[FAQ]

Okay, I feel like this is a basic question, but I have to ask. Every time I upload a picture to my website, there’s a box for “alt text”. I’ve been leaving it blank because I figured it wasn’t that important and I’m usually in a hurry.

Lately, I’ve seen a few articles that say ignoring it is a big mistake for both SEO and something called accessibility.

Could someone break it down for me in simple terms? What am I actually supposed to write in that box, and what does it do? I’m trying to figure out if I need to go back and fix this for the hundreds of images already on my site.

Any clarification would be great.

[Jeff Bullas]

This is a brilliant question as it covers one of the most fundamental and often overlooked elements of a well-optimised website.

Short Answer: Alt text is a written description of an image that makes your visual content accessible to screen readers and provides crucial context for search engines, which helps your images rank.

Think of it as the official text equivalent of your image for any person or machine that cannot physically see the image file.

The importance of alt text is twofold, and you are right to go back and fix it. First and foremost, it is a matter of accessibility; for users with visual impairments who use screen reader software, the alt text is read aloud, allowing them to understand the content of your images. Second, it’s a significant factor for SEO because search engine crawlers cannot “see” an image, so they rely on this descriptive text to understand what the image is about, helping it to rank in image search results and adding topical relevance to the page. Finally, if an image file ever breaks or fails to load, the alt text is displayed in its place, maintaining a good user experience. The key is to write descriptive, natural language, and not just a string of keywords; for instance, instead of “dog puppy pet canine SEO”, you would write “A golden retriever puppy playing with a red ball in the grass.”

Cheers,
Jeff

[Author]

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