Difference between revisions of "Learn/Alt-Text-Helps-People-and-Search-Engines"

| Bitly = http://bit.ly/NotSure

| Date = January __, 2010

<big>A picture may be worth a thousand words, but an image on your website won't be worth anything to search engines or someone with a visual disability if it doesn't have alt text.</big>

Alt text (short for "alternative text") gives people and search engines a way to "read" images or audio clips on a website.

Technically speaking, alt text is the alt attribute of the image tag. It would be coded like this:<br /><nowiki><img alt="This alt text describes what the image is" src="http://whereimagelives.jpg"/></nowiki>

''Don't know if your website's images have alt text? Jump to the end of this article.''

==Help Visually Impaired People and Search Engines "See" Your Images==

<big>Search engines are blind when it comes to images, and 10% or more of Web surfers use assistive technology to browse websites. Make sure your images get noticed.</big>

Visually impaired people use [[Wikipedia:Screen reader|screen readers]] that read text on websites to them, and hearing-impaired people use software to tell them what an audio clip is about. When you take the time to find and include an image on your website, including helpful alt text ensures it's visible and adds value to '''all''' your visitors.

For search engines, alt text is the one thing that can tell them what an image is and allow it to help your SEO.

Descriptive alt text is another place to remind search engines what that web page is about so they can hopefully rank it accordingly. Alt text also helps search engines determine whether images are relevant to a specific search, and can decide to include them in image search results.

You can help your website rank higher in search results by including important and [[Learn/Keyword-Research-Is-Key-to-Online-Success|relevant keywords]] in the text of alt tags. Do not be tempted to stuff irrelevant words into alt text just so a page will rank well for those words, however. This won't help visually impaired people understand your web pages, and search engines aren't fond of keyword stuffing and other attempts to game search results.  

===Usability Perks===

Also, similar to alt text is title text. Title text can be applied to images and links, and in many web browsers this title text provides a usability bonus that I am fond of: If you hover your mouse over an image with alt text, you will be able to see the title text. This is like an on-demand caption for images and links, and that's helpful for everyone. You can see how title text works in the image to the right, and by hovering your mouse over the image to the right. You can use the same text for an image's title and alt text or switch it up if you like, formatting it like this:

===Adding Alt Text to Images on AboutUs.org===

If you want to add alt text and title text to an image to the Wiki section of a page on AboutUs.org, follow [[ImageHelp|these instructions]] and add the last part: <nowiki>[[Image:FileName.jpg|Description of the image]]</nowiki>

[[Image:AltTextInfo.png|right|150px|Learn about your alt text by clicking "Links & Images"]]

The [[Online Visibility Audit]] here on AboutUs.org can alert you of any images on your website's home page that do not have alt text. To see this, search for your website at the top right and click "Site Analysis" followed by "Links & Images" in the left-hand navigation (pictured at right).

| ShortBio      = Kristina is a community manager for [[AboutUs.org]] who talks with a lot of website owners who are trying to promote their business online. <small>Have a question? [[Kristina Weis#Contact|Contact me]].</small>

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