What is the Importance of Alt Text in Image SEO?

It provides a better image context to search engine crawlers, helping them crawl and index your image for image searches. It provides search engines with the information they need regarding the content on the page.

What Makes Alt Text Important?

Alt text provides information for humans. There are reasons you should take the time to write alt text for all the images displayed on your website. The aim is to ensure all your visitors have a good user experience (UX), including those with visual impairments. 

The need for alt text has become apparent, when you look at the statistics. Take into consideration that twelve million internet users have low vision or visual impairments. Those with visual impairments and low vision have advanced internet proficiency

Did you know that eighty three percent of people with accessibility needs will shop on sites that cater to them, even when the price is considerably higher? At the same time, it's important to remember that sixty one percent of home page accessibility errors are due to missing alt text.

Your audience is made up of a number of different people, including those with learning difficulties, visual impairments, and low vision. When you implement alt text for important images on your site, you ensure all visitors are included and can interact with your website. 

Further, alt text helps search engines understand and rank your images in image results. When Google interprets a query, you often see image packs showing up on the search engine results pages (SERPs). Visual search helps users find what they are looking for, providing them with visual guidance.

Alt Text Impact on SEO

We have already identified that alt text is important for SEO and is a major search engine ranking factor. Alt text provides context to what an image is showing, providing crawlers with relevant information to index the image and rank it, while providing users with a better user experience (UX).

How to Write Image Alt Text for SEO

When it comes to image alt text, you need to ensure it is optimised for search engines and user experience:

• Be Descriptive – describe the image accurately, explain the image contents as though you explaining it to someone with a visual impairment. Choose your words with care, ensuring that they remain relevant
• Stay concise – provide enough information without including unnecessary details. The aim is to inform users and search engines about what they would be seeing
• Use keywords strategically – avoid keyword stuffing at all costs
• Use proper formatting – your alt text must be formatted correctly to ensure accessibility and enable screen readers to distinguish your alt text from the rest of your content

Conclusion

Alt text is imperative to image SEO. It helps search engines understand the context of your image, helping it to crawl, index, and rank your images. At the same time, alt text, enables you to cater to your entire audience, including those with visual impairments and low vision.