SEO Glossary > ALT Text/Tag

ALT Text/Tag


ALT text, short for alternative text, is meant to display when a website visitor mouses over an image that did not load for some reason. The ALT text is intended to describe the image is a few words so that the visitor gets an idea of the content of the missing image


Are alt tags important for SEO?



ALT tags can be used to improve SEO by including keywords in the ALT tags. Doing this will increase the page's relevance by associating the keyword with the page. Another way ALT tags are important for SEO is they can be a source of traffic. In a study by Jumpshot, 22% of internet searches in 2018 were image searches and resulted in 3% of all Google search clicks.

What are alt tags used for?



ALT tags were originally designed to serve visually impaired people by describing images or what they represent. They are also useful for people who are browsing in text-only browsers.

Do alt tags impact rank on Google?


According to John Mueller Alt text can increase a page's chances of ranking in Google search. It will benefit pages to varying degrees. For instance, it will be more effective on pages about more obscure queries than for pages about more generic queries. John Mueller added, however, that Google's algorithms will ignore keyword stuffing in Alt tags. Alt text also helps images rank in image searches and makes pages more accessible to blind people who use auto-readers.

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