📙
SEO JSON
  • Get Started
    • What is Schema?
    • Do You Offer SEO Services With SEO APP?
    • What is an webrex SEO App?
    • Why Should I Use Webrex SEO App?
    • What schemas does webrex SEO App offer?
    • Does having schema guarantee a higher ranking on Google?
    • I Have Just installed the Webrex SEO App. What Now?
    • How do I use the Webrex SEO App?
    • How Can I see if the Webrex SEO App is working?
    • How long does it take to see results on Google after using your app, and how do you go about seeing
    • Does removing the outdated Shopify theme schema harm my website?
    • Does the Webrex SEO APP leave any left-over code behind in case I delete it?
    • I have Google My Business. Will it override or clash with the Local Business Schema?
    • When to expect my rich snippets to appear after applying a schema markup?
    • How to make sure Webrex SEO APP actually improves your Google ranking?
  • Structured data and Schema types
    • Importance of Schema Mark up for ecommerce .
    • How to enable and set up an app?
    • How to add a product schema?
    • How to add the product merchant schema?
    • How to add the Local Business Rich Schema?
    • How to add Video Schema?
    • How to add a Product FAQ Schema?
    • How to add an organizational (Logo) schema?
  • Google Search Console Issues
    • Why do we have ‘Review’ and Aggregate Rating warnings on the Google Rich Results Test Tool?
    • My Google Search Console (GSC) tells me there is “Failed indexing”. How Can I fix this?
  • Integration
    • Which Review Apps does the SEO Schema Breadcrumb App support?
    • SEO Schema Breadcrumb is not integrated with TrustPilot, which is my review app. What should I do?
  • Trouble Shooting
    • I have received a “Page not eligible for rich results” warning. What can I do?
    • How can I remove the outdated theme schema myself?
    • My items are not verified by Google Ads. How can schema help?
    • I get the following error when trying to test a random product: "URL could not be rendered."
    • My website loads slowly. What can I do?
    • I have Reviews and AggregateRating warnings. Should I worry?
  • Google Page Speed
    • Why Is eCommerce Website Speed or Page Speed So Important?
  • Meta Tags & ALT Text
    • Why is Meta Tag editing important for e-commerce?
    • How to create the right meta description?
    • Optimize Meta Tag & Description
    • Optimizing images for Search engines via optimizing Image ALT text
  • Image Optimization
    • How to optimize images?
    • How to Optimize Images to Improve Web Performance?
  • Broken Links
    • Why it is Important to Manage and correct Broken Links for any ecommerce Store?
    • How to Manage broken links manually?
    • How to manage broken link via automation?
  • Design Breadcrumb
    • How to create Breadcrumb for your store pages?
  • Merchant Listing
    • Country Codes
  • Privacy Policy
    • SEO Schema Breadcrumb Privacy Policy
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On this page
  • Image ALT Text Best Practices
  • Image Alt text examples Good and Bad.
  • How ALT Text Affects SEO?
  • How Do I Create a Successful Image Alt Tag?
  • Putting Alt Text to the Test: Real-Time Search

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  1. Meta Tags & ALT Text

Optimizing images for Search engines via optimizing Image ALT text

PreviousOptimize Meta Tag & DescriptionNextHow to optimize images?

Last updated 1 year ago

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Nearly show images. That means, despite your best SEO efforts, you could still miss out on another organic traffic source: your website's images. "How do you get in on this traffic source? Image alt text. In this, we’ll learn how to write image alt text so your images rank highly in search engines and drive traffic."

Why is Image Alt Text Important?

Image alt text is important for three reasons: accessibility, user experience, and image Traffic. Golden Nugget: Alt image text is the perfect place to include keywords for search engines to gobble up.

  • When you use alt tags, images are likely to populate on the first SERP (Search Engine Results Page)

  • Boost your SEO by tagging your images with text and being the first product or service to appear in a search.

"According to When it comes to Google Images, they account for 22.6% of all internet searches but actually makeup 62.6% of all searches on Google Web Search. This high interest in images is likely to prompt businesses to invest more in visual content."

Here is why alt text is as important for e-commerce as it surfaces your images in search results, whether in Google Images or as image packs. Image packs are special results displayed as a horizontal row of image links that can appear in any organic position (including the #1 spot on a SERP, as seen in the example in the intro). And, images that appear in both types of search results are yet another way to receive organic visitors. This can result in thousands of more visitors — at least, it did in HubSpot’s case. Beginning in 2018, the HubSpot Blog team implemented a new SEO strategy that, in part, focused more intently on optimizing image alt text. This helped to increase the blog’s image traffic by 779% in less than a year, which resulted in 160,000 more organic views. You can read more about the team’s success in this blog post.

Image ALT Text Best Practices

Ultimately, image alt text needs to be specific but also representative of the topic of the webpage it's supporting. Get the idea so far? Here are a few important keys to writing effective image alt text:

  • Describe the image, and be specific. Use both the image's subject and context to guide you.

  • Add context that relates to the topic of the page. If the image doesn't feature a recognizable place or person, then add context based on the content of the page. For example, the alt text for a stock image of a person typing on a computer could be anything depending on the topic of the webpage.

  • Keep your alt text fewer than 125 characters. Screen-reading tools typically stop reading alt text at this point, cutting off long-winded alt text at awkward moments when verbalizing this description for the visually impaired.

  • Don't start alt text with "picture of..." or "Image of..." Jump right into the image's description. Screen-reading tools (and Google, for that matter) will identify it as an image from the article's HTML source code.

  • Use your keywords, but sparingly. Only include your article's target keyword if it's easily included in your alt text. If not, consider semantic keywords, or just the most important terms within a longtail keyword. For example, if your article's head keyword is "how to generate leads," you might use "lead generation" in your alt text, since "how to" might be difficult to include in the image alt text naturally.

  • Don't cram your keyword into every single image's alt text. If your blog post contains a series of body images, include your keyword in at least one of those images. Identify the image you think is most representative of your topic, and assign it your keyword. Stick to more aesthetic descriptions in the surrounding media.

  • Review for spelling errors. Misspelled words in image alt text could hurt the user experience or confuse search engines crawling your site. You should review alt text like you would any other content on the page.

  • Don't add alt text to every image. You should add alt text to most images on a webpage for the sake of SEO, UX, and accessibility — however, there are exceptions. Images that are purely decorative or are described in text nearby, for example, should have an empty alt attribute. For a more detailed breakdown of when to add alt text and when to not, check out this .

Image Alt text examples Good and Bad.

Okay, Alt Text - alt="Baseball player hitting a ball at a baseball field"The line of alt text above technically follows the first rule of alt text — be descriptive — but it's not being descriptive in the right way.

Here you can see the information is not specific it is general information given in Alt Text.

Good Alt Text - With the bad alt text (above) in mind, better alt text for this image might be alt="David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox batting from home plate at Fenway Park" Here you can check the information is quite specific like the Player Name, Team name, Field name, etc. so if searches are made with these say with the player name there is a very high chance of high ranking and SEO Boost.

How ALT Text Affects SEO?

How Do I Create a Successful Image Alt Tag?

Creating a successful alt tag is imperative to the success of your e-commerce shop. The way you describe your products improves your online visibility and ranking. Here are some great tips for writing successful image alt for your store.

Tips for Successful Image Alt Writing -

– Explain the Object

– Size

– Color

– Brand

– Special Edition

  1. Explain What the Object in the Picture is

    This sounds simple, and that’s because it is! Clearly state what the object is without over-explaining it. For example: “backpack, computer, hose.” Keep the keywords precise, only explaining the object in the image.

  2. What is the size of the object?

    Is it a large desk or a kid’s desk? A desktop computer or laptop? A garden hose or a fire truck hose? These small details are important in explaining what is in the image. So, let’s use the example above and add this one in: “Kids backpack.”

  3. Is There a Specific Color in the Image?

    As you continue to explain the image, make sure to include the color when applicable. For example: “Kids black backpack.”

  4. What is the brand (if any)?

    If there is a recognizable brand in the photo, you can add it to your image alt text. For example: “Kids black Nike backpack.” This explains everything about the object so far, making it clear and concise to the purchaser.

  5. Is it a Special Edition Product?

    Make sure to add if this is a special edition product as well. This is an important detail because many customers are looking for a particular item to purchase. For example: “Limited edition XYZ kids black Nike backpack.”

    You have now written an optimal image alt that will show up on your e-commerce site if the image has not loaded or will be read to your visually impaired customers.

The highlighted text shows the alt text (alt attribute) of the image at left.

Putting Alt Text to the Test: Real-Time Search

Give your product or service images the best chance to populate first with alt-image text.

Here is a little search engine results test:

We typed in: “pink women’s sunglasses” to see what populated on the first SERP.

Alt text helps Google to better understand not only what the images are about but what the webpage as a whole is about. This can help increase the chances of your images appearing in image search results. With Google’s rollout of Search Generative Experience (SGE), high-quality and contextual alt text ensures your content is in the mix of the new AI-powered snapshot of key information. For example, that its SGE can give people a well-rounded shopping experience with noteworthy options, product descriptions, pricing, and images in one single snapshot. If your product images have descriptive and specific alt text, you give search engines the context to know when to surface your product as a high-quality choice in someone's results.

shows that the first SERP contains images 25% of the time. Search engines can’t identify your images on their own and won’t populate them in the absence of alt text that indicates the contents. Here are a few more surprising facts to keep in mind:

are more likely to respond to visual content

Products or services that feature visual content experience a increase in traffic than those that don’t

we came across: Successful image alts for e-commerce can boost your sales when used correctly. Alt text provides context to your product by explaining the image that is being displayed. This will attract shoppers to your page through your images on Google and improve your SEO ranking! Make sure not to miss this crucial step to ensure your success.

19% of Google's SERPs
Google Search statistics and facts 2023
decision tree
Google notes
Research
4
0% of people
12% faster
This is the first SERP
The highlighted text shows the alt text (alt attribute) of the image at left.