13 Sep What is alt text and why is it important?
Part of optimizing your website for maximum search ranking and user-friendliness is ensuring the search engines can index it and all types of users can read it. One aspect of site optimization is alt text – but just what is alt text and why is it important for your website usability?
Alt text is short for “alternative text.” It is text designed to replace or identify an image. It is used for two purposes, first as a failsafe in the event the image does not display properly, and second as an accessibility feature for visually-impaired users.
When you insert an image onto your website, you should also add alt text to the image’s code. This alt text should be a basic description of what the image is or says. The alt text will only appear on your image if the image is broken or if the user hovers her pointer over the image. Try rolling your mouse over the image of the bubble below and you’ll see the alt text we gave to describe the image.
According to the Web Accessibility Initiative at the World Wide Web Consortium, alt text is a critical component of improving accessibility for people with disabilities who use screen reading programs to audibly express the contents of a webpage. If you have an image imbedded in your written content, a visually impaired user will not know it is there unless you have alt text to describe the contents of the image. When a screen reader program reads this page it will announce that there is an image of “hand holding a bubble wand with a bubble resting on it” following the previous paragraph.
Let Adwire Media Optimize Your Website for Accessibility and Search Engine Compliance
Did you know that alt text is one of the components Google Image Search uses to determine whether an image is relevant to a search query? Search engines can also read alt text as a part of your webpage to further determine what your page’s content is about, therefore improving your keyword reach.
If your website isn’t already taking advantage of site optimizations like alt text, let Adwire Media take over. Fill out our contact form to learn more about our SEO optimization and accessibility compliance services. You can also give us a call at your convenience: 855-692-3947.