Alt text (Alternative Text) also known as alt descriptions is the text rendered if an image is not displayed on the webpage.
Below is a sample illustration on the text:
They provide search engine crawlers with a description of an image, hence assisting the crawlers properly index the image from the webpage.
In addition, alt text also helps screen reading tools used by visually impaired web users read the alt text, which serves as a description of the image within the webpage.
Alt texts greatly contribute in Image SEO in that;
i) They reveal important content about images to Google
As an example, let’s say a web page contains two images of two cars.
Google can easily tell that these are car images. However, it can’t really tell the type of cars within the images, information whether cars are for sale or let, or any other important information. This is where alt text comes in and reveals this descriptive information to Google.
ii) They help you rank in Google Images
Alt texts are quite helpful for Google Images. The higher the ranking in Google Images, then the higher the traffic to your website. This is especially observed in for example food businesses as people use Google Images in most cases.
How to Add Alt Text to YourWordPress Images
To accomplish this, you will need to access the Media >library section, click on an image and fill in the Alt Text within the “Alt Text” segment. Below is a sample illustration
Best Practices For Alt Texts
Be Specific on the Image Description: You need to describe the image as specific as possible. Both the Image subject and context where it is applied should serve as a guide on the alt text description to have in place
Avoid Keyword Stuffing: You should focus on writing a meaningful and descriptive alt text with only the target keyword.
Write a short alt text (not more than 125 characters): This is so because screen readers will not read characters beyond this limit.
Avoid content such as “Image of…” or “Picture of…”: This is because Google can already figure out that it’s an image to something.
Avoid Content Redundancy: If an image on an article already contains the articles’ keyword, there is no point in adding the same keyword on another image within the article.