Image ALT

The alt attribute is used in HTML and XHTML documents to specify alternative text (alt text) that is to be rendered when the element to which it is applied cannot be rendered. In HTML 4.01, the attribute is required for the image and area tags.


The syntax of the alt attribute is:

<img alt="...">

<area alt="...">

 

Google Do

  • Supply alt text when using images as links. If you do decide to use an image as a link, filling out its alt text helps Google understand more about the page you're linking to. Imagine that you're writing anchor text for a textlink.

  • Like many of the other parts of the page targeted for optimization, filenames and alt text (for ASCII languages) are best when they're short, but descriptive.

Google Don't

  • Write excessively long alt text that would be considered spammy.

  • Use only image links for your site's navigation.