Alt Image and SEO

In regards to internet marketing and in particular search engine optimisation then it is important to consider ALT attributes and many people do not. They are wrongly used as a description or label for an image when in reality they should be the text equivalent of the picture.

The way to think of ALT attribute is if the image was not in place then what would the text be in its place to convey the same information or purpose as if the image was there. You have to provide the same functional information that a visual user would see and therefore ALT attribute acts as a place holder say if for some reason the image isn’t showing so as not to affect your website structure.

You should always add ALT attributes to all images and it is valid for XHTML but what you should also try and do is to blend the text in with the rest so that if the image wasn’t present it wouldn’t be noticeable.

It is becoming more important to optimise images in regards to SEO and Google recommend that the ALT attributes should be readable by a human and not stuffed with keywords and phrases. They ask for this because search engines are prime examples of someone who would use the ALT attribute; they do not have eyes and therefore require this description of image.

As mentioned it is not recommended that you stuff your ALT attribute with keywords and phrases as this can actually alert spam filters resulting in a penalty on the website and even in such penalty isn’t incurred it still isn’t good. People who use screen readers because say they are blind actually have the content which is on the screen read out to them and thus ALT attributes are read aloud so repetitions of words over and over is rather annoying.

To optimise your images you need to firstly choose a logical file name which will reinforce your keywords. Next you should ensure that the next near to that image is relevant and therefore it isn’t just a random image plonked on the page.

Images when correctly labelled and when ALT Attribute is used correctly can actually be a great source of generating traffic to your site. If you are not sure then why not speak to us today, our expert team is on hand to help and guide you.

For more information then please call us on 01254 277190 or email info@brickweb.co.uk.

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