How do you do ALT text for SEO?

ALT text is the text you see in the image when it does not load. ALT stands for alternative. ALT texts are very important to search engine optimization (SEO).

Many people use ALT text as part of keyword research also, because if someone types in a specific word, then this ALT text will show up in search results. ALT text for SEO URLS is also something many people use ALT text for, so when someone types in a specific word, they can see the ALT text of each link to figure out which ones are most relevant to what they typed in.

Cheers

The key is to put something it will understand (dont just stuff keywords). Cant remember where I saw it but someone said to write your alt text as if you're trying to explain it to a blind person as the crawlers cant actually see the images.

Jabbz18 said:

The key is to put something it will understand (dont just stuff keywords). Cant remember where I saw it but someone said to write your alt text as if you're trying to explain it to a blind person as the crawlers cant actually see the images.

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Indeed, I normally include a brief description of the actual photo/media file itself with keywords mixed in.

Optimal alt text format​

The best format for alt text is sufficiently descriptive but doesn't contain any spammy attempts at keyword stuffing. If you can close your eyes, have someone read the alt text to you, and imagine a reasonably accurate version of the image, you're on the right track.

Let's look at a few examples of alt text for this image of a delicious-looking stack of blueberry pancakes:


Okay:<img src="pancakes.png" alt="pancakes">

This alt text is only "okay" because it's not very descriptive. Yes, this is an image of a stack of pancakes. But, there's more to be said about this image.

Good:

<img src="pancakes.png" alt="Stack of blueberry pancakes with powdered sugar">

This alt text is a better alternative because it is far more descriptive of what's in the image. This isn't just a stack of "pancakes" (as the first alt text example demonstrated); it's a stack of blueberry pancakes with a dusting of powdered sugar!

Not recommended:

<img src="pancakes.png" alt="">

or

<img src="pancakes.png" alt="pancake pancakes pan cake hotcakes hotcake breakfast food best breakfast top breakfasts breakfast recipes pancake recipe">

Neither of these examples are recommended. The first line of code actually doesn't contain any alt text at all (notice the quotes are empty), while the second example demonstrates keyword stuffing in the alt text.