Optimizing images for Search engines via optimizing Image ALT text

Nearly 19% of Google's SERPs 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 Google Search statistics and facts 2023 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 decision tree.

Image Alt text examples Good and Bad.

1. 

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?

• 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, Google notes 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.

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.

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

Putting Alt Text to the Test: Real-Time Search

Research 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:

• 40% of people are more likely to respond to visual content

• Products or services that feature visual content experience a 12% faster increase in traffic than those that don’t

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.

This is the first SERP 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.