What is alt text and how can it augment SEO ranking?

Alt text for images is a small, but crucial aspect of improving on-site content engagement, as well as, SEO ranking. As one of the leading providers of SEO services in Edinburgh, Nhance Digital has compiled a guide that explores the relevance and importance of alt text for accurate and advanced image optimisation.

What is alt text?

Alternative text or alt text is a tool that is utilised to communicate the meaning or the essence of an image to Google or other search engine crawlers and also the viewers.

Importance of alt text

Makes content much more accessible and inclusive – Your website is going to attract visitors of all kinds. These could even include ones who are visually impaired or have trouble reading. By including alt text, which is a small description of the image used, you will be conveying the essence of the picture of the visitors. If the alt text is not present, viewers might only read out the file name and that may not depict the picture correctly.
Helps enhance SEO ranking – When search engine crawlers read the alt text on a picture, they understand instantly what the picture is about. This helps them to properly index the image and rank on the Google image search engine. You can also include keywords in the alt text to improve your overall SEO efforts.
An important tool for lazy load pages and pictures – Typically, developers enable the feature of lazy load on the webpages. Having an alt attribute to pictures help viewers to understand what the picture is going to be about instantly and provides them with a holistic and better user experience.
Helps in Google image ranking and image optimisation – When it comes to SEO ranking, Google images play a crucial role. By adding alt tags for images, you can substantially enhance the visibility of your website. If you accurately and properly describe the image, the chances of the image getting a high ranking on Google images gets better.

How can you write good alt text?

For writing good alt text for your website images, you can follow these tips –

Use brevity to communicate and develop alt text – It is crucial that you keep the text short, but descriptive. The communication should help crawlers to easily understand and index the picture accurately.
Use keywords – You can alt text a part of your SEO strategy by using relevant keywords. When you include keywords, make sure that the image description is kept brief and to the point.
Do not use unnecessary words – The alt text should be crisp and short. There is no need to make it unnecessarily long and complicated. Precision and accuracy are key.
Punctuate alt text correctly – Even though you have to keep the alt text crisp and short, do not forget to use punctuation properly and wherever required. The readability quotient of the alt text should be high so that your readers and search engine crawlers can understand the text correctly. Grammatical errors will not be tolerated and this can negatively impact your overall SEO efforts.
Do not include keywords forcefully – Including keywords in the alt texts will help the search engine crawlers to understand the text and also index it properly so that your audience can find it easily. Also, this will help to increase the Google image ranking. However, you must not include keywords forcefully. In terms of readability, the alt text should be free-flowing. Your focus must be on readability and on being accurately descriptive.

To sum up, alt text is an important part of SEO ranking, but it is often an ignored tool. By using alt text, you can hope to improve the SEO ranking of your website and also enhance the overall hygiene of your business website. With alt texts, a little effort can take you a long way. But, ensure that the alt text is descriptive, short and accurate.

If you need any help with writing alt texts or wish to understand how these texts can help your SEO campaign, you can talk to Nhance Digital. We are an SEO company in Edinburgh providing personalised SEO solutions at reasonable rates. Our team is eager to answer your questions.