TweetThe ‘alt’ attribute on an image is intended to inform a website visitor of the subject matter of the image if (for whatever reason) the image doesn’t load or isn’t usable by the searcher.
In other words, it makes sense for the picture of my daughter below to have the alt attribute of ‘Mary Grace on Easter’
If the image doesn’t load (or the searcher doesn’t want it to load) the text Mary Grace On Easter will appear instead.
This is the code for the image of my daughter:
The Importance of Optimizing Alt Text On Images
Search engines, like Google, use the ‘alt’ attribute on your images as yet another clue about the content on that page.
This means you should be including keywords in the ‘alt’ attribute of your images.
So, for instance, I am targeting the term ‘optimizing alt text on images’ with this post. This means that I should use this keyword phrase in the title tag, in the meta description tag, in the URL, in the body copy and in the ‘alt’ attribute of the image on the page.
When I include this keyword phrase in all of these areas, I am telling Google exactly what I think this page should rank well for in their search results. Hopefully they think so too! 
How To Optimize Alt Text On Images
If you are using a good Content Management System like WordPress, you can simply type the keyword into the ‘alt’ field when you upload images to your website — and let WordPress write all of that yucky code for you.
But, if you are using a custom website, you will need to contact your web professional to have the ‘alt’ text on your images optimized for search engines.
Learn more here or sign up below
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Russ,
I have to comment if for no other reason then to compliment Mary Grace, what a beautiful child.
I didn’t know what the identifier on images was called until I read your article. Adding alt attribute to images is an important detail. Kind of like mom’s old photo albums, she added her “alt attribute” to the backs of the pictures with an ink pen. Thank God she did, we’d be clueless to the content.
Thanks Russ for teaching us.
All the best, ruby
@ruby wilhite — fantastic analogy Ruby! You have a such a neat way of understanding this stuff. Thanks so much for your comment.
Russ
Russ – Your “Wordpress University” continues to be a GREAT tool for me!
Do you think it is worth the time to go back into prior blog posts to add/improve the Alt Text on the images … or just do it going forward?
Thanks!
Julie
@Julie Welch — If you have some spare time (which I know every business owner does
) I would go back and optimize them.
Think of SEO like good cooking though — a lot of little things add up to good rankings. Optimized alt tags is equivalent to using fresh garlic instead of garlic powder. Optimizing your title tags, on the other hand, is like going from cube steak to beef tenderloin.
Hmmm… I’m hungry.