Just leaving an empty HTML image alt attribute can drop your SERPs rankings. In this guide, you will understand how important alt text is for search engines to crawl web pages. But, first thing, let’s learn what is Alt text and how to use alt text for SEO.
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What is an Alt text?
But, why is alt text so important for SEO?
Google search engine focuses more on SEO alt text and keywords used in it. They help in optimizing the website through images and any visual content. Search engine algorithms can crawl web pages when images are easy-to-read and have a description with the relevant keywords content. Indexing the website higher on the Google page needs images with proper alt text.
For a better user experience, embed images with alt text into the website instead of hyperlinks. The highest-ranking websites on Google and Bings are those with good visual content. If you use a few keywords, they will crawl alt text images faster. It results in linking to the site and helps the Magento store or website gain more traffic.
How does Alt Text affect SEO?
Knowing the way to write an alt text for images is important. So that the search engine can read and crawl the visual content. Image Alt text carries focus keywords relevant to the content and shares meaning.
However, while writing alt text for images, keywords are not enough for image optimization. Here are the following ways to create an effective alt text for SEO:-
- Keep it short: Longer descriptions make it difficult to read by the browsers. Try to keep it around 125 characters. Use the longest attribute for the long description text.
- Avoid Stuffing Keywords: A good alt text works the same as the quality content. Don’t stuff too many keywords, it won’t work.
- Keep it straightforward: Instead of keyword stuffing, try to describe the image in the context, so search engine crawlers can index it higher on the page.
- Describe the Image: Avoid using ‘ Image of’ or picture of’ in the alt text. The Ultimate alt text displays the content of the image as a coherent image description.
- Say no to old HTML attributes: Try to avoid the older HTML attribute for images that are outdated and make your visual content look bad.
- Use valuable Image content: Include appreciating and informative visual content to the blog. Avoid including screenshots of websites that have no valuable information to show.
- Review spelling errors: Misspelled words affect web crawling and user experience. It is better to check spelling errors carefully to make search engines crawl easily.
- Avoid adding alt text to every image: For better SEO and UX, adding alt text can get you in trouble too. It is not important to add alt text for the images already described in the text nearby.
Magento Extensions: To Edit / Add Bulk ALT Text
- Generate alt text automatically for images whenever you upload a new product image.
- Use SEO-friendly image alt text which can easily crawl.
- Add meaningful descriptions to improve search results.
- Give browser compatibility and load images faster on any device.
- Adjust alt text when search engine algorithm updates.
Wrapping up!
