An alt tag (also called an “alt attribute” or “alt text”) is an HTML attribute that is applied to images to provide a text alternative for search engines.
In Simple term, Alt tag is a text version of an image that alternatively appears on a website if the corresponding image is not loaded or displayed.
With regard to search engine optimization (SEO), the alt tag can even increase the search engine friendliness of a website, as the crawlers of Google can also recognize the alt tag and thus better evaluate the content of images.
An alt tag usually looks like this:
<img src=“example.jpg” alt=“Image of Example” title=“Example Image”>
Function Of The Alt Tag
Basically, the alt tag has different functions for images.
In terms of SEO, it helps crawlers or search engine bots to better understand what is in the image by paying attention to such attributes and can thus better rate the entire page.
Beyond SEO, the alt tag has the following features:
How Many Characters Should The Alt Tag Have?
According to our recommendation, it should be described here simply and as briefly as possible in a few words what is on the picture.
An exact character limit as with meta titles or meta descriptions does not really exist here, according to Google. However, the opinions of SEOs also differ here as to which frames of character lengths are best.
The most popular screen readers cut alt tags at about 125 characters, so you should limit the content to this number of characters or less if possible.
What Should Be Considered for Alt Tags?
As already mentioned, the following principle applies here: Describe as briefly and simply as possible what is in the respective picture. Depending on the content, 3 to 5 words are usually sufficient.
With regard to SEO, of course, it makes sense to use relevant keywords. The relevance should be both to the content of the image and, if possible, to the content of the subpage of the corresponding embedded image.
But avoid concatenation of keywords. Google does not rate unfilled or non-relevant alt tags negatively, but the misuse of keywords can lead to devaluations with SEO content.
The use of ‘image of…’ or ‘In the picture is…’ is superfluous for alt tags. Since the Alt attribute is in an image tag, it is already clear here that it is the description of the image.
Where Do I Enter The Alt Tag?
If your website is a pure, static HTML website or a CMS in which images are integrated via HTML, the Alt tag can be entered directly in the respective ‘Image’ tag.
<img src = “example.jpg” alt = “Enter the alt text here.” title = “Example picture” />
For most websites with a CMS, Alt Tag Can be entered or edited directly in the source code or in the CMS.