Images play a key role in creating an attractive and effective website, making it more visually appealing, helping to pass information faster and more clearly, as well as creating an emotional connection with the user. In addition, images improve the usability of the site, helping visitors to quickly navigate and find the information they need. High-quality product images can even increase product trust and conversions.

However, a nice visual is not the only important role played by images.They play a critical part of search engine optimization (SEO), because properly optimized images with appropriate Alt texts help search engines index your site better. This increases its visibility in search results and helps attract more visitors. Thus, the use of high-quality images on the site contributes to its success and the achievement of goals. Let’s have a look at what exactly are Alt texts and how to integrate it into your website.

What is Alt text and why is it required?

Alt text (alternative text) is a text description of the image that is added to the alt attribute of the img HTML tag . Its main function is to make web content accessible to users with disabilities, particularly those using screen readers. It also serves as a fallback when images cannot be loaded, providing contextual information.

In addition, alt text is important for SEO (search engine optimization). It helps search engines better understand the content of images, which can increase the page’s ranking in search results and attract additional traffic. By including keywords in the alt text, you can contribute to better indexing of images and increase the likelihood of their appearance in image search results.

For example, here is the full-uploaded photo compared to the alt text that appeared due to a system failure.

Code for this alt text.

<img src=“image-file-example.jpg” alt=“Figma prototype development for an iphone”>

What are the advantages of using alt text?

Accessibility

According to global studies, about 200 million Internet users are visually impaired or have low vision. Alt text is what makes web content accessible to people with disabilities, especially those using screen readers. When a screen reader encounters an image, it speaks the alt text, allowing visually impaired people to get an idea of the image’s content. This makes the website more inclusive and accessible to a wider audience.

Display in case of errors

Issues or code errors. In such situations, the browser displays the alt text instead of the image, providing users with contextual information about what should have been shown. This prevents users from getting frustrated and provides them with the information they need.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Alt text plays an important role in SEO. Search engines like Google use alt text to understand the content of the images on your site. This helps them index and rank properly in image searches. Including keywords in the alt text helps to improve the visibility of pages in search results and attract additional traffic. Alt text also provides search engines with contextual information about the content on the page, which can increase its overall ranking.

Improving the user experience

In addition to accessibility and SEO, alt text contributes to a better user experience. It helps all users, including those with slow internet connections or browsers that don’t support images, to get an idea of what’s on the page. This provides a more complete and informative perception of the content.

How to integrate alt tags into your site

Integration through code:

Integrating alt text for sites is quite simple, but it requires many steps. During the process, many nuances need to be taken into account for further success. Firstly, you need to do a detailed analysis of the images on your site. It is important to understand that alt text should be used for images that carry certain information. For images that are used for visual purposes and do not have informative value, it is not necessary to use it.

The next step is to write an effective text, taking into account the following details:

  • Image description should be accurate and concise.
  • It is not necessary to use such words as ‘image, picture, photo’.
  • Describe specifically what you see in the image, without unnecessary details.
  • There is a general recommendation not to use more than 125 characters.
  • Use keywords for photos. To do this, you can use the Google Keyword Planner system, which is free.

Let’s analyse several examples of good alt text.

Okay alt text: <img src=”bird.png” alt=”Woman at work“>

Better alt text: <img src=”bird.png” alt=”Woman working on a computer“>

Best alt text: <img src=”bird.png” alt=”A woman working on a computer in an office.”>

Okay alt text: <img src=”bird.png” alt=”Portrait drawing.“>

Better alt text: <img src=”bird.png” alt=”Portrait drawing of a woman“>

Best alt text: <img src=”bird.png” alt=”An artist making a portrait of a woman.”>

The next step is to add alt text to the HTML code. To do this, we must use the alt attribute in the img tag.

After updating the code, you need to go through it again for additional verification. This will be needed to ensure that each image has an alt code.

Integration using the CMS system:

If you use a content management system (CMS) such as WordPress, Drupal or Joomla, the process of adding alt text can be even more simple. Many CMS have built-in tools for adding alt text when uploading images.

Example for WordPress:

  1. Log in to the admin panel.
  2. Go to Media and select Add New.
  3. Upload an image.
  4. Add alt text to the “Alt text” field in the media library.

Conclusion

Alt text is an important element of web accessibility and SEO. Adding the right alt text to images will improve the user experience, make your site accessible, and help search engines index your pages better. It also increases the visibility of your content in image searches, driving more traffic. Following our recommendations for writing effective alt text and updating it regularly will keep your site accessible and optimized.