The Alt Attribute (alternate text) is used to include a description in the image tag while providing an alternative text that appears in its place if the image is not displayed.
Although the Artificial Intelligence of the search engines is already able to “see” what the images are about, they still use the content of the alt attribute defined by the webmaster to finish understanding its meaning.
In this way, to know the theme of an image, Google combines its alternative text with artificial vision algorithms and with the content of the page where it is located.
The Alt attribute is a fundamental tool to position images in search engines, which usually show related images on the first page of any query and very frequently those that contain the keywords used in the alt attribute or the title of the picture.
Most text editors provide the option of placing the Alt attribute in their image inserting tools, so you just need to fill in the “Alternate Text” field for it to be included.
An example of the HTML code format for an image whose filename is example.jpg, found in the domain abc.com inside the folder “images” and that shows a class of this master would be:
<img src = “https://abc.com/images/example.jpg” alt = “Image of Example“/>
Differences between alt attribute and title Alt attribute (Alternative text)
The alt attribute, as we saw in the previous example of the Image of Example.
(<img src = “https://abc.com/images/example.jpg” alt = “Image of Example“/> ) is the alternative information that is added to the image.
The alt attribute or alternative text that we put on the images will appear to replace the image when for any reason the image does not load.
Either because users have disabled the images, the browser does not support images, the web has some kind of loading problem or the user has some kind of disability, with the alt attribute you will help to understand what the image is about.
It is recommended that the images are optimized before uploading them since large images slow down the web. If you have loading problems on your website, we recommend this article of a plugin with which to improve the loading speed of a website.
In the same way, it also has advantages for our website, since including keywords in the alt attribute improves the SEO of the web.
Attribute Title
With the title attribute, you offer additional information about the web image. This text appears when the user hovers the mouse over the image and provides additional information about what that image presents.
Continuing with the previous example, for a title attribute it would look like this:
(<img src = “https://abc.com/images/example.jpg” alt = “Image of Example” title=”this is the example image“/> )
What is the Function of Alt Attribute?
The function of the alt attribute is to allow you to describe the object in terms of text equivalent so that the search engine will get to know about it and understands it better.
What is an Image Alt Attribute?
An alt tag or you can say them as an image alt attribute is used to describe the image to the search engine. Otherwise, it’s impossible for the search engine to identify the image directly.
Again using these alt tags have a positive impact on the search engine rankings as well.
How do I Write a Good Alt Attribute to Improve SEO?
Describe the image as specifically as possible. The alt attribute is designed to provide text explanations to images for users who cannot see them.
It should be a concise description. Most popular screen readers cut the alt attribute to around 150 characters, so it is advisable to keep it in that character range.
Use your keywords. The alt attribute gives you the opportunity to include your target keywords on a page and therefore another opportunity to indicate to search engines that your page is highly relevant to the query they have made.
Avoid keyword stuffing. Google doesn’t like using alt attributes as an opportunity to include as many relevant keywords as you can. Focus on writing descriptive alt attributes, which provide context to the image.
When you go to name an image, do not include the name “image of“, etc. in its alt attribute. The alt attribute is already assumed to refer to an image, so there is no need to specify it.
The “Title” and “description” fields are additional information that is worth implementing. All value-added information is always valuable.