people advocate putting keywords in the alt text. Nearly all my images contain the keyword i'm trying to rank for.
So far i have not noticed any negative effects but i will do what you said and write descriptive alt texts and see what happens.
thanks
So far i have not noticed any negative effects but i will do what you said and write descriptive alt texts and see what happens.
thanks
AlenkaV
Premium
Dear Marion
Thank you for this great tutorial.
I use alt descriptions as you have indicated. Not only does it help with rankings, but more importantly, it makes me feel like I'm doing the decent thing of being fair to people who need to use the internet in a different way.
Best,
Alenka
Thank you for this great tutorial.
I use alt descriptions as you have indicated. Not only does it help with rankings, but more importantly, it makes me feel like I'm doing the decent thing of being fair to people who need to use the internet in a different way.
Best,
Alenka
AlenkaV
Premium
jetrbby80316
Premium
I use ALT text as descriptions for all my images,and it definitely helps ranking those images in the SERPs. All too often ALT text is ignored, and it should not be.
Great training Marion, and bookmarked:)
Great training Marion, and bookmarked:)
laparra1
Premium
Good Morning Marion,
I do not think that is the case, it is more:
A basket full of fruits and vegetables or a basket full of fruit and vegetables, carrots, peppers, apple, peaches etc. Which of these 2 would be better?
Greetings from the south of Spain, Taetske
I do not think that is the case, it is more:
A basket full of fruits and vegetables or a basket full of fruit and vegetables, carrots, peppers, apple, peaches etc. Which of these 2 would be better?
Greetings from the south of Spain, Taetske
MarionBlack
Premium
laparra1
Premium
Thank you Marion,
I think that with most of my Alt text I am on the safe side. When I update posts I will have a look to be sure.
Have a nice weekend, Taetske
I think that with most of my Alt text I am on the safe side. When I update posts I will have a look to be sure.
Have a nice weekend, Taetske
