Alt Tags: In today’s digital world, images and videos play a crucial role in web design and digital marketing. They help make the content more engaging and can convey complex ideas more easily. However, many website owners often overlook an important aspect of using images and videos: Alt tags. In this blog post, we’ll discuss what alt tags are, why they are essential for both SEO and accessibility, and how to write and add them to your website’s images and videos.
What are Alt Tags?
Alt tags, also known as alternative text or alt attributes, are short descriptions of images and videos that are added to HTML code. They provide a textual alternative to non-textual content, enabling visually impaired users to understand the content of an image or video. Alt tags also help search engines understand the content of the media and display it in search results.
Importance of Alt Tags for SEO
Alt tags are an essential aspect of SEO (search engine optimization). When search engines crawl a website, they analyze the website’s content to determine its relevance and rank it accordingly. Images and videos with alt tags provide additional information that search engines use to determine the website’s relevance and rank it higher in search results.
Without alt tags, search engines can’t understand the content of the image or video, and the website’s overall SEO will suffer. Additionally, using alt tags with relevant keywords can increase the likelihood of the image or video appearing in image search results.
Importance of Alt Tags for Accessibility
Alt tags are also crucial for web accessibility. Not all users can perceive images and videos in the same way. Visually impaired users, for instance, rely on screen readers, which read out the alt text when an image or video is encountered. If an image or video lacks alt text, the screen reader won’t be able to describe the content, leaving the user in the dark.
Alt tags are also beneficial for users with slow internet connections or those who have disabled images or videos in their browsers. In such cases, the alt text can provide context for the content, making it more understandable.
Best Practices for Writing Alt Tags
Writing effective alt tags requires a balance between providing accurate descriptions and keeping them concise. Here are some best practices for writing alt tags:
- Keep it short: Alt tags should be brief and to the point, usually around 125 characters or less.
- Be descriptive: Alt tags should describe the content of the image or video as accurately as possible, without being too generic.
- Use relevant keywords: Alt tags with relevant keywords can help increase the image’s visibility in search results.
- Avoid keyword stuffing: Using too many keywords in the alt tag can be seen as spammy and hurt the website’s overall SEO.
- Don’t use phrases like “image of” or “picture of”: Screen readers already announce that an image is being displayed, so there’s no need to repeat it in the alt text.
How to Add Alt Tags to Images and Videos
Adding alt tags to images and videos is relatively easy, and it can be done in several ways, depending on how the media is embedded in the website. Here are some of the most common methods:
- Manually: Alt tags can be added manually to images and videos by adding the “alt” attribute to the HTML code. For instance, the HTML code for an image with an alt tag would look like this:
<img src=”image.jpg” alt=”description of image”>
Similarly, for videos, the HTML code would look like this:
<video controls> <source src=”video.mp4″ type=”video/mp4″> <source src=”video.ogg” type=”video/ogg”> <track kind=”captions” src=”captions.vtt” srclang=”en” label=”English”> </video>
The “alt” attribute for videos would be added to the <track> element, like this:
<track kind=”captions” src=”captions.vtt” srclang=”en” label=”English” alt=”description of video”>
- Content Management System (CMS): Most modern CMSs, such as WordPress or Drupal, have built-in options to add alt tags to images and videos. When uploading media, there will usually be an option to add alt text in the media library.
- Plugins: There are also many plugins available that can automatically generate alt tags for images and videos based on their content. These plugins use artificial intelligence to analyze the media and generate descriptive alt tags automatically.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, using alt tags for images and videos is essential for both SEO and accessibility. Alt tags provide search engines with additional information to understand the content and rank the website higher in search results. They also enable visually impaired users to understand the content of images and videos and provide context for users with slow internet connections or disabled media.
When writing alt tags, it’s essential to keep them short, descriptive, and relevant. Avoid keyword stuffing and phrases like “image of” or “picture of.” Adding alt tags to images and videos is relatively easy and can be done manually or through a CMS or plugin. By following these best practices, website owners can ensure their content is accessible and visible to everyone.
