Alternative text, more commonly known as alt text, is copy used to provide a textual description of an image for people who cannot see it. It is used in various digital contexts where images appear, such as websites, social media, email, and PDFs.
Why is alt text important?
In this instance, ‘people who cannot see it’ refers to both people with visual impairments and fully sighted people in scenarios when a digital image fails to load.
Visually impaired people often rely on screen readers to access the internet, a software application that reads aloud the content of a webpage and describes any visual elements like photos and graphics using the provided alt text. Proper alt text is required to meet accessibility standards.
Similarly, if a digital asset fails to load on a webpage due to a slow connection or error, alt text will often appear in its place.
These are the main reasons for the existence of alt text, and ensuring your website is accessible for any user to access is good business practice (and morally right!). However, from a digital marketing perspective, alt text can also have SEO benefits.
Does alt text affect SEO?
Adding alt text for every visual on your site may seem like a chore, but it has a few different benefits for SEO, making the task more than worthwhile.
Image search visibility
Alt text doesn’t just act as a descriptor for humans and screen readers – search engines can index alt text to understand the content of a visual, helping the images on your site appear in the search results.
Page context and relevance
The written content on a page gives search engines an indication of what the page is about, but well-written alt text reinforces the topic of the surrounding content, helping search engines better understand the overall relevance of the page.
Improved user experience
We’re seeing search engines increasingly reward sites that offer a good user experience, and this includes accessibility. Ensuring the visuals on your site are fully accessible with proper alt text is a big tick in this box.
Reduced bounce rates
If the images on your site fail to load and well-written alt text appears in their place, the user is less likely to leave the site. Remember that if your images are failing to load due to issues with your site speed, this will have a negative impact on SEO!
Like any SEO practice, adopting proper alt text on your site isn’t going to be the single change that shoots you up to page one on Google. There are no quick wins; SEO is all about curating the perfect cocktail for success.
