Pet Copywriter Lori

In the digital world we live in, some things just make sense. And Alt-Text can be a powerful leg up for your business. And I don’t understand why people are using it more. Now back in the old days of SEO you would just keyword stuff images. But that’s not the case anymore. These important tags can improve your overall search engine results. Here are 3 reasons why you need to use alt-text starting today. 

What Is Alt-Text?

Alt-Text is the text that describes the image. Furthermore, it helps those with visual impairments understand your images. It can be used for text-only reading formats. And it’s how Google understands what the image is. 

However, being inclusive can really help your SEO (search engine optimization) because it’s actually helpful for people. And having good Alt-Text will give you an edge over companies that don’t use them properly. 

3 Reasons Why You Should Have Alt-Text On Images

While there are many reasons why you should be using Alt-Text, here are a few important ones. 

Accessibility

Alt-Text ensures that your content is accessible to everyone. Including people with disabilities. Screen readers use Alt-Text to describe images, allowing users to understand the content and context of the images. Furthermore, this image text can lead to a better overall user experience. 

SEO Benefits

Search engines can’t “see” images but can read Alt-Text. Using proper image names and Alt-Text can show “spiders” that crawl the internet what the image is about. Because these little digital bots can’t tell what an image looks like, but they utilize keywords in those descriptions to place the helpfulness of the image. 

For example, if you have an article about safe shampoo for cats, and you have an image of bubbles. You don’t want to plug keywords shampoo for cats. Because readers will be confused. What you can do is use the phrase “A soap bubble from giving a cat a bath.” While the entire image doesn’t have a cat, the context helps identify how this image applies to the keywords of the entire article. 

Legal Compliance

Many jurisdictions have regulations that require websites to be accessible to people with disabilities. Using Alt-Text helps companies comply with laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

What Are The Disadvantages Of Using Alt-Text?

When done right, there are no disadvantages. There comes a problem when you try to keyword stuff, or unnaturally describe an image. It can be confusing for the reader (and the bots that crawl the internet). 

Furthermore, having a long detailed description of the image might also take away from the user’s experience. For infographics just keep it simple. For example, “3 Tips For Teaching Birds To Talk” rather than listing the entire graphic content. 

Does Alt-Text Help Broken Images?

Alt-Text can help if a website has issues. If there are any broken images, your Alt-Text can be your hero. While you don’t want to have broken images on your website, in a pinch Alt-Text can tell a reader what visuals they should see. 

Alt-Text And Hyperlinking

If you are using your image as a link to another page, you’ll still want to use Alt-Text. But you will want to go about it a bit differently. Because it involves a link think about more than just the image, but the page it will be directing people to. 

A quick example using the same cat shampoo bubble as above. “A bubble from using Anya’s Wellness Elixirs* cat shampoo.” That way you hit both the image and the new landing page which is a sales page. 

*Anya’s Wellness Elixirs is a fictional company that I use for mock-up examples. You can see more of those over on my LinkedIn page. 

Final Thoughts

Alt-Text isn’t just a helpful SEO tool, it’s essential for inclusion and some regulations. Having good Alt-Text can improve your reader’s experience. Make sure to check sidebar panels, or “right” click an image for Alt-Text options. 

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