Glossary/Alt-text

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Alt text is a description of an image, video clip, audio file or other object, embedded in the code of a web page.

Alt text helps visually impaired people who use screen readers to surf the web. It tells them what is in an image, helping them understand the full meaning of a web page. Alt text can also tell hearing-impaired people what an audio file is about, and help them decide whether they want to "listen" to the entire file, using appropriate software.

Alt text can help a web page appear higher in search results. Search engines can't "see" an image, but they can "read" the alt text to determine what an image is about. If alt text includes appropriate keywords, it can help the page it's on rank well for those keywords.

The terms "alt attribute" or "alt tag" are also used to refer to alt text.

This is what an image description looks like in HTML:

<img src="image.jpg" alt="This is the image description">

The terms "alt attribute" or "alt tag" are also used to refer to alt text.

For more information on alt text, read: Alt Text Helps People and Search Engines