Alt text, alt tags, or alt descriptions refers to the written copy that appears in place of an image when the image fails to load on a webpage. This text helps screen-reading tools narrate images to visually impaired readers, enabling search engines to follow your link better and rank your website. A well-written alt text, therefore, improves your website’s accessibility and search engine optimization (SEO).

Alt text is an important aspect for publishers. We have talked about the major benefits of using Alt text in our previous article, “Everything Publishers Need to Know About Alt Text.” In this article, we have some tips and tricks that can help you write apt and precise alt text descriptions.

Developing appropriate and clear alt text descriptions is a difficult task and can prove detrimental to the accessibility of your website if done poorly. So, here are some tips that can assist you in getting things right:

Be determined and concise

Describing an image based on what you see is a much better way to write an alt text than editorializing it. Do not make assumptions about what is happening or add the subject’s motivation. Rather, be more descriptive about the image and characters, describe their skin tone, personality, and hair color. Help the reader build a picture of what is shown in the image.

Avoid keyword stuffing

While describing an image, sensibly incorporating one or two keywords can help you with the SEO. However, you must avoid keyword stuffing, as it may result in your page being ranked down. Rather, focus on developing specific alt text.

Include the text on the image and don’t repeat

If a part of your image is text, transcribe it as part of your description. Make sure you are not repeating yourself. Alt text is not required to describe something already available on the page, for instance, an adjacent caption. Or, if an image already consists of the title, you can skip adding the title to the alt text.

Avoid alt text for decorative images

Decorative or illustrative images are photos of your venue or press photos from a function, which convey information in context. Decorative images include page dividers, brand graphics, and other such things to present something more adequately or visually break up the content on a page. They don’t represent any contextual significance or meaning. So, it won’t be of any help for people to understand the page even if provided the alt text.

Final words

Currently, alt text is an important part of the web and websites. It increases the reach of your website to a wider audience, translates the content of your image, and boosts accessibility. When considering the visually impaired community, alt text is a prime requirement. For publishers, moreover, alt text opens up a great way for digital involvement and a positive user behavior.

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